Go to Part One – Hamburg

IF ANYONE GOT A DOUBLE POST OF THE HAMBURG TRIP REPORT – SORRY! OPERATOR ERROR.

Sorry for all the photos. I save them for myself for the most part. Enjoy if you like.

Mecklenburg is a historical region in what is now northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Gustrow. It is very flat with lots of marshes which serve as habitat form many migrating birds.

The war was not kind to northern Germany. All of the towns we visited were bombed into oblivion in 1944 when the war was pretty much over. The Allies wanted revenge. They had a checklist and they managed to bomb every city on it. Very sad for those of us now who will never see what these places were like. It must have been very hard for them to recover.

After WWII it was under communist rule. A particularly brutal era. Much of the communist era architecture still remains. They have tried to brighten up the buildings and soften the harsh edges, but you can still see the bones.

Nowadays there is something called Oststalgia. Or nostalgia for the former GDR, east Germany. It has been 36 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Many of those who wish to go back to those bad old days weren’t alive then. They have no idea. Those who CAN remember, remember selectively. I visited East Germany in 1990 before reunification. It was not pretty.

Saturday 17 October
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We rose and packed up. Had a good breakfast as always. We checked out and taxied to the Hauptbahnhof where we were supposed to pick up our rental car from Sixt. Our Taxi driver was a weirdo. But sort of entertaining. He did tell us that it was the beginning of the two week autumn school vacation.

We found Sixt. The agent, named Nadir was slimy. I had reserved a VW Golf or similar. He said he wanted to upgrade us to a Peugeot C3. I said no I wanted the VW. He then said it was the only car they had. So we said ok. Then he tried to upsell us everywhere. Finally he looked to get the key, called someone and then said the Peugeot had malfunctioning windowshield wipers. Magically another car was available 🙄. An Audi A3. We said fine. He then began emphasizing the necessity (to him) for us to give him five stars as a rating when we got the survey. He seemed terrified that we wouldn’t give him the maximum amount. We got the contract and had to walk with another person to a car park to get the car. About 6 minute walk. He brought the Audi out and it was a very nice car. Shiny black and very comfortable with every possible bell and whistle. 

We were off to Warnemunde on the Baltic Sea. About a two hour and fifteen minute drive. About two hours into the drive Luther’s phone started ringing. He ignored it. They called right back. So I knew whoever it was they wanted us to answer. The number was a German number. Luther answered and it was Sixt. They were demanding we bring back the car(!!) They said they had given us the wrong car, that we were uninsured, all manner of lies, I am sure. I do think he made a mistake, and was desperately trying to get himself out of trouble. We told him he could come and get it if he wanted it. We also threatened to take away some of his stars! 😬 We later checked the contract they had emailed. The car we had matched the one on the contract. It was not the wrong car. Maybe he shouldn’t have rented it to us, but that’s not our fault. About half an hour later he called back. Claimed it wasn’t him who had called. It was a “trainee”. Yeah, right. And that they had remedied the problem, that there was no issue anymore. That we really, really need to give him five ⭐️s. I feel bad that these people are so terrified of this customer rating system. But this man is the biggest liar since “you know who”. I really would have given him a good rating even though he didn’t deserve it, but after all these other shenanigans I can’t give him five. We will probably decline to rate at all. We don’t want to participate in this.

We arrived  in Warnemunde with no problem and we were hungry. With some difficulty we found a place to eat. Backstube Broilers. We had chuckled at the reviews we read. Apparently the specialty is rotisserie chicken with an array of sauces sourced from around the Baltic and the former GDR — East Germany. The reviews were mostly that the chicken was too small. So we steered away from that. Luther got a schnitzel and I got chicken cutlet cordon bleu. Luther got one of the Baltic sauces, he loved it even though he said it looked like someone had thrown up on his plate. 😉 The food was pretty tasty.

Warnemunde was very crowded. A lot of families with kids had come to the popular resort for the school holidays. We went to a REWE supermarket and bought a bit of ham and cheese and brotchen for sandwiches, and some wine. We found our hotel — the Kurpark hotel. It is a couple blocks from the sea. By now it was very windy, quite cold and spitting rain. Not at all pleasant, so we decided to stay in. I think tomorrow should be a nicer day. I hope so anyway!

The hotel is an old, perhaps early 20th century, building with just nineteen rooms. It gets 4 stars in the German rating system, but I don’t think it should. It does have a sauna and a spa. It also claims to have an elevator but I think that is a real stretch. There is a central staircase that goes up maybe ten steps to a landing and then ten more steps to the first floor of rooms, and so on up to floor three. Thing is. The elevator is on each landing. Let that sink in. You cannot get upstairs, or down, in the elevator without climbing a flight of stairs. And there are ten stairs from the parking lot to the front door. I hate stairs so that’s an important thing for me. I picked this hotel because it had an elevator. I can do the stairs, but it is hard on my knees. Oh well.

Sunday 18 October
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We decided to explore Warnemunde on Sunday because it wasn’t the best weather and we figured everything would be closed in the big cities. It turned out to be a good decision, 

We headed for the sea which was about two blocks. I spied a shop with some nice things for sale, among which were hats. I decided I needed a stocking cap to keep warm. I bought a nice teal one to go with my jacket. I was wearing jeans, a camisole, a turtleneck knit shirt, a light down vest and rainproof jacket with hood. I was quite warm inside. We walked to the big promenade along the sea. I took some pictures along the walk. As we approached the harbor, I saw one of the objects of our tour, the lighthouse. And just next to it, the Teepott, a communist era building with a restaurant among other things. It is a modern (for the time) building with a butterfly shaped roof. The communists were trying to show the world how modern they were.

We turned when we reached the very active harbor. There was a big cruise ship here when we arrived. There are also a lot of ferries that traverse the Baltic to other countries. Finally we found an indoor place to eat a light lunch. There were plenty of places to eat a big, heavy lunch inside, or there were stands where you could get a sandwich and eat outside, but we wanted light and indoors.  Hard to find! We had reservations at a super nice place that evening so we didn’t want to eat too much. 

We continued our walk as we headed back in the direction of our hotel. There were a lot of small streets with many shops along the way. One street in particular had little tiny houses with tall peaked roofs. Looked very fairytale like. 

We later went to Zum Stromer for dinner. It is a very sweet looking place with maybe twelve tables. On one side a raised bar. There was a small fireplace that looked to have been used. We had the most marvelous waiter. She was an aspiring actor who was studying acting in Berlin during the week and spending weekends in Warnemunde at the Zum Stromer. She had a great personality and easy way about her. She will make a great actor I am sure.

Our meal was good. We had a very nice Sauvignon blanc wine. This was essentially a fish restaurant. We started with matjes herring three ways. Luther had tried herring once before and never again tried it. He decided to give it another try. It was quite good. I had a couple tastes. Then we had three types of fish on a beet purée, with lots of other cooked vegetables. Also a very nice dish. I loved the puréed beets. 

We bade our new actor friend farewell and best of luck in her future. It was a dark walk back. 

Monday 19 October
~~~~~~
We decided to visit Rostock this day. It was about a 30 minute drive. We found the parking garage and exited into the city. Spotting what looked like a shopping street we walked in that direction. It was indeed a pedestrian street. We walked to the near end and came to the main platz. The Rathaus/city hall was very odd looking. It had what looked like a wall with watch towers on top. We wandered the shopping street. So much fast food! We were not looking for fast food but it was a Monday and so many places are on their rest day on Monday. 

We walked down to the Warnov River. I’m sure in summer it would be a happening spot. Not now so much. There were industries right along the promenade. But we did come to a row of restaurants. Only two were open. We chose the German place. It was nice. They had lots of fresh fish. I had cod Luther had Zander. We had a nice view of the river. 

We returned to Warnemunde and bought stuff for a picnic in our room. It was a nice day. 

Tuesday 20 October
~~~~~~
We checked out of the Kurpark hotel. Since our next town is not far at all from here, we decided to visit Stralsund which is farther east. It is on the Baltic and a river which separates it from Rugen – a large island. Stralsund turned out to be a nice city, it was my favorite. We could see the two giant domes of the two big churches from miles out. All of the cities up on this coast use tons of bricks in the construction. Many are older places that survived the bombings. Stralsund has a brick wall all the way around it. And there are houses built into the wall. They look charming.

We entered through a tor. A gate. Of brick of course. And walked to the Alter Markt. It was a pretty, big square with the Rathaus, the remains of the Nikolai Kirche, and lots of shops and cafes.

It was cold so no sitting outside. We picked a place right nearby for lunch — Wulflam Stuben . Right on the square. At first it was a little off putting. Everyone was silent. No talking. Just like automatons eating. But eventually more people came and it was better. I had the best stuffed cabbage I’ve ever eaten. My mouth waters even now. So good.

After lunch we walked a bit around the town and then decided it was time to drive to our next destination. It was called Bad Doberan. Also near the sea. The hotel is a bit quirky but that’s ok. The room is nice and comfortable. Better than Kurpark hotel,

Wednesday 21 October
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We had breakfast, which was the least of them all, but good enough. We planned a trip to Wismar this day. It is just about 50 minutes away. It is cold, high of 12C and rainy. We soldiered on. The ride was pretty and bucolic. We saw the spires of Wismar from afar. 

We found parking within an easy walk to the town square. We were right next to Sankt Marien Kirche. Or what was once that church. The bombs came and after the smoke cleared there was just the front left with its bell tower. From the pictures you can see where the nave and all the vaults used to be. They have put markers where each column used to be and marked the walls. It was sad. So much up here was lost.

We walked into the town in drizzle. I’m dressed in layers and was quite comfortable. We saw some of the ubiquitous brick buildings. They had some amazing bricklayers. They are beautifully ornate. The square is the biggest in Germany. It has some nice buildings typical of the region. We wandered the shopping streets. A nice city.

We went to Restsurant Schwedenwache. It was lovely. Cozy. Old fashioned. Full of carved wood. The waitresses wear dirndl dresses. We have found so many wonderful German restaurants up here. Something that we noticed have disappeared in the West German areas. The former East hasn’t changed as much and I liked that about it. I had a delicious steak dish on tagliatelle. It was called — Rinderstrifen vom deutschen bio-rind, medium gebraten alf italianische taglietelle, picant gewurst mit cherry-tomaten, cashew kernen und gran biraghi. A real mouthful!

I told my Italian teacher about this dish today in my class. She was appalled. You never, ever have a meat dish with pasta. In italy pasta is always a separate course. It can have ragu of meat, but that is all. No spaghetti and meatballs in italia!

I bought another hat. I had seen it when walking about and decided I needed to have it 😁 so we returned to the shop and I got it. A souvenir. 

Thursday 22 October
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Last day for touristing.  I was thrilled when the sun came out. First sun we have seen since being on the north coast. Today we rode on the Mecklinburg Coastal Railway Molli. It is a narrow gauge, coal burning steam train. The oldest in Europe. It travels 15 kilometers in 40 minutes. It goes down the narrow streets of Bad Doberan, then on to towns by the sea through some very old forests and gigantic fields. Really pretty! 

Here is some of the scenery along the way.

We ate dinner in our hotel and it was ok. Not as good as our last two days of lunches, but we got fed. Tomorrow we leave here about eight and drive to Hamburg airport, drop off the car and fly from Hamburg to Munich, and then to Bologna. We pick up the car and drove home. It will be a long day.

Best and worst
Best Hotel – St. Nickolai in Hamburg. Worst hotel – Kurpark Hotel Warnemunde.
Best Lunch – Stralsund. Worst Lunch – First lunch in Hamburg
Best dinner – Wohlers, Hamburg. Worst dinner – Hotel Pension Bellvue, Bad Doberan
Best flight – Austrian air. Great hot shrimp lunch provided. Nice wines. Worst fight, Lufthansa.

Observations
They seem to be pillow challenged up in north Germany. They were nearly all flat, not plump. Even the nice Hamburg hotel. Luther enjoyed the nice Audi A3 on the sparsely trafficked autobahns with no speed limits. Thanks SIXT (NOT!)! I was sorry I didn’t get to see the tens of thousands of migratory cranes which pass through the wetlands. I was surprised the mature forests survived the war and communism. There were Adirondack chairs in Munich airport. Austria air wins the flights competition…and the women attendants wear red tights.

Go to Part One – Hamburg

Another trip report.

Part two – Mecklenburg/Pomerania

We left our home and little Simba in the capable hands of Tati. We headed an overnight in Bologna where we left the car. 

Tuesday 13 October
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We took the shuttle to the airport. Our flight on Austrian was this time on business class. Our first time doing that for an intra-Europe flight. The best part is that we could use the lounge. I had a cappuccino and croissant. In the Bologna airport the coolest thing is the business lounge has its own security line. No waiting. Nice.

We flew to Vienna where we had the shortest connection I ever had outside of one business trip connecting in O’Hare. We landed and my heart sank when I saw we were on the runway. Stairs down, bus ride to terminal. I looked at my watch. Five minutes until they closed our gate. They did know we were coming because our flight attendant told us what our gate was. It was a very long walk in the same terminal. They have no people movers and it was 27 gates away. I used to be a runner. But no more. So all I could do is put my head down and walk. We made it but I didn’t like it.

We had a meal because…business class. It wasn’t bad and I was hungry. We landed in Hamburg one hour and twenty minutes later. Got our luggage and grabbed a cab. It was a slow traffic clogged ride into the city. 

Our hotel, Nikolai Hotel, is right in the middle and on a canal. There are a lot of canals and a river in this city. It is a major port. After a rest we checked out the bar prior to dinner. I am not a cocktail drinker but this bar is very heavy on them. So I tried a dark and stormy. I liked it. 

Dinner was in Avelina which was actually abutting our hotel. Good reviews and a tapas place.  We like to try ethnic food when we are in a big city. We will be in the country after this and will have plenty of German meals. Avelina was good. Owned and run by Spanish people. And I saw at least two Spanish speaking families there. The food was good but much larger than traditional tapas. 

Wednesday 13 October
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I woke to part sunshine. I hadn’t noticed we were across the canal from the tall spire we had passed in the taxi. Looking it up it is the St. Nikolai memorial. It is a very tall spire that was formerly a church spire. We will visit it tomorrow.

This was our day to explore parts of Hamburg. It was 12C “feels like” 8C. (53F feels like 46). First we breakfasted. It was a good spread plus eggs made to order and today, pancakes. We headed north of our hotel stopping as we liked along the way. We aimed for the Rathaus (town hall). We came to the St. Nikolai Memorial I mentioned before. The spire, and walls were all that were left of the church after the allied bombing in WWII. There was an amazing array of bells low down on the spire.

We arrived at the Rathaus. Really impressive with a large square in front of it. There were tons of (rambunctious) children all along our walk. I assume there are schools nearby and there were obvious field trips. We went into a shopping mall. Luther needed new shoes and he likes ECCO. We got a new pair for him. I was on the lookout for a pair of reading glasses. Finally found some in a supermarket. 

We decided to break for lunch in a little Cafe Pizzeria. We had sandwiches. Tonight we have planned a dinner out so we didn’t want to fill up. Not a great lunch but ok. 

We got caught in the rain on the way back. We took shelter for a while, while a patch of blue sky headed our way. If finally quit and we scurried back to the hotel. When we got here we were surprised to see the canal completely empty of water. Big muddy! I knew it was tidal but didn’t think the water would go totally away.

It was a good day. Not exciting but fun to see a new city. And we walked almost 8,000 steps. 🙂

We went to dinner at Wohler’s. It was a German place but known for its mussels sourced from Sylt, one of the northern islands. The mussels were delicious. As always the courses, even the small plates I chose, were just too big for me. I enjoyed the place. It was small and packed. The noise level from the conversation was high. The waitresses earned their money for sure. 

On the way to dinner our taxi driver was very talkative and all about US politics. He did say, in the past, everyone in the world looked to, and respected the U.S. as the beacon on freedom and democracy. Through, Clinton, Bush, Obama, no matter the politics. He was sorry and afraid. I said. Imagine if it was YOUR country. I’ve lost my country. I never thought it would be possible I told him.

Thursday 15 October
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Big day. We traveled to Bremen on the train. I should mention the fact that the city of Hamburg, and the city of Bremen were both free Hansiatic cities. The Hanseatic League was a medieval trading confederation of medieval merchant guilds and market towns, dominant roughly from the 13th to the 16th centuries across Northern Europe. Some cities keep Hansestadt in their official names and a few have special status. Hamburg and Bremen are just two of them. We will also visit Rostock, Straslund and Wismar which are all Hansiatic cities. The License plates in Hamburg are HH — Hansiatic city of Hamburg.

Bremen was a charming town. Not too big. A compact center. It takes about an hour to get there from Hamburg. We walked the 18 minute walk to the Altstadt.  The first thing we came to was a flower market set up around one of the two churches. We visited the first church with one big, fat steeple. Inside the organist was practicing. I love to hear organs in churches. The acoustics are amazing. Then we went through the little village of wooden houses that, when open, sell junk and food. Most were closed. I imagine they open in the evening. We came upon the bigger church with two big, fat steeples. It also had the big chorus of bells.

We went in search of the statue to the Bremen town musicians. It is a folk tale gathered by the brothers Grimm. Here is the story.  

There were four farm animals who had worked hard all their lives and had outlived their usefulness. They would soon be killed by their owners so they each left. Eventually the met up and decided to become musicians. Bremen was a free city so they were headed there when it got dark. They saw a house with the lights on and went to the window. The donkey had the dog on his back,Mr he cat was in the dog, and the rooster was at the top so he could see in the window. There were a band of robbers inside gloating over their loot. So the musicians began their first concert. The robbers were frightened and ran away. The animals moved in and marveled at their luck. But later the robbers tried to return. The donkey was inside. The dog in front of the door, the cat on the mantle and the rooster on the stairs. When one robber came in he saw the gleam of the yellow cat eyes. Frightened he moved and the dog bit him. The cat scratched his face. The donkey kicked him and the rooster yelled into his hear. He ran away proclaiming there was a witch inside and robbers never returned. The animals never got to Bremen. They lived out their lives happily in the cottage. 

We found the statue. It was darling. The donkey had a very shiny nose and front feet. According to the legend, you will have good luck if you grab both front feet of the donkey. His nose doesn’t give good luck but people still touch it making it very shiny.

We went into the Schnoor which is the oldest part of town full of pretty alleys and tiny streets. It wasn’t crowded with tourists. That was nice. Our restaurant was called Olymp. Traditional food. And it was. I had delicious tomato soup and then a dish of pfifferlinge which are mushrooms, scrambled eggs and bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes). Way too much for me. 

As we walked back through the Snoor I snapped some pictures of the pretty buildings and small streets.

We wound our way back for our ill fated train ride back. We found our train was 15 minutes late. We went up to the platform, gate ten.  Long story short, the train was on platform nine. We missed it and waited another hour. Finally getting back to Hamburg at seven.

We stopped at a supermarket for sandwiches and walked back to the hotel. We walked 12,000 steps. Almost seven kilometers. Way above my activity level!

Friday 16 October
~~~~~~
Our final day in Hamburg dawned bright and sunny. We had a leisurely breakfast and walked south this time, toward the docks. 

I wanted to see the UNESCO world heritage site of the blacks and blocks of historic brick warehouses along the many canals — the Speicherstadt. Our hotel is actually at the edge of this district. Right around the corner we found a group of very old six story, brick buildings. They all had many windows. The one that had a date carved into it was built in 1603. It survived the bombings which was in itself amazing. These buildings typically have very narrow staircases inside. If you wanted to get furniture into any room above the ground you had to lift it up using the built in winch at the top just under the roof eaves. My picture shows it.

We next went to the Elbphilharmonie. The concert hall. It is built right on the water across from the forests of cranes servicing the container ships. The bottom half of the concert hall is brick. The top is all glass. It has a wave-like roof line. Like the sea, or maybe sails. I can’t say it is beautiful like the Sydney opera house. But it is unique.

By now it was lunchtime. We had a place in mind called Fleetschlösschen. It was a very small, old free standing building by a canal. We wanted to try the fischbrötchen. Fish sandwiches. The place was plain, no frills. They had beautiful photography on the walls of the surrounding ares in black and white. There was also a beautiful wrought iron spiral staircase inside, to the bathrooms. 

Thoroughly sated we headed back to rest. 

We went down to the bar for a drink before dinner. I wanted to say goodbye to Federica our favorite bartender. But sadly, she was not there. She knows about this blog so I will say goodbye and have a really good vacation in Thailand and a great life. 

Dinner was at Maison Mai. It was a fusion place. We had the Asian tapas. A selection of five between us plus noodles. It was tasty but I missed any spice. 

When we left it was pouring rain. I had seen it might rain so we both had rain coats and I borrowed an umbrella. It was ok except for the deep puddles. My shoes and pants got soaked. Back to the hotel for our last night. I must say Nikolai Hotel was very comfortable for our four nights. We had a suite so that helped. 

Part two – Mecklenburg/Pomerania

Friday 26 June
We left Umbertide in the capable hands of our house/cat sitters and drove to ISA Residences where we spent the night and left our car in their garage. We always have dinner in Altavela restaurant. It was a pleasant evening.

The biggest issue was daunting. My suitcase was locked. A combination lock. It had always worked smoothly, until it didn’t. We could not open it. We couldn’t get to any of our clothes. We had a second suitcase with toiletries, underwear, PJs so we could survive for the first day or two.

Saturday 27 June
Next day we took their shuttle to the Airport and checked in at Lufthansa. We were flying to Munich and connecting to Lyon France. The first flight was on time. We went to the next gate and waited to board. It was 39c degrees or about 100f. This was slowing down all operations. From the luggage people to the airplanes themselves. We left an hour late. I never experienced such a long acceleration. It seemed we would never lift off. Finally we struggled into the air. Apparently there is less lift in such heat.

We arrived in Lyon and got our luggage. It was EU to EU flight so no passport rigamaroll. I had hired a driver to take us to Chalon-sur-Saone, about 1.5 hours away. It was an easy, smooth traffic free ride on good highways.

We were staying at the St Regis. It is a bit down at the heel. Could use refurbishing. It is a grand old building. The AC was miniscule. It was struggling with the 104 degree heat that day. My sister and her husband were already there and we arrived an hour after they had eaten. They were tired after a transatlantic flight, and jet lagged. They hung around an hour or so and then went up to bed. Dinner was sub par. But it was conveniently in the hotel.

Sunday, 28 June
Up for showers and breakfast. I had brought a pair of shorts to wear in the room in the small suitcase so I switched to them but only had the same t shirt. This makes day three of wearing it. I was desperate to get the suitcase open. We had decided the lock must be somehow broken. The plan was to taxi to a hardware store the next day and see if I could find a set of cutters.

Meanwhile we visited the Sunday market. It was a great small town market. Chock full of beautiful foods. More rotisserie chickens than I’ve ever seen. We bought a picnic and stopped for water and later wine. There wasn’t a tourist to be seen. It was obviously 40% shopping trip and 60% socializing with friends. Nice.

Then we walked to lunch. It was 100F and a difficult 8 minute walk from the market in full sun. We crossed the Saône River to a small island. Many restaurants were on this one pretty street. Not a one was open. Seems Sunday is a totally dead day. We did find one restaurant before we came serving lunch so we had made reservations. Les Gormands Disent was the name. It had a three course menu with two choices for each course. I wasn’t thrilled with mine. I had a cold almond soup but it had fish in it. I wasn’t fond of the fish. Then I got mosaic something. Was purées of white and black cauliflower. With some sort of fish. Again the fish was not my cuppa. Dessert was strawberries and meringues and white chocolate which was good enough. We had a nice white burgundy wine. Luther had a good looking appetizer, beets with goat cheese. Picture below.

We managed to get a taxi called to take us back – highway robbery but it was so hot! Normally we would walk it.

We had bought cheese and chorizo and bread for a snack in the evening. There was no place to do it. We went to the hotel bar and got wine and they brought snacks so we just added our snacks to theirs. It was fine.

Monday 29 June
We had planned to get a taxi to take us to a hardware store and wait while we bought cutters to break into our suitcase. It had caused me much stress. But we figured we would ask at the desk if they had tools. And they did! A pair of pliers did the trick. Luther grabbed and twisted and off they broke.

We visited the museum of photography which is the main sight in town. It was nice. Afterwards we strolled and decided on Brasserie di Duomo for lunch. Nice location on the square of the Hôtel de Ville and cathedral.  Most had the Big salads. 

After resting up we walked to dinner at Bernard Bouillon. Our hotels choice. Not much open for Monday dinner. It was nice! The people sweet. The food good enough. It was packed with locals. Photo is of a sad statue along the walk to the restaurant.

Tuesday 30 June
We pretty much checked out at noon and walked to lunch. Then we retrieved our suitcases and took a taxi to the port where we embarked on the Avalon Poetry II. Small room compared to ocean all-suites cruising. We managed to unpack. Then we had a drink and returned to our room until the 6pm safety talk. We also met all the heads of all the departments.

Cindy and Bill are both sick with colds. This is so common when traveling nowadays on airplanes. We purchased drugs before we boarded. Hoping they will help.

We went to dinner and the ship sailed. We arrived at Tornus-Macon at about 9:30. 

The mattress is wonderful as is the AC. After sweltering with practically none since being here it was heaven to sleep under the duvet in cushy linens. 

Wednesday, 1 July
Tornus is a small town with not much to see. But picturesque. Still the boat had a walking tour 😁. And a bike tour. We left there to travel to Macon, only about 45 minutes, where we pick up the bikers and bus tourers. We just did a walk about town to enjoy the cool air. It was I pretty little town.

Lunch and naps. We sailed from Tornus to Trevoux docking after ten. Dinner on the ship. We had a beautiful view from our side of the ship. A tower and a bike and walking path. I’ve been sketching on this trip. One sketch from the boat in each town so far.

Thursday 2 July
We sailed for Lyon for a two night stay. It was about a four hour trip. The Saône is a beautiful, clear, meandering river. Our side of the boat was unbroken countryside. Many cows, ponies and horses down in or near the water. We saw a heron nest in a big tree. Lots of mistletoe growing in the forests. And a lot of storks. It was super relaxing to lay in bed and watch it slowly slide past. 

We had lunch onboard. They have two options each meal. A full lunch or dinner in the dining room or a light lunch or dinner in the upstairs Bistro. Same menu except you serve yourself in the Bistro. More to my liking because I could choose portion size. 

After lunch we went on the included tour of Lyon. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. They do a pretty good job. They have six color coded groups who walk at different speeds. In this way each tour is half a busload and tailored to your ability. Many older people on this cruise. We had three busses. We went up the Fourvière hill. One of two hills in Lyon with commanding views of the city. Lyon is the second largest city in France.

On top of the hill sits the Basilica of Nôtre-Dame de Fourvière. It is a blend of Romanesque and neo-Byzantine architectural styles. The exterior is unfinished. The interior is non-stop mosaics. Much gold and pretty pastel aqua. Like being in a very big jewel box. 

Then we drove to Vieux Lyon. It is made up of three districts – Saint John, Saint Paul and Saint George, but no Saint Ringo (our guide’s joke). It was cobblestone streets with very long blocks. Back in the 1600s and 1700s they incorporated passageways to cut the block in half – essentially shortcuts. We went through one up and down stairs within. Lyon is famous for silk making for centuries. We visited one shop with the moths, eggs, cocoons and a way to unwind the silk threads from the cocoons. 

Back to the boat and clean up before dinner. After dinner they had a Jazz band. Terrific upright bass player. Guitar was good. I didn’t care much for the female vocalist. This couple was celebrating 60 years of marriage.

Friday, 3 July
We relaxed in the morning. We had a Beaujolais wine tasting tour planned for the afternoon. We left on a bus about 1:30. Small group of about 18.

It was a lot of fun. We went about 45 minutes from Lyon to the wine country. We had the misfortune to be hitting the first weekend of the mass exodus of the French to the southern beaches so massive traffic jams. We drove through some really nice scenery and arrived at a family owned winery. The proprietor was Dominique Guillard and the winery was Domaine de Fond-Vieille. There have been an unbroken fifteen generations of this family working the vines. Many wineries either abandon the vines or sell out when none of the children want to continue the tradition. This family was lucky. Their son wanted to keep it going. I’m sure his father is very happy.

We tasted a white, a rosè and red. They use solely Chardonnay for the white wines and Gamay for the rosè and the red. They also had good bread, two cheeses and some salame. Those went well with the wines. We all enjoyed them very much.

We drove to the small town of Oingt, pronounced nwah. It must be said very nasally. Pretty hill town reminiscent of Montone near where we live. Most of the group walked up to the top of the town. I was getting a cold so stayed in a cafe and had a cold glass of water.

The trip back was uneventful. Lots of traffic. We got to the ship about twenty minutes from departure. We went to happy hour and the dinner. Luther came down with the cold during the night. Sigh. I can’t say I liked Lyon. It was a big city and I don’t like big cities. Dinner.

Saturday 4 July
Happy Fourth of July to all. I’m afraid I didn’t feel much like celebrating this year. It was always a favorite holiday of mine. Perhaps one day I can celebrate it again. Meanwhile I enjoyed the beautiful Rhone River and it reeled past like a movie. 

This day was a complex day for the ship. We sailed at 8:30 after all the people on the tour left the boat. Those people would tour the town of Tournon. They would be bussed to another town where we would stop to pick them up and drop others off. Finally we would stop at Viviers at 4:30. We had big plans to go to the only pharmacy in town to get supplies for our illnesses. But alas, it closed at 12:30. We did walk into town.

The trip down river was interesting. We traveled through the deepest lock in France during dinner. 76 feet. There were 16 locks on this trip. Dinner was ok. Luther didn’t join us. He was pretty sick.

These are some of the locks.

Sunday 5 July
This was Luther’s birthday. It wouldn’t be a great one unless he perked up some. We were booked on the Avignon tour with a tour of the Papal Palaces. I was looking forward to this tour more than any other. We canceled the trip because we were both very sick. We had hoped to go to a pharmacy. Sundays are problematic for finding one open. Usually there is just one in a town that is open. But how to find it.

Well we did find it. Michaela, our cruise director was a sweet woman always ready to spring into action and help.

She found two open ones, one only a 9 minute walk away. We got out before it got too hot and the streets were still uncrowded. We had trouble finding it but once we found it we realized we had been right next to it a while before. 

The town was having its Avignon festival. A three week drama festival. Quite famous apparently. We enjoyed seeing the costumed performers in the streets talking up their particular dramas. We bought a ton of drugs (which probably won’t work) and went back to the boat. 

We rested all afternoon and we went to the big farewell dinner that evening. Since it was Luther’s birthday Cindy and Bill bought him a nice bottle of wine rather than the stuff they normally serve. It was a nice dinner. We went to bed early. The coughing was taking its toll on me.

Monday, 6 July
We sailed last night and arrived in Arles at midnight. We would spend two nights there. This was our final stop. Cindy and I had signed up for a painting class. It turned out to be a lot of fun. The ship kindly arranged for a taxi to take four of us from the ship to the atelier. I guess we were the slow and less able walkers. There were 14 of us signed up. Many were rank armatures. They didn’t know how to mix secondary colors from the primary ones. That didn’t slow us down. We all seemed to have fun copying bits of Van Gogh paintings

We strolled back to the boat which really wasn’t far away. We had our last lunch in the lounge. Luther has gotten tired of these lunches. For me, they were fine. Enough variety and easy. 

The afternoon was spent repacking our suitcases. I hate this part. 

Tuesday 7 July

We grabbed breakfast and got off the ship with our luggage to wait for our car to Aix-en-Provence. He arrived on time in a nice Mercedes van with limousine seating. Took all of an hour to get to our hotel. Grand Hotel Roi Rene. We were early and check-in was 3pm so we went out to explore. First funny thing that happened was we saw our cruise director, Michaela, from the boat with a group from the boat on a tour. She is a sweet, sweet person. Super friendly, we all got hugs and kisses. Like we were long lost friends. It was market day and they have three. One clothing etc, one food, and one flowers. We walked through the clothes where Cindy and I bought hand painted fans. Then headed for the food market. It was amazing. 

It was about lunch time so we went to a place near the market called Le Chantel. It was ok. Most got salads due to the heat. They were not the best. I was disappointed in the tomatoes. They were heirlooms but very mealy in texture.

Back to the hotel where we waited until 3pm check-in time.  the rooms are very poorly thought out. Completely dysfunctional for travelers. There was no room whatsoever for a suitcase to be opened during the stay. They come to do turn down at 5:30 (!?). We do have a nice terrace that we paid for. It is only useful in the morning as it was so hot. 

Later we met in the hotel bar for drinks and then walked to dinner at Cour something. Nice place with an interior garden area and air conditioning in the inside. Guess where we chose? Yep, inside. We weren’t really hungry so we all just got one course. I enjoyed my tuna. 

Wednesday 8 July
Our one full day in Aix together. We went out early to beat the heat. We followed the Cezanne walking route. It took us down some pretty streets. We visited the Cathedral. Then we walked down the Main Street and saw the fountain at the end. We went along some shopping streets. I bought two pretty hand painted bowls. 

We stopped in a sidewalk cafe for lunch. Most had the Salad Niçoise. Refreshing in the heat. By now it was 103 degrees and we made our way back to the hotel and the cool. 

We decided for expediency to eat in the hotel restaurant. The food was sub-par. But it was ok because we had time to rehash the trip.

We said a sad goodbye to my sister and her husband. We will meet again next year. They left early the next morning.

Thursday 9 July
We were on our own so no breakfast for us. We woke when we wanted with no schedule to keep. At about 11:30 we went out to buy some wine for the evening. We planned to eat in. Luther had seen a nice wine shop the day before. We headed there and bought two bottles of wine. Then we went to Entre Midi et Deux, a bistro nearby. I broke from my salad for lunch everyday routine and had the lobster Ravioli. It was pretty good. On the way back we stopped at a very popular bakery. Line was out the door. We bought two chicken sandwiches for dinner.

We returned to the hotel and took naps. I was still sick with a persistent cough. I didn’t sleep any because of it. We stayed in the cool and later enjoyed our wines and our sandwiches which we bought that afternoon. Nice and relaxing.

Friday 10 July
Homeward bound. We had a 1:45 flight from Marseille to Roma. Took 1.5 hours.

Thoughts

Hotels. Wow what loser picks. I can’t pick a favorite. The first one, in Chalone, was old fashioned and badly needed a refurb. The elevator was tiny but at least they had one. The AC was puny or non-existent. We had to ask for a fan to supplement. The second one, in Aix looked good. But I have never had a more disfunctional room for a traveler. Absolutely no place for luggage. Everything in the place cost extra. It was all over priced. But the location was good.

Food. I can’t think of one notable meal to be honest. It wasn’t awful. But it wasn’t really good.

The ship. We have done five small ship ocean cruises. This was the first river cruise. When we chose we compared ships. We picked Avalon over Viking. They are the top two. 

It really was the format that put us off. We didn’t like the wine restrictions. We are used to getting a wine whenever we want. We didn’t like being restricted to lunch, happy hour and dinner/evening. The wines were adequate but not first tier considering we were sailing through a premiere wine region. The weird policy at dinner of expecting everyone to eat every course and if you didn’t you were forced to wait through all the courses to receive yours in sequence. For instance, we never eat more than two courses and maybe a dessert. Some wanted appetizers, others soup. So the appetizers came and the soup people had to watch the others eat. Then the soup came, and the appetizer people had to watch the soup eaters. We finally got a server to serve the soup with the appetizers but we STILL had to wait through the soup course for our entrees. Definitely not customer friendly. But I know why they do it. For their convenience. I also really disliked the farewell dinner served before the last night. Kinda takes the fun out of the end of the cruise. Again, I see this as doing it at THEIR convenience, rather than the customers.  If Windstar can do it on the last day then Avalon can too.

Things Avalon has no control over and were something we learned about river cruising. Double docking. We really, really didn’t like the fact our room was like a dungeon for half the trip. No view at all. Just the side of the other boat right up against our boat. Not to mention the difficulty for those of us with compromised knees to climb stairs up and down to cross another boat. We didn’t like the crazy schedules. Stoping, dropping off tours. Sailing, then picking them up. Then sailing again for a very short stay somewhere. Nothing Avalon can do about it but I prefer ocean cruises with stops in one place each day. I don’t think I will do another river cruise. 

The stops. I liked the Saône River better than the Rhone. Prettier. The towns on the Saône were cuter too. The Rhone had Lyon, Avignon and Arles. All notable places, but to me smaller, quainter, quieter is more, to my liking. 

The HEAT. Argh. I just cannot handle it like I used to. I vow not to travel in July or August again.

That all said, I really enjoyed seeing my sister. 🥰