August 16 thru Sep 2nd - Paris to Avignon Cruise - Viking Longship Rolf and Viking Longship Buri.

Itinerary and Overview

Viking Longship Buri
Paris to Normandy and return Lyon to Avignon
 
  • Thu - Depart for Paris - Air France Flight 65, 3:15pm
  • Fri - Arrive in Paris, 11AM - check into Melia Vendome and dinner on the Seine.
  • Sat - Leisurely Breakfast then the Louvre.
  • Sun - Travel to the boat and join the River Cruise.
  • Mon - Paris - Panoramic Paris, 6.5 hrs
  • Tue - Vernon, France - Monet Foundation Giverny, 3.5 hrs and Vernon Walking Tour, 1hr
  • Wed - Rouen, France - Rouen Walking Tour, 2 hrs
  • Thu - Rouen, France - Normandy Beaches: US, 11 hrs
  • Fri - Les Andelys, France - Chateau Gaillard Walking Tour, 1.5 hrs
  • Sat - Mantes-La_jolie, France - The Palace of Versailles, 4.5 hrs
  • Sun - To Lyon by train
  • Mon - Lyon, France - Panoramic Lyon, 4 hrs
  • Tue - Lyon, France - Beaujolais Wine Country, 4.5 hrs
  • Wed - Vienne, France - Vienne Walking Tour, 3 hrs
  • Thu - Tournon, France - Tournon Steam Train, 4 hrs and Viviers Walking Tour, 1.5 hrs
  • Fri - Avignon, France - Chateauneuf-de-pape Wine Tasting, 4 hrs.
  • Sat - Arles, France - Arles Walking Tour, 3.5 hrs
  • Sun - Avignon, France and flight home. Air France Flight 7873 - 7:05am, Arrive LAX 12:50pm.
 
A river cruise on Viking with our good friends Rick and Judy. The cruise has 3 days in Paris to visit the Louvre, Versailles and a city tour to see the beautiful sights of Paris. Lyon includes a visit to wineries in the Beaujolais region.

It was a wonderful trip. Going in early to the Louvre was the best thing we did. We had a great guide, the Louvre was relatively uncrowded and the art was spectacular. Why are the bakeries in France so much better than here?
Seeing Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery, with over 10,000 American graves, was very moving. I can't even begin to imagine what those men went through. Viking arranged a short special service for us.
Versailles was magnificent but so overcrowded inside and cold and windy outside.
The first 7 day cruise to Normandy and back was exhausing. Large crowds and long days. The gardens at Givernay were beautiful. Designed and implented by Claude Monet himself.

The 2nd seven days, Lyon to Avernon were very refreshing and beautiful. Towns with lots of sidewalk cafes to eat and sip a glass of wine at, history, wine and churches. Lots of churches. The mistral winds came up the last day at Arles, and Avignon, but the weather the rest of the trip was beautiful. I can't forget to mention the highspeed train we took from Paris to Lyon. Pretty awesome. It got up to 190mph in places.

While we had a spectacular ship we will not take Viking again for a few reasons. First of all their ships hold 190 passengers, ours was full. Most other riverboats hold 150 or less. Second because of the single seating dinner everybody was in the dining room at the same time. So even though all the waiters hustled like crazy with everybody ordering drinks at the same time, ordering the dinners at the same time, eating at the same time, service was a little slow and the noise volume was very high. You also had no time to talk to the waiters about recommendations or dish descriptions. We ended up eating upstairs on the Aquavit terrace where we had a fantastic waitress, Dida. After finding that we never went back to the dinning room for breakfast, lunch or dinner.