Page 5 of LinandJim Travel Blog Posts


Europe » France » Burgundy » Beaune July 14th 2012

We arrived in Chalon sur Saone early this a.m. and took the motor coach tour to Beaune, the capital of Burgundy wine region. We departed the boat at 9:00am and took a leisurely ride through the vineyards of burgundy region stopping along the way to take photos of this beautiful place. We arrived in Beaune and took a walking tour of the historical 15th century hospice. It was very interesting story about a wealthy couple that wanted to seal a spot in heaven so they decided if they did good things for the poor, they would get in! They built this hospice and erected statues of themselves all over so everyone would know who provided the location. Every Saturday in Beaune they have an outdoor market with produce, French products, antiques, etc. We really enjoyed the ... read more
Burgundy
Burgundy
Burgundy

Europe » France » Rhône-Alpes » Lyon July 13th 2012

The cruise is coming to a close and we have truly enjoyed every single day. We met and hung out with a really great couple and will share contact with them. Today we are in Lyon, it is the 3rd largest city in France according to our tour guide after Paris and Marseilles. We went with the cruise motor coach city tour in the a.m. We generally avoid these types of tours but they will drop us off in the heart of the restaurant and shopping district so off we went! First we went by some roman theater ruins and then on to the highest viewpoint in the city where the people of Lyon built a beautiful catholic basilica to honor the virgin Mary. The exterior was beautiful but the interior was completely being renovated and ... read more
Basilica of Notre Dame
Basilica of Notre Dame
Basilica of Notre Dame

Europe » France » Rhône-Alpes » Tournon-sur-Rhône July 12th 2012

After such a rich dinner last night I could barely eat breakfast. So much food and way too much wine with each course. I had a small bowl of cream of wheat and a half a piece of toast with hot tea. Perfect. Right after breakfast we got our laundry together in the bag and gave it to our cabin steward. The cruise line offered free laundry as a return guest. So nice. About 10:00 we started our walking tour and wine tasting. Kind of early to be trying wine but that is what they scheduled for us, it is noon somewhere! We went to a winery and tasted 3 wines and they were all terrible. The white was just okay but the reds were terrible. We enjoyed the village on this side of the river ... read more
River Royale
Tain Hermitage
Tain Hermitage

Europe » France » Rhône-Alpes » Viviers-du-Lac July 11th 2012

This morning we enjoyed a cool, quiet, lovely walking tour of this charming peaceful village. We walked to the smallest cathedral in all France. The difference between a cathedral and a church is that a bishop sits in a cathedral but not in a church. This cathedral has a marvelous organ and we were treated to a concert by the organist. We returned to the boat in time for lunch. After lunch they had a tour for the afternoon to lavender fields but we chose to stay on board because we already saw the lavender fields during our Sunday tour with Jane of Experience Provence. Jim and I went to the top deck and I read from some books on dining and shopping in Paris as well as upcoming burgundy wineries. The weather and scenerie were ... read more
Viviers
Viviers
Viviers

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Avignon July 10th 2012

The cruise departed from Arles while we dined last night and cruised 3 hours to Avignon. We went through one lock on this journey. The captain indicated that we would go though 15 locks on this cruise from Arles to Chalon sur Saone. Not too bad. On our previous Uniworld river cruise we went through 80+ locks, some changed the elevation of the river by 85 feet. Amazing feat. Today we decided to take the ships walking tour this a.m. because they take you inside the papal palace. Built after the papal moved from Rome in 1309 this extremely large multifaceted building included meeting and conference rooms, dining hall to serve 100+, a chapel for services, and many other rooms. 7 popes resided here before they returned to a safer Rome in the late 1300's. We ... read more
Beautiful Steeple
Palace of the Pope
Palace of the Pope

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Arles July 9th 2012

Today was our first day on the River Royale the Uniword cruise we will call home for 7 days and nights. The cruise offered several day tours of Arles, castle beax, etc. since we were already shown around Arles and most of the same tours by Jane, we chose to sleep in and walk in to Arles on our own after lunch to see the antiquities theater. We love to travel and see as much as we can but we also find that we also need some down time too. Today was that day, we slept late, went down for breakfast late and did not go on the Arles tour with the cruise guests. After lunch we walked in to Arles and found the theater and walked around the arena that was built 1st century BC. ... read more
Statue of Vincent Van Gogh

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Arles July 8th 2012

Today I booked an all day private Provence tour with Jane Satow of Experience Provence. She picked us up at our Avignon hotel when we checked out. I found Jane online and we corresponded on what we wanted to do for the day. Jane lived in Boulder CO for 11 years and graduated from CU. She married, had 3 children and now lives outside St. Remy and operates a tourist travel co. She was delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed our day with her. First stop, the famous Pont du Gard roman aqueduct built in the 1st century. Absolutely a marvelous piece of construction by the Romans. We toured and walked across the 16th century pedestrian bridge and enjoyed the musee on the building of the 30 mile long water system to Nimes. It is so amazing ... read more
Pont du Gard Roman Aqueduct
Pont du Gard Roman Aqueduct
Pont du Gard Roman Aqueduct


We have been really excited about today. I booked an all day Provence wine tour of the cote du rhone and chateauneuf du pape wine regions for us. We took a taxi downtown to the tourist info. Office where we were to meet our guide from Avignon Wine Tours. David met us along with 2 men from south Africa, Peter and Marius. We departed a little after 9:00 and drove north out of Avignon to wine country. David is a master sommelier and was so excited to share his knowledge of wine and of the Terroir of the appellation. We stopped at a vineyard of 60 year old grenach grapes so he could show us the rocky soil. This soil is not just pebbles but full blown cobblestones that are natural to the region. The avignon ... read more
Chateaunuef de Pape vineyard
Chateaunuef de Pape vineyard
Chateaunuef de Pape vineyard


It is an absolutely beautiful day in Avignon. We enjoyed the typical european breakfast and rested some more. About 11am we took a taxi to the cIty centre of the old walled city searching for a telecom/phone store to try and buy a sim card for our iPad. We went to 4 stores and no one had one. We gave up the search and walked to the popes palace and gardens. Fantastic. The roman catholic pope resided here from 1309 to 1377 when he returned to Rome. We walked and walked and walked some more through the narrow-streets of Avignon. In the gardens of the pope we found a nice bistro near a fountain and we stopped to have lunch, formage and jambon pizza and salad with shredded carrot and corn and a glass of rose ... read more
Avignon Theater
Popes Palace
Popes Palace


We had a fantastic travel day. We were picked up at home by Anthony's limo at 3:00pm and went to DIA. Everything went perfectly. We were the 1st in line at the Lufthansa counter to check our bags, walked to gate A45 and waited for boarding for our long flight to Frankfurt Germany. Jim activated his old blackberry storm to use on this trip because it has a sim card that works internationally whereas his HTC thunderbolt does not. He totally forgot features of the phone because he has not used it in over a year so he had to quick call Verizon to remember how to turn it off! Too funny. Boarding began and we now always board with the special needs group. Works for Me! We were in seats 27 H&K. We really wanted ... read more




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