A CRUISE UP THE SEINE TO NORMANDY

OUR BOAT, THE VIKING SPIRIT AT ITS DOCK IN PARIS

I guess that this page should be called "The Cruise - Part 2". Those of you who follow our trips should know that last October, we went on an ill-fated cruise on the Rhine with the Viking River Cruises. Unfortunately, the Rhine was at a 30 year low and we spent most of our time on buses, instead of on-board a ship. Here is a link to that page. Viking offered us a nice discount on our "next cruise", and here we are - sailing up the Seine from Paris to Normandy. As opposed to the Rhine, the Seine suffers from high levels, rather than low levels, but this cruise went off without a hitch, and we enjoyed it very much. The only complaint we had was that it was very very cold...

This cruise program starts in Paris, and then sails into Normandy and returns to Paris. The stops include Vernon, Rouen, a drive to the Normandy beaches, a stop at Les Andelys in order to drive to Giverny, and than a stop in Conflans. There were also 2 optional tours for those who wanted to visit the Louvre, or Versailles. We didn't take part in the optional tours but we did start our own trip with 2 nights in a hotel in Paris. Below is a description of this trip.

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OUR HOTEL,
THE SULLY ST. GERMAINE

In Paris we stayed at the Sully St. Germain Hotel located on Rue des Ecoles in the Latin quarter. This hotel turned out to be the best 3 star hotel we've stayed at in Paris. It is completely renovated with a medieval motif, it has loads of restaurants and stores close by, and best of all, the room we had was quite large by European standards. We were very pleased. The price was 135 Euros per night without breakfast. To the left is a picture of the hotel front. On this street are 3 other 3 star hotels.

For breakfasts, we visited several of the many patisseries/boulangeries in the neighborhood. We found one about 2 minutes from the hotel which is noted as one of the best in Paris. The pastries were fantastic and the croissants the best we had in France. The name of this particular boulangerie is "Eric Kayser, Artistic Boulanger", and there are several throughout the city. We visited the one on Rue Monge, where there are actually 2 Kayser stores. We ate at the cafe where they served coffee, but up the street is a straight bakery where there was always a long line of customers.

HERE'S A TYPICALLY BEAUTIFUL SERVING OF CROISSANT, AND COFFEE IN A FRENCH CAFE

ALISA SHOPPING
ON RUE CLER

In Paris we strolled around for almost 3 full days, as the first day on the cruise starts in the evening and the boat doesn't leave Paris until the second evening. The highlight of our strolling was a visit to Rue Cler, one of the nicest market streets in Paris. To the right is a picture of Alisa in her favorite place - a produce store on Rue Cler.

We ate in 2 great restaurants, where I had made reservations via email. The first was the Petit Prince de Paris, which is about a 2 minute walk from the hotel. We had a great meal here for about 70 Euros including a nice bottle of white wine. To the left is a picture of the nicest dish we had - grilled scallops with chorizo (spicy Spanish sausage) and an herb and potato puree.

SCALLOPS AND CHORIZO
AT THE PETIT PRINCE

NICOLE AND ALISA
AT THE RELAIS D'LISLE

The second restaurant was "Relais de L'Isle". The latter restaurant is tiny, and is located on the Isle Saint Louis, which is the island next to the island where Notre dame is located. Here, the place is run by Nicole, who is owner, waitress, hostess, and maybe she cooks as well. She is tireless and although service was a little slow, the overall experience was just great. The price was about the same as in the Petit Prince. To the right is a picture of Nicole and Alisa.

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As noted above, the cruise officially starts on a Sunday afternoon, but the boat leaves Paris on Monday evening. On Monday morning, we took a bus tour of Paris to view the highlights, and then were on our own after lunch. On Tuesday morning, we arrived in Vernon, a small town about 100 KM from Paris by road.

PLACES OF INTEREST
IN VERNON

VERNON

One of the highlights of visiting Vernon was supposed to be a visit to Monet's house and gardens. Unfortunately, the place isn't open until April 1, so our cruise program was rearranged a bit in order to visit there later in the week on the way back to Paris. We had a guided tour of Vernon, which is a pleasant little town with plenty of shops for shopping. To the left a picture of the main church in town (Notre Dame) with one of the oldest buildings in town.

THE CHURCH OF
JOAN OF ARK IN ROUEN

Our next stop was Rouen, the largest city in the Normandy area with a metropolitan population of over 500,000 residents. Rouen also has a beautiful cathedral called Notre Dame, but the city is best known as the city where Joan of Ark was tried, condemned and burned at the stake. The church bearing her name is very beautiful and unusual and is architecturally impressive. It is designed as an overturned boat, with some of the windows shaped like fish. Here are 2 pictures, to the right and left, one of the inside and one of the outside.
Here is a link called Rouen Index with lots of information about Rouen.

THE CHURCH OF
JOAN OF ARK IN ROUEN

ABOUT JOAN OF ARK
"THE MAID OF HEAVEN"

JOAN OF ARK
WHO WAS SHE?

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ALL ABOUT OPERATION OVERLORD

THE NORMANDY BEACHES

A PERSONAL VISIT TO NORMANDY

ABOUT.COM ON POINTE DU HOC

A TERRIFIC INTERACTICE SITE ABOUT THE BATTLE OF POINTE DU HOC

A PERSONAL DESCRIPTION OF A TOUR TO NORMANDY

From our dock in Rouen, we took a bus to the Normandy beaches. Our first stop was Arromanches, near Gold Beach, one of the English landing sites and where a museum dedicated to D-Day is located. It is also famous for being the site of an artificial harbor built by the allies in order to supply their armies after the Normandy invasion.
We visited the museum, Omaha beach, the American Cemetery, and Pointe du Hoc, where American Rangers fought a heroic battle. The cemetery is beautiful and moving. To the right is a picture of Alisa admiring the monument at the entrance to the American cemetery. To the left and below right are a few links about Normandy.

ALISA VIEWING THE MONUMENT AT THE
ENTRANCE TO THE AMERICAN CEMETERY

This day in Normandy was blessed with the best weather day we had on this trip. The weather was absolutely perfect - cold, but sunny and beautiful.

WELCOME
TO NORMANDY

ALL ABOUT
NORMANDY

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As I mentioned earlier, our ship's Captain changed the ship's itinerary so that we could visit Monet Foundation in Giverny. The ship docked in Les Andelys just long enough for us to disembark and board busses. From there we drove to Giverny and separately, the boat continued to Les Mantes la Jolie.

TULIPS IN
MONET'S GARDEN

The Monet Foundation in Giverny includes the house where Claude Monet lived for 43 years and where he created many of his most famous works. He himself created the gardens and pools which he painted many times and are among his most famous works. The beginning of the visit was in a cold rain, but by the end of the visit the sun came out and we took some beautiful pictures. Pictures to the right and left.

MONET'S FAMOUS GARDEN AND BRIDGE

ABOUT.COM - REFERENCE PHOTOS FOR ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

Our boat was delayed navigating through one of the Seine's locks so we had to kill an hour by visiting La Roche Guyon where there is a castle which served German General Rommel as headquarters when he commanded the Normandy front. It wasn't a very exciting visit as the rain had returned and everyone was eager to return to the boat.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION AND A PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE GARDENS

We docked in Paris at around 7 PM on Saturday night before Easter morning. We had enough time to run to the nearest supermarket to pick up a few items we wanted to take home. All in all, we enjoyed the cruise experience and would definitely consider doing it again. We met some nice people with whom we will stay in contact, and saw an interesting and historical part of France.