farewell, adieu, goodbye Adrienne

the bulk of the group went off to a chateau (same as last time - so I skipped it) and I did some packing and reading- tonight we have the farewell dinner-

but first- a gift from the end of lunch- a small recipe book from Cyrille - we had been asking for his recipes - especially the salads!

as we ready ourselves to leave, things get drawn to a close- our page in the guest book shows up - and we get a chance to write our goodbyes to the staff and sing the praises of the fabulous cruise...

here is a photo of our wonderful friend Captain Anna- as beautiful inside as out!

the table is a masterpiece - each place setting holds a napkin in a rose shape with a real rose inside (for the ladies) or a shirtfront with bow tie (for the men)- there are ribbon wrapped scrolls and a large envelope for each couple (or single as the case may be)-

later when we sit down for dinner we find that the envelope contains the wine and cheese lists for the week as well as the labels for each of the wines we drank- - - and in the ribbon wrapped roll we find the menus for each night (which you have been seeing all along)

then on to dinner!

tonight a special treat- Chris introduces the cheese course-

he mentions that it is a favorite (speaking with perfectly french accented English) - why is it a favorite?Because it smells like the pilot (and his roommate) Stephane's feet....  then the crew comes out and sings a song they made up about "dirty old cheese, stinky old cheese!"  Marie has a microphone for the band (her rhubarb from the lock keeper's garden) and Cyrille has a kazoo to accompany Stephane on the guitar as the ladies and Chris sing back up! too too too funny... we roared applause for the performance!

  then the actual cheese course- then the dessert -

after dinner we retired to the salon for some singing to Chuck and Stephane's guitar playing- Stephane had located another guitar on a boat docked in the same location that evening and arranged for Chuck to have it for the night's entertainment!

we sang along to a number of songs and slowly people drifted off to their cabins- we have an early morning tomorrow as the little bus leaves at 8:30 -breakfast at 7:30- sadly no more 9 AM pain au chocolat and croissants....

the next morning we all hug the staff and slobber all over them about how fabulous they are and the trip has been- Cyrille drives the bus and Stephane comes along with Anna and Chris, because he will be the one who takes the group back to Paris.  The group and Stephane all get on the train and then Cyrille and Chris and Anna meet us on our train platform to say final goodbyes as we head off to Lyon on the TGV...

I could go on and on - and really I have but this is simply A PERFECT TRIP... a week being coddled in every way by warm welcoming friendly crew members - having lots of fun and eating and drinking amazing food and wine.... it is just the BEST!!!

so good that we are planning to corral Steve and Suzanne (our brother and sister in law) into doing this for their 20th anniversary in 2016- and trying to convince Larry to join us... I know it is a great plan! and it will give us the excuse we need to return - this time in two years rather than nine!!!!

a sunny Saturday

As I mentioned in the last post - on Saturday we decided to go to the Musee d'Orsay on our (now four) passes from the hotel.

These days despite many transgressions - supposedly no photography is allowed - therefore all I have are a few shots of the architectural features which continue to WOW the visitors to the converted train station - now a leading world art museum with one of the most amazingly collections of paintings anywhere-

from the windows on the top of the d'Orsay you could see Sacre Coeur- our afternoon destination-

We exited the museum around 12:30 and for lunch we stopped across from the Metro stop before heading up to Montmartre... I had oysters which were fabulous - and a Croque Monsieur which was not... it was a pedestrian meal - chosen for location versus food quality.  We headed down stairs to buy a series of tickets for our afternoon of travel on the metro and the funicular up to Sacre Coeur - and returning back to Rue du Bac.

everyone else in Paris had the same idea on a sunny Saturday afternoon so we drank in the center of the Place du Tertre along with several hundreds of others and enjoyed our afternoon.  After refreshing ourselves we did a short walk around some of the sights (the vineyard, the windmill, some art coming out of walls or art ON the walls LOL

for dinner we tried a new place called Les Climats - it focuses on Burgundian food and wine (in preparation for the barge trip in Burgundy this coming week)

the place was absolutely gorgeous and the food suited the setting as well- and I should mention the wine list - which was stellar-

a beauty of a wine cellar and a stunning deco bar-

as we exited - a man inquired whether we had enjoyed the place and we said "we had - very much"...he then proceeded to tell us that the building had been the dormitory for the women who worked the telegraph and telephone office back when women couldn't live without chaperones LOL

we headed back to the hotel to collect our laundry and pack for our week on the barge- only to find that everything was returned except my black pants- needless to say this hotel will never be a repeat experience

The good news was that they had located them before we checked out on Sunday morning after yet another good breakfast... from there we headed to the Hotel Raphael for our 2 PM meeting point for the barge trip.  We did a quick walk on the Champs Elysee and remembered why we always stay on the Rive Gauche.  We headed to the hotel bar for our free drink and a quick bite (2 salmon club sandwiches split between the four of us.)

while in the bar we met Joe and Pat from Santa Barbara and Jerry and Ellen from Philly - and were greeted by Stephane the pilot (rather than Anna the captain we expected..) - The transit is now by van (motor coach) rather than TGV (not an improvement) Stephane  rounds up the group for the Adrienne twelve people can be accommodated in the six cabins so we are already 1/3 of the group - we have met another 1/3 and the remaining members join us in the van outside - they are another Joe, and his friend and former neighbor Jack and Joe's wife Gayle (who I always wants to call Gladys- LOL)

We head into the heart of the countryside and the world's premier wine growing region Burgundy... now some may argue otherwise but most aficionados - even if Bordeaux drinkers - will admit the truth.  Centuries of exploration of terrior create - when all the stars are aligned so to speak- the most sublime wines on the planet.  We're spending the next week exploring the area in a boat that goes 35 miles in 6 days- LOL...
so follow along with us - as we take a journey which could not be any better in any way---

hardly anything in life is perfect - but this is one week that was completely perfect...from our arrival at the Adrienne until our departure for Lyon at the TGV station in the countryside of Burgundy- and you will be able to follow along as we enjoy our journey....