Wednesday -Viviers

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Although it is Thursday after lunch I am just beginning to recount what happened on Wednesday. Our days are so full that it is hard to remember what we did yesterday so I sit here with the daily program to help me remember. We have some free time this afternoon as we travel to Lyon so I will try and catch you up. I will start with Wednesday.
Our day started with the breakfast of the day, waffles with chocolate sauce. Need I say more....I couldn't have asked for a better way to wake up! Of course I had to also have a chocolate croissant! The croissants are petit which is a good thing!
We spent the night anchored on the Rhone as there was not enough room at the marina Viviers for our ship. The marina is located between the Escoutay and the Rhone. There was room for only 2 boats at the marina. We went for a walking tour of Viviers, originally known as the Vivarium (the food and supply centre). They say this town hasn't changed with time, that it remains the same. It was a beautiful town, very small in the L'Ardeche region with a population of 3,500. The architecture dates back to the 5th century and the main attraction is the Chateauvieux rock at Belvedere where St. Vincent Cathedral was built in the 12th century. Another highlight was the house of knights. We visited the rues: Arceau, Corbeau, Chevrerie and Main street. We had a private organ concert at Cathedrale de Viviers by Verery Imbernon who drove 2 hours to perform for our group. We finished our walking tour and had a few minutes to shop in the ONLY store in town! It was a pottery store and everything was locally made. Of course I found an adorable dish with a cat, they have lots of cats in Viviers.
We boarded the ship for lunch and set sail this time for Tournan and Tain-L'Hermitage. We have been traveling through many locks, I think there will be 9 total locks we have to pass for the entire cruise. The weather is beautiful, a bit cooler than it's been and we sat upstairs on the deck observing the beautiful countryside speckled with vineyards and small towns.
Tonights meal was considered the Epicurean Adventurer, this is the first year it has been offered by Uniworld. I do feel the need to comment here about the luxury of the ship. Our room has beautiful fabric walls with matching drapes. The drapes blockout the light so wonderfully that we don't even know it's morning. Our bed linens, pillow cases, quilts and towels are all monogrammed UW (Uniworld) and we have beautiful L'Occitane shampoo, bath soaps and lotion at our disposal. We have fresh water delivered in a carafe every day and there is CNN and CNBC available plus a daily movie.
We had an afternoon lecture on the deck and then it was time for our gourmet meal. I had to ask for a copy of the menu today as I couldn't even remember the details but it has been my favorite meal on board but I can now share with you.
We started with Amuse Bouche, La salade de crevettes (fresh shrimp salad) followed by an appetizer of Les ravioles de Romans aux cepes et parmesan (Roman raviolis with porcini sauce and grated paremsan). These were the tiniest raviolis and my favorite dish of the night! Soup: Le veloute "Faubonne" - French white bean soup was followed by our entree: Le carre d'agneau en croute de moutarde et fines herbes, sauce vin rouge au romarin, trilogie de haricots et puree de pommes de terre a Pail et a Phuile d'olives (Roasted rack of lamb with mustard herb crust, rosemary red wine sauce, bean potpourri with olive oil and garlic flavourded mashed potatoes. This came in a close second to the ravioli! Our dessert: Le croustillant "Guanaja" au Baileys - caramelized puff pastry layer with Guanaja cream and Baileys custard. We had Macon Pierreclos - 2007 Bourgogne white wine with the first courses, Chateau des Applanats, Beaume de Venise - Cotes du Rhone with our entree and Muscat de Beaume de Venise as our dessert wine.
It was a lovely meal that we shared with some new friends. We began to go for a walk to visit the twin cities of Tournan and Tain but it was raining. However, after chatting with friends we took a chance (and an umbrella) and ventured out. The rain stopped within a few minutes and we walked from Tain L'Hermitage across the walking bridge to Tournon. Along the way we met up with other people from the ship and we walked through the town together for almost an hour. We walked along the main street passing bistros and pubs, mostly all of them beginning to close for the evening but we all agreed that we needed a long walk after the epicurean meal we just ate.

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Photos

Impasse du Pain Bis & de la Brioche
AKA Bakers Row

St. Vincent Cathedral
Cathedrale de Viviers by Verery Imbernon

Poterie
The only shop in town!

Comments

[Lori Steers]

Yummy
I think I am gaining weight just reading your blogs. Sounds like you are both having a wonderful time and I appreciate you sharing it.

[Mom]

ship
The ship sounds fantastic. Not like most river boats. It sounds really luxurious. This is good information and I am sure really adding to the touring experience. It sounds like you are really able to to see and do much! Keep on moving.