Paris and Roland Garros

We arrived in Paris, the last stop of our trip.  The first day in the city we spent a lovely day at the Muse d' Orsey and walking along the Seine.  That night we had a Tauck fairwell dinner at "Foquette's", a trendy Parisian restaurant.  The following day we walked to a sidewalk cafe for lunch and then went out to Rolland Garros for some French open tennis.  We were able to get some afternoon tickets to see the play on the outside courts and saw some men's and women's doubles and some men's singles.  One of the highlights wasseeing Sam Querry working out with his coach.

Pictured are the Muse d' Orsey, Georgia and I on the Seine near Notrre Dame, and Roland Garros shots.

Beaume

After leaving Lyon, on our way to Paris we stopped in the beautiful town of Beaume.  Beaume is known for the hospice there that was used to take care of the poor.  The hospice operated until the for several hundred years and is now beautiful representation of life in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  The hospice stopped taking care of people in the middle of the twenth century.  The sisters, who took care of the patients lived there and some that are well into their late eighties and nineties are still living there.

Pictured are the beautiful roof tiles of the hospice, the display of the hospice living contitions with models, the hospice pharmacy, a city square in Beaume and a street garden.

Lyon

Our last day in Lyon was spent visiting the old city, which is west of the Soane river.  We crossed over the Rhone river and over the Soane river to the old town.  Here we wandered the city streets and saw crapes cooked on the street and the unique old buildings.  There was an interesting flower sculpture, which was commissoned by the city using a South Keoran artist.  Finally, it was back tothe boat for a fairwell dinner. 

Shown are pictures of the river Rhone from the old town, crape cooking on the street, a unique circular staircase, the "Flower", and apicture of the crew at the fairwell dinner.

Ville de Cluny and Cafe Restaurant de L'Abbaye

On the 27th we traveled to villege of Cluny. Here is an old abbay, which was destroyed during the French revolution. After the revolution, Napolian used the land for a stud farm for generating his armies' horses. We were treated to a lively dressage demonistration.

After leaving Cluny, we retruned to Lyon and were treated to dinner at the "Cafe Restaurant de L'Abbaye" a michelin three star restaurant. The restaurant theme was of a circus like atmosphere. The pictures and video will give you the flavor of the evening.

After the video of the restaurant are pictures of the Abby at Cluny, a restaurant in Cluny, Georgia and the Fairchilds at the restaurant, and two pictures of the dinner.

Chalon sur Rhone

Chalon sur Rhone is on the Soane river, but since the water levels were high, we were bussed to the city. Here we experienced a bread and crossiant making demonistration followed by a visit to a chocolate making shop. Since food and wine were on the agenda, we proceeded to the Chateau de Rulle and the Chateau de Chamiery for two wine tastings. The wine tasting at Chateau de Rulle was conducted by the Chateau's owner, who also happens to be a Count. The chateau has been in his family's hands since the 1200s. Shown are the city plaza of Chalon sur Rhone, the Chateau de Rulle, Georgia wine tasting at the Chateau de Rulle, the Chateau de Chamirey, and the chateau's vineyards.

Viviers, Touron sur Rhone, and Lyon

We spent three days crusing up to Lyon, where we stayed for three nights because the Soane River had to much winter runoff; and with the recent rains in northern France, the water level and current were to high for us to get up the river. In Viviers, we learned to play "petanque", a game similar to bacchi ball. We played it at the "Fanny Petanque" club. The name comes from a plaque with a figure on it. If you don't get any points in a game, you get to kiss the plaque's fanny. In Touron sur Rhone, we again visited the vineyards where the red poppies were blooming. This is where the cable stayed bridge was first produced., and we walked across an old wooden plank bridge. From here it was off to Lyon and the Lyon market. The Lyon market is considered one of the finest markets in France, and the produce we saw indicated the same. Pictured are the "Fannie Petarque" club in Viviers, the vineyards and the wooden cable bridge in touron sur Rhone, and the Lyon market.

Crusing the Rhone River, Avignon

We left Monte Carlo and bussed to Nice for a quick lunch break before meeting the Swiss Emerald, our river boat, at Arles. The internet connection on the boat was a satalite connection and very slow, so we have waited until we were in Paris to work on the blog. The first stop out of Arles was to Avignon and the Cellars of Chateau Nuf du Pap. This old winery has been in existance since the Roman times and produces both Chardonney and Granache wines. Pictured are a unique double decker ferris wheel in Avignon, Georgia and I at Chateau Nuf du Pap, the winery wine cave, the cave store, and a stone wine vat from the Roman times.

Monte Carlo

We left Bellagio and Lake Como and drove through the senic mountains to Monte Carlo. The trip took us over the mountains along the east fork of the lake towards Milan. From Milan we drove to the Mediterrian sea and the French border. We arrived in Monte Carlo to see them setting up for the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, which is next weekend. We have seen every high end car made in the world in the last 24 hours, bar none. Many of the drivers are running around the streets, gearing down just like they are racing. Pictured are Georgia at one of the senic outlooks looking at the eastern fork of Lake Como, a Mediterrian villege near the French border where we had lunch, the welcome signs in Monte Carlo, some of the preparations for the Grand Prix, and Georgia by next years' (plural) Christmas, birthday, and every other occasion desired gift. The price tag is about $316,000.

Last Day at lake Como

Our last day at Lake Como was spent relaxing and getting some exercise. My brother, David, and I decided to hike up to the Church of San Martino. The church is located on the western side of Lake Como about 1,800 feet above the Lake. It took us about an hour to hike up to the church, but the views were worth it. On the way we took several wrong turns; and instead of going directly to the church, we went through several farms on old paths being greeted by the cows that thought we had come to feed them and do some milking. Pictured are: Church of San Martino, Bellagio as seen from the church, David and I at the church, a view up to the church from the lake, and Georgia and Debbie at lunch.

On Lake Como

On our second day at Bellagio, we went on a boat tour of the lake and the nearby communities. We toured the Bellagio water front, crossed the lake to Verenna, and then south to the Villa Balbianello. All of this was before we stopped at the only island in the lake where there is a restaurant named "Isola Comacina". At the restaurant we had a six course lunch followed with coffee drink. One of the courses was a cheese course where the Parmasan Romano was cut from a 40 pound cheese wheel. Pictured are the Bellagio waterfront, Verenna waterfront, the lovely Villa Balbianello, all four of us at the Villa Balbianello, and finally the chese course at lunch,served on a knife.