Traveling in France #2

 Sunday, May 22, 2022

We enjoyed a breakfast of croissants, coffee, juice, and fruit as we began a day of cruising on the La Saône River. 

This only happened once--two boats in the lock at the same time

We made sandwiches for lunch and enjoyed them on the upper deck. We tied up early at Mantoche and planned to find a restaurant for our evening meal. However, it was Sunday, all restaurants were closed, and we had to fend for ourselves. Sally made scrambled eggs with bacon bits, cheese, and diced tomato with bread on the side. The best strawberries ever topped the meal.

Inside the Cathedral

Monday, May 23, 2022

Today we had occasional light rain and learned that restaurants are closed on Sunday and Monday. After leaving Mantoche, we traveled a short distance, tied up in the city of Gray (population of about 6,000), and found a small bakery nearly sold out. We were able to order and enjoy some French pastries.

Waiting for our order

We were fortunate to find a supermarche (supermarket), and we all searched through the store to locate what we needed, filling a large grocery cart. Rather than carry all the items, including heavy water bottles, we took the grocery cart back to the boat and unloaded it. Jim pushed the cart back to the store while we stored the groceries. We enjoyed ham, baked potatoes, and salad for our evening meal.

Traveling in France #1

 Saturday, May 21, 2022

The buffet breakfast served at the Oceania Hotel in Dijon was delicious. Then it was time to meet Ann for a pre-arranged winery tour. She explained that wineries are small and family-owned and shared information about soil, that they do not irrigate, that it's better to have vines further up the hill for better wine, and much more. 

Vinyard overlooking a small village

Translation: The property or area of Bart

Returning from the winery tour, we shopped for groceries and loaded them, all our luggage, and all six of us in a hired van to take us to the boat launch site. Ross checked in at the LeBoat site and had a short practice run made somewhat tricky because the instructor didn't speak English. 

Ready to board

We departed from St. Jean Laroche at 5 p.m., passing through our first lock at 7 o'clock, and then tied up for the night in Auxomme. 

Entering the first of 31 locks

Not as proficient as they would be later, Ross and Jim made several attempts to get the boat in the proper position to tie up. We had sandwiches on board for our evening meal. 

Day Two in Amsterdam and More

    After a good night's sleep, we were ready for day two. First, we had a delicious breakfast at The Times Hotel. Looking at our map, we figured it would be a 30-minute walk to the Van Gogh Museum in time to meet our traveling companions. However, it took much longer. 

Again, we stopped and asked other pedestrians. Street names are hard to pronounce and remember if someone gives directions. We realized that our pronunciation of Van Gogh confused some of the natives. They pronounce it with a harsh sound, like "van gok."

The canals sometimes confused the direction we were going, and the streets weren't running a true north/south/east/west, but eventually, we reached the museum. 

The entrance to the museum is through the building on the left, where we descended escalators and then took stairs and elevators to other levels in the building on the right. We each had an earpiece explaining some of the significant pieces of art. Last year the Indianapolis Museum of art had a Lume exhibit highlighting Van Gogh's art, making it more personal for us. 

Our lunch at a nearby outdoor cafe had giant umbrellas above each table. The umbrellas spared us from getting drenched when a heavy downpour began as we were waiting for our order. Our next stop was the Ricks Museum, home of many Dutch masterpieces, only a short distance from the cafe. We wandered through the museum, getting lost occasionally. Besides the paintings of the masters, there were other items to see.

 

We took the advice of our friends and took a cab back to the hotel to avoid getting lost as we were earlier in the day.

The following day, Friday, May 20, we were up at 5 a.m. We had ordered a taxi for 6:15 to take us to the Bla Bla Car bus station for our trip to France. At first, we were the only ones waiting and weren't sure we were in the right place. Soon others arrived, and after talking to several people, everyone concluded the bus was late. Finally, a bus came, and we all boarded and were on our way to Paris to catch a train. The bus stopped for passengers in Rotterdam and later for lunch and a restroom break. We purchased something from McDonald's as it seemed to be the best choice at the time. 

At another stop, a new driver took over. We finally arrived in Paris and traveled through many neighborhoods before coming to the bus terminal. From here, we had train tickets to Dijon. Fortunately, a young fellow traveler helped us find the Bercy train station, which was only a short walk, but there were no signs indicating where to go. We still had a 3-hour train ride, finally arriving in Dijon later than expected because of the delayed bus ride from Amsterdam. 

We walked to the hotel from the station and checked in. The staff was pleasant and told us that our friends were at a local restaurant, not knowing when we would arrive. We stowed our luggage in the room, headed to the restaurant, and enjoyed a late dinner, explaining why we were late and catching up on their day. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a refreshing shower before retiring. The hotel room was spacious by European standards.

A replica of the Arc de Triomphe greeted us
on our way to the restaurant in Dijon

That concludes our third day. 

Back Again to Blogging!

    The last time I wrote, we had returned home from our trip to Florida for the National Senior Games. Earlier in May, Gloria and Ross invited us to join them and another couple on an adventure in France. The original third couple had to cancel, and we were taking their place. We had one day at home repacking for our next trip. 

   

    We were on our way to O’Hare by 9:15 am on May 17 and arrived at the Holiday Inn Express, where we parked our car. We had time to fill the gas tank. $101 is the most we’ve ever paid. We also purchased a sandwich before boarding the shuttle bus to the air terminal. The lines waiting to go through security were long. Even with a nearly full flight, The KLM plane took off on time. Some seven-plus hours later, we landed in Amsterdam. I enjoyed watching the movie King Richard with Will Smith, playing the father of Venus and Serena Williams.

    

    Our first task was finding an ATM so we’d have Euros when we needed cash. A pleasant young lady helped us get a minimum amount. We wanted to make another withdrawal but were denied. We tried several other ATMs and finally gave up, thinking a bank or hotel might be a better option. 

    We asked several people and learned the best way to Amsterdam Central was by train. After exiting the train, we asked a young man if he knew the hotel where we were to meet our traveling companions. He took us to the front of the building and pointed in the direction we needed to go, not far away. We stayed on the sidewalk and were amazed at the number of cyclists on the street. 

Bicycles Racks

Cyclists everywhere

    When we reached the hotel, Gloria, Ross, Sally, and Jim were finishing breakfast. We made plans for the rest of the day and were on our way to the Times Hotel, where we had a room for two nights. We walked the distance, checked in, and not much later, we walked again toward the Ann Frank Huis without our suitcases. We lost track of the times we asked local people how to get to where we wanted to go. Everyone immediately pulled out their phone to look for directions. Very willing and helpful! Amsterdam is a maze of canals and streets!

The Times Hotel

    Before touring the house, we listened to an excellent introduction to the museum. I’ve known the story of Ann Frank for many years but have not read her diaries published by her father several years after the death of Ann and her sister from typhus. After being removed from their hiding place for 24 months, they were sent to a camp. The conditions in the camp were horrendous, and disease killed many.

A timeline of Anne Frank’s life

        Later, our friends had reservations for a canal tour. We boarded the boat and enjoyed the narration, cheese, and wine as we cruised through the canals of Amsterdam. 

Gloria, Ross, Sally, Jim & Ray on the canal cruise

Typical buildings along the canal

  At the end of the canal cruise, we were ready to return to our room. We were sleep-deprived, having no sleep during our overnight flight.

We hired a driver to take us back to The Times Hotel

Day 1 was long, with many more adventures ahead.