Tampa Bay’s Cloud Based Travel Agency

813-868-0007 info@vacationtc.com

text 813-503-8759 Registered with the State of Florida as a Seller of Travel. Reg. #10098 Cruise Lines International Association Member #00577404

© 2006 to 2022 Market Access Promotions, Inc.

BOOK WITH OUR TRAVEL AGENCY

HOME Passport Information Visa Information Honeymoon & Wedding Info Travel Lay-Away Plans Price Match Policy Travel Insurance Notary Public Groups & Family Reunions Caribbean Tour & Cruise Corporate Incentive Travel Site Map

Our content rich site is best viewed in a tablet or computer. Mobile pages may have limited content.

This is my first travel blog in about two years. This is the time of Covid-19 so you may see some references to that if you are reading this blog years down the road as all travel was closed from April 2020 until about February or March of 2021 during the pandemic lock down. Pre River Cruise Trip to the French Riviera It feels good to be on the road again. We booked an Active and Discovery Rhone River cruise in 2020 that got canceled so we have rebooked that trip for September 2021 and I am writing this from an Avalon Waterways riverboat called the Avalon Poetry 2. In a time of Covid 19, air service is limited and our cruise starts near Marseille, France and ends up in Lyon, France. With limited air service, slow phones due to the Delta variant scare and no vacation for 2 years we decided to fly nonstop Miami to Zurich, Switzerland. Plus the Swissair flights were vaccine required, or Covid test required; so they were safer than flying domestically to Europe via New York or Dulles. Nice and Cagnes Sur Mer (Cote d’ Azur) We stayed one night in Nice and were glad we did the villa after experiencing Nice. Nice has some very nice beach areas and an Old Port area that has character. That area is very nice with beaches that have small rocks rather than sand fronted by huge expensive apartments overlooking the water. Traffic is busy in Nice so I am eager to get out of as we rented a larger vehicle and they gave us a Jeep which is definitely too big for European cities. I only get cars on a limited basis in Europe where necessary but we were three seniors with luggage so it was necessary in this situation. After a short tour of the beach in Nice, we headed to Le Bayside in Cagnes Sur Mer. This was also a great stop as it was right on a small beach with a paid parking lot nearby. St. Paul de Vence, France We stayed at an Airbnb called Villa Mimosa which was just below the hill town of St. Paul de Vence near Nice. It was a beautiful view and really filled the bill as a 2 BR 2 bath villa with a washing machine. That meant we only needed to plan for about 10 or 11 days of clothes for a 16 day trip. St. Paul de Vence is a touristy hill town that was home to both Marc Chagall and Matisse at one point in time. It had a map online so we even could get a walking path around the hill town so Mom could go up with us. ean. Monaco (Casino De Monte Carlo) We had asked Mom in 2019 what she wanted to do for her 80th as we had planned on Europe and she asked about Monte Carlo Casino as she had one trip with her second husband canceled in the 80s. We avoided the original plan to do the upper Corniche but did make a stop to see Eze from the road. The rain stopped and the Mistral winds started blowing from the north so we could feel the temperature dropping by the hour. We headed on to Monte Carlo and just drove around initially. The wealth in Monaco is not really believable with million dollar yachts and cars dotting the landscape. We were very impressed with Monaco as the Prince has a very hospitable culture which invites tourists in to spend money and go to the casino. The table games are a minimum $25 bet so we played video blackjack and slots. We stopped at the Old Port of Nice on the way home and found a really nice seafood restaurant named the Marlin. I think this was the best seafood of the trip but should be at the Old Port of Nice. My Mom had a fantastic piece of fresh black sea bass, Gina had tiny moules and frites (black mussels and French fries) plus I had the bouillabaisse with a mixture of fresh seafood. Aix en Provence, France (with walk in Cannes and a lunch stop in Sicily) We pulled out about 10:30 as Aix en Provence our next overnight stop was about 1.5 hours driving. We stopped and drove the beach in Cannes down to the waterfront port and we broke for a walk along the sea. I picked Aix en Provence as it was about 30 minutes to the Marseille airport and Marseille being France’s second largest city and a seaport does not have the best reputation for safety plus the Marseille airport is about 20 minutes from Marseille. We were not disappointed with Aix en Provence. Mom is 81 so she needed to rest after a full day on the road. Gina and I took the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Paul Cezanne as we had seen a Cezanne and Pissaro exhibition in Paris on an earlier trip. We took the car out to Carrieres de Bibemus which is a huge nature park. In fact, it was yellow on the way out but we found Sainte-Victoire had turned pink on the return hike to the car. We hit the parking lot at dusk and returned to the Cezanne Boutique hotel in Aix as the natives call it. Avalon Waterways Active and Discovery Cruise on the Rhone on the Poetry II We bought the prepaid transfer from Avalon Waterways to the Poetry II. We waited by arrivals and the representative showed up right on time. She called a very nice taxi man with a Mercedes van and off we went to Port St. Louis. We could have hailed a cab but it would have cost more and we would have had to find the boat. Book with a travel agent and you get secrets like that for FREE. We were surprised it was about an hour to Port St. Luis which is where the Rhone River meets the Mediterranean. We loaded in and had a great evening meal as Avalon Waterways offers flexible dining times. This is an Avalon Waterways Active and Discovery River Cruise on the Rhone so the route is a little shorter to allow more time for the Activities but we are traveling as two very active 60 year olds and an 82 year old so we have different activities planned for both age groups in most places. Port Saint Louis/Camargue Nature Preserve The first stop on the Rhone Active and Discovery River Cruise is Port St. Louis which is a very small working seaport near the mouth of the Rhone on the Mediterranean. We walked around town in about 15 minutes. The purpose of this stop is the Camargue Nature Preserve where they raise White Horses, have sea salt ponds and raise bulls for bullfighting. We chose a bicycle ride as the active optional tour the next day. The bikes were lined up in a parking lot near the ship after breakfast. The guide was very good and pointed to small, medium and large Trek bikes so with a short instruction we loaded up for our first bike ride in 30 years. The guide announced that it was 45 kilometers for the day which is about 25 miles. Arles Today was a walking tour of Arles and we met a retired matador at the amphitheater. Sometimes expectations can be misleading when you read about a tour and then actually take it. The town of Arles was absolutely fantastic so we understand why Van Gogh loved it towards the end of life. Gina and I did some shopping in the afternoon after the tour and very much enjoyed that also. The tour started with a presentation including questions and answers by Juan Leal who was a retired bullfighter from a family of bullfighters. Avalon waterways had an excellent English- speaking guide that translated for us. The bullfighter explained all about the sport and we stopped later at his restaurant to see the shrine to his family’s bullfighting heritage on the walls. He explained that this is a big money sport and his nephew was one of the five top bullfighters in the world today. They traveled France, Spain and even South America. Avignon We did two overnights in Avignon. I had a lovely afternoon writing this blog from my suite on the Avalon Waterways Poetry II. The entire glass wall folds up into pocket doors and it is a lovely day on the Rhone River. In Avignon, we have a ship excursion to the French Pope’s Palace and Les Halles Market. Our guide was very good and Avignon and knew all the history of the French Pope. After we walked through the city and he pointed out some points of interest he purchased all our tickets for the French Pope’s Palace. The highlight of this guide by the name of Manu was a point where he stopped in the main chapel and sang in Latin to show us the acoustics. After the Pope’s Palace we walked to Les Halles Market Avignon for a visit but the tour got changed as we were supposed to have shopping with a picnic in the park near the market but everything is adjusted a little for Covid as the authorities have removed the picnic tables from the park outside the market. The tour director on the ship did the shopping and only our walking tour group had an aperitif from the market before lunch. Viviers We met Mom for 9A breakfast as we are daytime sailing this morning through the largest lock on the Rhone Lock Bollene. This is a hydro electric project that took the boat up 76 feet in elevation. The project has nuclear, wind turbines and hydro electric so it looks like it produces most of the electricity for the region. The locks are always an interesting part of these river cruises as it is amazing watching the captain manipulate the ship from the outside joystick as there is only inches to spare. After lunch we loaded up in a motorcoach in Viviers to kayak the Gorges de l’Ardeche which is Europe’s Grand Canyon on a smaller scale. The buffet breakast and lunches were superb. Evenings in the dining room always has a choice of nightly entrees along with some standard choices, soup, appetizer or salad and dessert. Lunch is served in the restaurant, in the lounge and also on some days there is a bar b que on the top deck. Tournan/Tain l’ Hermitage We started the morning docked in Tournon which is paired with Tain l’ Hermitage across the river. Mom is going to the chocolate factory to make her own chocolate bar and we are heading on a rail bike to do a descent of the Gorges du Doux. This was one of the neatest attractions we had seen in a while and believe me we have done everything in a lifetime in this business. We started with an old diesel locomotive that chugged up the mountain about 8 kilometers. The rail tracks followed a deep gorge and were right on the edge. When we got to our destination the engineer and guide unchained some little race cars that were pedal driven and set on a siding of the railroad. We all loaded up and one by one pedaled out of the station towards the bottom of the hill. The guide asked the group did we want to tour Tain l’ Hermatige and the famous pedestrian bridge between the cities but the group voted for a stop at the chocolate factory store on the way home. We ran into Mom at the chocolate store so she walked the quarter mile home with us to the ship. It is amazing as quarantine/lockdown took a toll on the older people as Mom had entropied but seemed to blossom on the trip and was walking longer distances by the time we got back to Zurich. We sailed for Lyon after lunch so I was able to sit in my Avalon Poetry II Suite to write this blog along the river. Lyon When we get to Lyon, I definitely had cold symptoms. We are traveling with an emergency kit including a thermometer and an oximeter, so all was normal. As this is a breakthrough indication of Covid we were all freaked that the trip would end with ten days of Covid quarantine in Lyon. We were already scheduled for an onboard covid test we all did the happy dance when the Covid test results came back negative. It was raining very hard in the early morning so we canceled Mom’s French Chef tour and we certainly were not doing the bites and highlights of Lyon in the rain. The rain was starting to let up and the sun was poking out of the sky so Gina and I hit the ATM and did a little shopping with our KN95s firmly in place. We opted for a taxi driver to take us up to the Basilica hill and on to Les Halles de Paul Bocuse food market. After some shopping for the train lunch next day, we did the butcher restaurant at the food hall market with skirt steak, a huge Lyonnaise salad and split a burger 3 ways. Angel one of the crew members was riding the same train as us so I offered a ride to the train station. We shared a love of fishing and he was a casino host on Celebrity in a past life so we agreed I would take him kayak fishing for redfish, if he ever came to Florida. There is a lot of camaraderie in the travel industry as we were all unemployed together during lockdown. He promised we would have a beer before we parted and he helped with Mom’s luggage at the train station. He was heading as far as Geneva and then taking Valujet to Bulgaria. His mom was cooking chicken soup and stuffed peppers and he had enough money to buy her a shot, so the mood was positive as we got on the train. Andrizito, the adventure guy; was leaving the next day and he was happy to be seeing his six year old with his contract pay he promised her ice cream for the first time in a year. Wow, the pandemic story is mind blowing as we begin to move about the world again! Even though we paid the “suggested gratuities” the fact was not lost on us that these people from poor countries are proud tourism workers and glad to be back to work. We were generous with small individual tips to everybody that waited on us and we lived like Kings and Queens on the Avalon Poetry II. It has always been my policy to leave a little something extra as you can afford to tip, if you can afford to travel. Now more than ever as we emerge from this pandemic help the small people that work in tourism as it has been rougher for them than those of us in the industrialized world. The level of appreciation you will see for 1 or 2 Euros will amaze you. Suggested gratuities for the whole team on Avalon are 12e per guest per day and 3e for the tour director. Montreux, Switzerland We are departing Lyon, France and changing trains in Geneva, Switzerland. We are staying tonight at the Fairmont Montreux Palace. Montreux is a delightful little Swiss lake town. This is the location of the famous jazz festival for 40 years. Outside the hotel are busts of Ray Charles, BB King, Santana, Ella and Aretha in the park all signed by the artists. The convention center is the Miles Davis convention center. The entire town revolves around the lakefront. We walk a mile or so from the hotel on the main street which has great shopping. After the pandemic, we have found many bargains in Europe as some of the stores are clearing inventory and raising cash. We cross over to the lakefront which has a wide sidewalk and a ton of local artwork everywhere by the lake. We are getting back to the hotel and examine the bar menu which is nothing special. The main restaurant is closed as the hotel had a low house count and it is off season. This is a good place to speak about how Covid has affected tourism. As most destinations are getting by with local tourism they have modified hours that things are open and they have also only opened part of the facilities as nobody is full. The tradeoff is you are touring Europe without the crowds so be flexible and pleasant if you choose to go overseas. I joked with my Avalon rep. before I departed that we were taking patience, humility and 5 kinds of masks. I am serious about the masks as we have cloth masks, KN95s and I even have my face buffs for the outside activity days or walking the city as they go on and come off easily. Most indoor situations will require a facemask in Europe so we suspect that is why we were able to do 16 days in Europe without getting a breakthrough which are more prevalent with the high case counts in the USA. Golden Pass Railroad - Montreux to Interlaken Switzerland We are up early but everybody had 8 or 9 hours sleep last night so we are renewed. This morning I have scheduled the first leg on the 1901 Belle Epoch train from Montreux to Zweisimmen Switzerland. We are in awe as we get on the train as it has all been refurbished in 1901 style with ornate carved wood, brass and huge seats that look like antique living room chairs. The Golden Pass is a series of trains that snake over mountain passes and into Swiss valleys and at each turn the scenery is beautiful. As you climb out of the town of Montreux, you immediately put on altitude with mountains, green valleys, cows for cheese production and beautiful Swiss towns at every turn. The first leg is about two hours and they only run the Belle Epoch train once or twice a day. The run is also serviced by regular trains too. We don’t think we can make a 5 minute connection with Mom so we opt to stop in Zweisimmen for lunch at the post hotel. It is a simple place run by older Swiss German gentlemen that has something for everyone. We look at the menu which is in German so we navigate as far as the wood fired pizza and a couple of portions from the salad bar. I can’t read the other entrees but on my trip to the bathroom I see others have ordered a beautiful sauerbraten with spaetzel and veggies so I curse myself for not asking about today’s special. It looked like the only game in town close to the train station that had some bad Google reviews but we are very satisfied. We suspect since everything is expensive in Switzerland all the time that the 3 old guys may have trouble with the crowds in the summertime but service and food were good today. We are right on time for the second train of our journey starting in Zweisimmen and ending in Interlaken, Switzerland. We can’t find a cab so we walk to the hotel and it is only about 10 minutes even at Mom’s pace. We are staying at the Hotel Interlaken which is a good value for the money at about $338 US for two rooms including a good breakfast. Not as fancy as the Fairmont last night, with smaller rooms; but very acceptable and very clean. Mom is up for the afternoon nap so Gina and I head out to the funicular to go up to Harder Kulm which is the highest point in Interlaken and you can see both lakes that make up the name as the town is between two giant lakes. We are glad we did not miss this as the view is spectacular and we catch the last sun rays of the day for pictures. It is cold on top of the mountain so we slip into the lodge for a happy hour glass of wine as a light misty rainfall begins to fall. The funicular is an engineering marvel so we enjoy the ride as much as the view. Golden Pass Railroad - Interlaken to Lucern Switzerland The next day we take the last leg of the Golden Pass journey which is as beautiful as the first. We all agree that although the 2nd leg was beautiful that the first and last legs of this three train journey are spectacular. This train starts out along one of the large lakes that make up Interlaken but quickly transitions to mountain passes with really great views. Small lakes dot the scenery as do small Swiss villages and as always with all the cheese production lots of cows and quite a few sheep. We have reservations for the hotel Alpina which is a 3 star that is a short walk from the station. The hotel has a sign that you check in at the Hotel Monopol next door so we head into the lobby. I ask to make sure we have the special request for a shower instead of a tub and the receptionist has to work the rooms as nobody transferred the request to the other hotel. After a while, she upgrades us to Monopol and puts us in two suites to get Mom a shower. Monopol was a grand hotel 40 or 50 years ago but good value for the money and still in pretty good shape which is classified as a 4 star in the Swiss system. We head to the lakefront to see if we can do some kind of one hour tour. The lady suggests we take the round trip to Burgenstock which gives us a panoramic view of the lake and the small communities that dot Lake Lucerne. After the boat tour, the Lucerne guide the hotel gave us has a walking tour that looks like about an hour. My Mom’s patron saint is my cousin Linda. My Mom was her mentor as they were both business women in the sales field. I stop at the Basilica which is closed and stand outside to say a prayer and thank her for her help with getting Mom back to Europe at 81 in the waning days of a pandemic. We have had good weather most of the way, no sickness even though Covid is still a factor, I scratched a rental car and did not get charged, we won in Monte Carlo and ate will so I never tempt the Gods or Angels, I always say my thanks when it is due. Conclusion Overall, we had a great trip. It was good to get on the road again after the pandemic shutdown. We were lucky to hit a period between covid spikes and we were careful with our mitigation (mask wearing, outdoor restaurants, traveling on a fully vaccinated ship, nonstop airplanes to vaccinated destinations, etc.). Southern France was very pretty but I am thinking Cote de Azur is a once in a lifetime destination. I may head back to Provence at some point in my life as the towns along the Rhone were beautiful and we were only in each place one day. Gina and I both concluded that we will return to Switzerland in the summer maybe for an extended stay at some point in time. Monaco was a better day than I expected and I would like to get back to Montreux at some point for the Jazz Festival. Avalon Waterways river cruises is owned by the Globus Family of Brands. I think they are doing as good a job as any of the companies with their river cruise product. It is our second time on Avalon Waterways and our first time in a suite. The suite was very well designed and pulling the space into the room instead of adding balconies was in my opinion a brilliant move as there are times when you pop the door open but might not spend time on the balcony. The Avalon Waterways staff was wonderful with attentive service and the food was very good. The fact that you have multiple tour options ateach stop make this more of a multi- generational product than other river cruise lines. Avalon Waterways offers 3 kinds of shore excursions and many cities had multiple (free) included choices. They offer Active, which were very active in our opinion. It made the week go quick as we had prepaid excursions to ride bikes and tour the reserve, kayak the Gorge and ride the rail bikes through the mountains. Discovery which are geared towards older people who want to learn something or do something different and classic are the typical city (mostly walking) tour with a guide and headsets. River cruising in general is nice as you are in a different city on each day and it is like a bus tour without the packing and unpacking required to switch hotels every day or two.

French Riviera, River Cruising in Provence and The Golden Pass Route

this worldwide pandemic. Montreux, Switzerland We are departing Lyon, France and changing trains in Geneva, Switzerland. We are staying tonight at the Fairmont Montreux Palace. I am feeling 100% so we took an Italian Antipasto and a good French bottle of wine on the train. I went to the boulangerie in Lyon so we also have a .90e baguette (about $1.05) and a couple of cannoli’s from the Italian stall at the market. Geneva to Montreux is only about 1.5 hours by inter-city train so we break out the picnic immediately upon leaving Geneva. It is ok to travel with a beer or a bottle of wine on a European train so we usually do a picnic. We have nice Mercedes taxi guy outside the train station and we know we are in the high rent district as a 5 minute taxi ride is 18e on the meter. We had requested no bathtub at the Palace and there was a mixup between our room and hers so the receptionist gets on the phone with reservations and Mom is quickly upgraded to a suite. I had ordered the lakeview for her and we just did a city view as our rooms run $350 to $414 even with my tour company’s contracted price that was a little better than the website. As my Mom is 81 independent travel tires her out and she has been doing afternoon naps so we leave her and head to our room. I realize when we get there that the reservationist just switched the room requests as we have a shower on the cityview room and we have a corner with a patio that can also see the lake. Montreux is a delightful little Swiss lake town. This is the location of the famous jazz festival for 40 years. Outside the hotel are busts of Ray Charles, BB King, Santana, Ella and Aretha in the park all signed by the artists. The convention center is the Miles Davis convention center. The entire town revolves around the lakefront. We walk a mile or so from the hotel on the main street which has great shopping. After the pandemic, we have found many bargains in Europe as some of the stores are clearing inventory and raising cash. We cross over to the lakefront which has a wide sidewalk and a ton of local artwork everywhere by the lake. We are getting back to the hotel and examine the bar menu which is nothing special. The main restaurant is closed as the hotel had a low house count and it is off season. This is a good place to speak about how Covid has affected tourism. As most destinations are getting by with local tourism they have modified hours that things are open and they have also only opened part of the facilities as nobody is full. The tradeoff is you are touring Europe without the crowds so be flexible and pleasant if you choose to go overseas. I joked with my Avalon rep. before I departed that we were taking patience, humility and 5 kinds of masks. I am serious about the masks as we have cloth masks, KN95s and I even have my face buffs for the outside activity days or walking the city as they go on and come off easily. Most indoor situations will require a facemask in Europe so we suspect that is why we were able to do 16 days in Europe without getting a breakthrough which are more prevalent with the high case counts in the USA. We have had enough butter, crème fresh and cream after traveling France for 10 days. It is raining so we do not want to go far and the concierge suggests a local family style Italian that is just behind the hotel. Most high end hotel concierges are worth their weight in gold and this one made a good suggestion. I walk out back to scope out how far and stop in to make a reservation. I ask the owner lady English? She says no and is looking about as her husband and Son have not arrived but they obviously are the English speakers in the house. I ask Italiano? Si si is the response so we do business in Italian as I can get around a restaurant transaction in that language as we have spent a lot of time in Italy and also visited Gina’s family in Sicily. I notice over her shoulder there is a vegetable/seafood antipasto bar so I make note and want at least a portion to share. After 14 days on the road nobody knows what to eat as you are always a little mixed up by that stage of the trip. We have two portions of the antipasto bar to share, an order of carbonara and one order of fresh grilled sole. The owner is honest that two entrees to share is probably enough and I ask for a wine list but he shows me his vino della casa card as he is very proud of his own labeled wines. This is a guy that wants to please people, not just make money so we order a bottle of the vino della casa and the red is wonderful. The meal was fantastic. The caribonara which is pasta with pancetta, a fresh raw egg that is cooked by the hot pasta and pecorino cheese. Gina’s dad’s family called it literally bacon and eggs pasta. The verdura/seafood antipasto does not disappoint and the owner makes sure we have three of everything including shrimp, grilled zucchini, roasted yellow and red peppers, octopus, squid, olive loaf, olives preserved with pepperoncini and a few more Italian delicacies. The sole was the highlight of the meal. Sole is a cousin of a flounder. My paternal grandmother said if you can ever eat fresh sole make sure you order it and she was right. The owner brings about a half a kilo grilled whole fish to the table and disassembles the fish before your eyes into four fillets. He puts a little dish of pesto sauce on the plate and dribbles a little on top of the fish. Simple is best in Italian cooking so we suspect only sea salt on the fish and it is fantastic. Golden Pass Railroad - Montreux to Interlaken Switzerland We are up early but everybody had 8 or 9 hours sleep last night so we are renewed. This morning I have scheduled the first leg on the 1901 Belle Epoch train from Montreux to Zweisimmen Switzerland. We are in awe as we get on the train as it has all been refurbished in 1901 style with ornate carved wood, brass and huge seats that look like antique living room chairs. The Golden Pass is a series of trains that snake over mountain passes and into Swiss valleys and at each turn the scenery is beautiful. As you climb out of the town of Montreux, you immediately put on altitude with mountains, green valleys, cows for cheese production and beautiful Swiss towns at every turn. The first leg is about two hours and they only run the Belle Epoch train once or twice a day. The run is also serviced by regular trains too. We don’t think we can make a 5 minute connection with Mom so we opt to stop in Zweisimmen for lunch at the post hotel. It is a simple place run by older Swiss German gentlemen that has something for everyone. We look at the menu which is in German so we navigate as far as the wood fired pizza and a couple of portions from the salad bar. I can’t read the other entrees but on my trip to the bathroom I see others have ordered a beautiful sauerbraten with spaetzel and veggies so I curse myself for not asking about today’s special. It looked like the only game in town close to the train station that had some bad Google reviews but we are very satisfied. We suspect since everything is expensive in Switzerland all the time that the 3 old guys may have trouble with the crowds in the summertime but service and food were good today. We are right on time for the second train of our journey starting in Zweisimmen and ending in Interlaken, Switzerland. We can’t find a cab so we walk to the hotel and it is only about 10 minutes even at Mom’s slow pace. We are staying at the Hotel Interlaken which is a good value for the money at about $338 US for two rooms including a good breakfast. Not as fancy as the Fairmont last night, with smaller rooms; but very acceptable and very clean. Mom is up for the afternoon nap so Gina and I head out to the funicular to go up to Harder Kulm which is the highest point in Interlaken and you can see both lakes that make up the name as the town is between two giant lakes. We are glad we did not miss this as the view is spectacular and we catch the last sun rays of the day for pictures. It is cold on top of the mountain so we slip into the lodge for a happy hour glass of wine as a light misty rainfall begins to fall. The funicular is an engineering marvel so we enjoy the ride as much as the view. On day 15, we are really not sure about what to eat but when checking menus on the internet we see that the Hisu Beer Hall in town has Schnitzel night so we head out in a cab. This was a nice change of pace to have some bar food and a really good deal. On Wednesdays, you get a choice of five or six different kinds of schnitzel including a chicken and veggie choice. We opt for traditional pork schnitzel with mushroom gravy. It comes with a huge salad, fries and a free beer of the night from the brewery they operate next door. I am not usually a fan of IPAs but it was a pale ale our night which was actually pretty good. Mom decided to have a steak sandwich and that was also a winner with fresh salad and fresh peppers and onions along with a nice piece of steak. The place was friendly with piped in music so we enjoyed ourselves in Interlaken. Golden Pass Railroad - Interlaken to Lucern Switzerland The next day we take the last leg of the Golden Pass journey which is as beautiful as the first. We all agree that although the 2nd leg was beautiful that the first and last legs of this three train journey are spectacular. This train starts out along one of the large lakes that make up Interlaken but quickly transitions to mountain passes with really great views. Small lakes dot the scenery as do small Swiss villages and as always with all the cheese production lots of cows and quite a few sheep. We have reservations for the hotel Alpina which is a 3 star that is a short walk from the station. The hotel has a sign that you check in at the Hotel Monopol next door so we head into the lobby. I ask to make sure we have the special request for a shower instead of a tub and the receptionist has to work the rooms as nobody transferred the request to the other hotel. After a while, she upgrades us to Monopol and puts us in two suites to get Mom a shower. Monopol was a grand hotel 40 or 50 years ago but good value for the money and still in pretty good shape which is classified as a 4 star in the Swiss system. We head out to find something for lunch while Mom does her Covid cleaning. We find a local wine shop and have a nice conversation with the owner. If you have read any of my blogs before you know I am intrigued with a blending grape called Cabernet Franc. I ask him if he has anything with that that would run 20chf or 25chf and he replies no, not here in Switzerland but he has one from a local vintner further south near the Italian border. It is 80% Cab Franc and 20% Merlot, aged in steel tanks and the guy only makes one barrel or so per year (250 or 500 bottles) but its 60chf. We take one for Christmas dinner and get another Merlot from the same vintner that was only 19chf and also wonderful. He reminds us to uncork the Christmas bottle about 5 hours before serving. After that we hit the grocery next door for some premade sandwiches and chips that are pretty good. We are getting to the end of the trip so I get two eclair like bon bons covered in chocolate as I know we will skip dessert for a couple of weeks after this trip so I might as well get it while I can and Mom loves chocolate. As expected it is afternoon nap time as Mom was already in Lucerne on a bus tour in a past life. We head to the lakefront to see if we can do some kind of one hour tour. The lady suggests we take the round trip to Burgenstock which gives us a panoramic view of the lake and the small communities that dot Lake Lucerne. After the boat tour, the Lucerne guide the hotel gave us has a walking tour that looks like about an hour. My Mom’s patron saint is my cousin Linda. My Mom was her mentor as they were both business women in the sales field. I stop at the Basilica which is closed and stand outside to say a prayer and thank her for her help with getting Mom back to Europe at 81 in the waning days of a pandemic. We have had good weather most of the way, no sickness even though Covid is still a factor, I scratched a rental car and did not get charged, we won in Monte Carlo and ate well so I never tempt the Gods or Angels, I always say my thanks when it is due. The walking tour is nice and ends with the pedestrian shopping street. At the end we duck into a wine bar (are you getting the theme when we are in Europe as we have drank crap for a year with limited income?). We sit next to an older man that speaks good English and he sparks up a conversation about the new Swiss Covid Pass that he hates. He is from another town near Austria but comes to Lucerne all the time as he thinks it is the best town in the world. We have a nice conversation and he agrees with my point about the pass allowing us to get back to business and a lot of people are dying. It seems the Covid Passport has allowed the French to go from less than 50% vaccination to about 85% vaccination as the kids get tired of tests just to go out to bars and restaurants. His name is Holly and he has a fight jacket with Holly on the back so I am guessing maybe used to be a boxer. I ask if he wants another glass of wine and he says two are my limit each evening but he pulls out a wad of chf, motions to the girl to pay my tab too and we say our pleasantries. He has already said Lucerne has great restaurants so I ask for a recommendation as he is leaving. He asks where I am staying and suggests the Bistro du Theatre which is about 4 minute walk from my hotel. He was right it was a casual local bistro with great black muscles as a specialty plus we all had something we liked for the last meal in Europe. When I call for a reservation, the lady insists we need proof of vaccination and we see why as the local police are running checks of the stores and restaurants on that block to enforce the new vaccine passport requirement. The barber shop has everybody out in the street with the officers as apparently they were ignoring the rules that went into effect about 20 days ago. Lucerne to Zurich Fluhagen (Zurich Airport) We have been riding first class all the way on the trains. It is not that much more expensive on short train rides ($10 to $20 per ride per person) and we figured the first class trains will be less crowded and they are. I made a mistake and cut a second class supersaver ticket after many tries at getting the system to cut this many tickets in one round as the EU train systems go up and down in Rail Europe. I think this was my only mistake of the trip and I was tired so I did not reexamine the ticket until we got on board and unpacked. The young conductor took pity on us traveling with Mom and all our luggage to the airport but said he could not upgrade the supersaver tickets I cut which were use them or lose them. He fiddled with his phone for a while and said go ahead and buy another full fare ticket from Zurich HB to the airport for about $45e/three and we’ll call it a day. I suspect he had an empty train car in first class and compared the first class to second class supersaver plus he was getting off at Zurich HB so I needed the right ticket from downtown to the airport if another conductor was taking over when he got off. The Swiss are an excellent group of people and an absolutely beautiful country. I suggest you travel Switzerland at least once in your life. The trains run on time, the hotels are clean, the food is varied and good plus the scenery is excellent. We are trying to solve global warming with electric cars, etc. Europeans while they have cars in some places also have an excellent train system so we arrived Zurich Airport on a train platform under the airport and simply took the elevator upstairs. Swissair runs an excellent airline and we had a preflight check with the US CPB representative that works for Swissair who checked all our Covid documentation including test results and forms. We were given a wheelchair to use with Mom and we chose the self- serve option as we were early so we could eat, drink coffee and duty free shop a little on the way to the plane. Mom wanted some Chanel that was made in France so we made that stop and off we went on Swissair to Miami. Conclusion Overall, we had a great trip. It was good to get on the road again after the pandemic shutdown. We were lucky to hit a period between covid spikes and we were careful with our mitigation (mask wearing, outdoor restaurants, traveling on a fully vaccinated ship, nonstop airplanes to vaccinated destinations, etc.). Southern France was very pretty but I am thinking Cote de Azur is a once in a lifetime destination. I may head back to Provence at some point in my life as the towns along the Rhone were beautiful and we were only in each place one day. Gina and I both concluded that we will return to Switzerland in the summer maybe for an extended stay at some point in time. Monaco was a better day than I expected and I would like to get back to Montreux at some point for the Jazz Festival. Avalon Waterways river cruises is owned by the Globus Family of Brands. I think they are doing as good a job as any of the companies with their river cruise product. It is our second time on Avalon Waterways and our first time in a suite. The suite was very well designed and pulling the space into the room instead of adding balconies was in my opinion a brilliant move as there are times when you pop the door open but might not spend time on the balcony. The Avalon Waterways staff was wonderful with attentive service and the food was very good. The fact that you have multiple tour options at each stop make this more of a multi-generational product than other river cruise lines. Avalon Waterways offers 3 kinds of shore excursions and many cities had multiple (free) included choices. They offer Active, which were very active in our opinion. It made the week go quick as we had prepaid excursions to ride bikes and tour the reserve, kayak the Gorge and ride the rail bikes through the mountains. Discovery which are geared towards older people who want to learn something or do something different and classic are the typical city (mostly walking) tour with a guide and headsets. River cruising in general is nice as you are in a different city on each day and it is like a bus tour without the packing and unpacking required to switch hotels every day or two.

Florida Seller of Travel. Reg. #10098

© 2006 to 2022 Market Access Promotions, Inc.

BOOK WITH OUR TRAVEL AGENCY

Passport Information Visa Information Honeymoon & Wedding Info Travel Lay-Away Plans

Price Match Policy Travel Insurance Corporate Incentive Travel Groups & Family Reunions

Caribbean Tour & Cruise Notary Public Site Map

813-868-0007

Tampa Bay’s Cloud Based Travel Agency

813-868-0007 800-955-5594 info@vacationtc.com

text 813-503-8759

BOOK WITH OUR TRAVEL AGENCY

French Riviera, River Cruising in Provence and The Golden Pass Route This is my first travel blog in about two years. This is the time of Covid-19 so you may see some references to that if you are reading this blog years down the road as all travel was closed from April 2020 until about February or March of 2021 during the pandemic lock down. Pre River Cruise Trip to the French Riviera It feels good to be on the road again. We booked an Active and Discovery Rhone River cruise in 2020 that got canceled so we have rebooked that trip for September 2021 and I am writing this from an Avalon Waterways riverboat called the Avalon Poetry 2. In a time of Covid 19, air service is limited and our cruise starts near Marseille, France and ends up in Lyon, France. With limited air service, slow phones due to the Delta variant scare and no vacation for 2 years we decided to fly nonstop Miami to Zurich, Switzerland. Plus the Swissair flights were vaccine required, or Covid test required; so they were safer than flying domestically to Europe via New York or Dulles. Zurich Airport Our flight arrived Zurich in the morning and we had an evening flight to Nice, France so we caught a cab and headed out to a lovely Italian restaurant called Restaurante Romantica near the Zurich airport. Zurich is an expensive city and the minimum cab ride from or to ZRH is about $35 so it made for an expensive but delightful afternoon under the tree in front of the restaurant they had a beautiful outdoor patio. The girls had soup after the long travel day but I had a homemade mushroom ravioli that was excellent. Nice and Cagnes Sur Mer (Cote d’ Azur), France We stayed one night in Nice and were glad we did the villa after experiencing Nice. Nice has some very nice beach areas and an Old Port area that has character. As we got in late, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express near the airport. We could have taken the Tram but my 81 year old Mom was pretty tired so we hailed a cab. We loaded everything in the car and told the guy the address and he started unloading our luggage and kicked us out of the cab. They put the baggage on the side of the taxi stand and after a half an hour another guy from the back of the line agreed to make the short run. This is actually illegal according to taxi laws but most of the taxi drivers are not French. Plus the minimum fare applied again so another $35 taxi ride for 10 minute run. In the morning we agreed Gina and I could have trammed but not with Mom after 36 hours on the road. I tend to roll with the punches when traveling, so we got to the hotel, which served us well as a sleep cheap and Mom bedded down. Gina and I headed out for a walk to a restaurant we found on the internet called Island Café. It was food from Madagascar and was very excellent and very cheap. At ten PM as we headed back we realized we were in a less refined part of Nice, so it was at least an interesting walk. We needed a France Pass Sanitaire on our phone to convert our vaccination card. This has still not arrived as of the date of this blog but most places we were able to negotiate our CDC shot cards with passports so-far. After check out, we drove the beach road in Nice. That area is very nice with beaches that have small rocks rather than sand fronted by huge expensive apartments overlooking the water. Traffic is busy in Nice so I am eager to get out of as we rented a larger vehicle and they gave us a Jeep which is definitely too big for European cities. I only get cars on a limited basis in Europe where necessary but we were three seniors with luggage so it was necessary in this situation. After a short tour of the beach in Nice, we headed to Le Bayside in Cagnes Sur Mer. This was also a great stop as it was right on a small beach with a paid parking lot nearby. Our waitress was delightful and the restaurant was 3rd or 4th generation Nice cuisine. They had fresh clams so it was 3 vongole pasta and a bottle of wine. The waitress spoke great English and food was fantastic. I don’t do a lot of Air BnBs but we had a villa for three nights that indicated we could possibly do a luggage drop. I called the “concierge” but did not get a response or a return phone call so we decided on plan B, Bayside Restaurant and it was a very good choice for a couple of hours by the beach. We got Mom to the villa and went down to the grocery store in Cagnes Sur Mer at the bottom of the hill. A French grocery store is an experience that everyone should do once in their life. We planned for breakfast and a salad and cheese plate dinner after our long afternoon beach lunch. Southern France has wonderful fruits and vegetables plus you have an entire fromagerie in a French grocery store. We bought a 59 cent baguette and had a nice soup, cheese and pastry dinner. Bottles of great wine are about $6 to $14 and you can even get Cru Bourgeois from about $18 and Gran Cru’s starting at $25. We spent a lot of time on the porch overlooking the Cote d Azur. St. Paul de Vence, France We stayed at an Airbnb called Villa Mimosa which was just below the hill town of St. Paul de Vence near Nice. It was a beautiful view and really filled the bill as a 2 BR 2 bath villa with a washing machine. That meant we only needed to plan for about 10 or 11 days of clothes for a 16 day trip. St. Paul de Vence is a touristy hill town that was home to both Marc Chagall and Matisse at one point in time. It had a map online so we even could get a walking path around the hill town so Mom could go up with us. We went up and did some shopping and stopped back at the villa for a late lunch of grocery store quiche with a glass of wine. We headed into Antibes to maybe walk around and try to get a table at a well rated cheap seafood shack. Unfortunately Antibes was very, very full of local tourists and the restaurant had zero reservations available. The streets had a flea market attitude and we could not find any street parking at all. We just turned around and headed back up to the villa with a pretty good pizza from a roadside food truck and made a salad from the fridge overlooking the Mediterranean. Monaco (Casino De Monte Carlo) We had asked Mom in 2019 what she wanted to do for her 80th as we had planned on Europe and she asked about Monte Carlo Casino as she had one trip with her second husband cancelled in the 80s. Gina and I had always wanted to do Southern France so we planned this for 2020 but postponed to 2021 as did everyone with the Covid-19 pandemic. We did a late morning in the villa and headed towards Monaco (Monte Carlo) about noon. A cold front came through as we were leaving the villa so we got heavy rain on the trip down the highway. We avoided the original plan to do the upper Corniche but did make a stop to see Eze from the road. The rain stopped and the Mistral winds started blowing from the north so we could feel the temperature dropping by the hour. After a quick stop to photograph the hill town of Eze we headed on to Monte Carlo and just drove around initially. The wealth in Monaco is not really believable with million dollar yachts and cars dotting the landscape. We were very impressed with Monaco as the Prince has a very hospitable culture which invites tourists in to spend money and go to the casino. The table games are a minimum $25 bet so we played video blackjack and slots. Casino de Monte Carlo has a James Bond theme as it was featured in the movie series. The casino charges 17e admission but gives you 10e free play that got inhaled in the video blackjack machine but I got luckier with my second 20e. Mom was having fun at the slots and was up a little bit so I went to the slot machine featuring the Sean Connery Bond as he was always my favorite Bond. After about an hour and a half we were all up and Gina was watching the piano player so we cashed out our winnings and hit the lower Corniche towards Nice. We stopped at the Old Port of Nice on the way home and found a really nice seafood restaurant named the Marlin. I think this was the best seafood of the trip but should be at the Old Port of Nice. My Mom had a fantastic piece of fresh black sea bass, Gina had tiny moules and frites (black mussels and French fries) plus I had the bouillabaisse with a mixture of fresh seafood. After a very long day, we headed back up to the villa to finish off the grocery store desserts. Aix en Provence, France (with walk in Cannes and a lunch stop in Sicily) We pulled out about 10:30 as Aix en Provence our next overnight stop was about 1.5 hours driving. We stopped and drove the beach in Cannes down to the waterfront port and we broke for a walk along the sea. We had a nav system in the car so I got on the highway and asked it for an interim stop for gasoline. It stupidly sent us back around 15 miles to the last exit we passed so I was cursing Siri as we stopped for gas. It was about 1:30 and you have to eat by 2P or restaurants start closing in France so we programmed the nav system for Italian Restaurants and one was just around the corner. It was a take-out place with a few tables outside on a beautiful day with a car park so we cheered and locked the bags in view to go inside. The lady did not have a French accent and my French stinks so I asked Italiano? She replied no Siciliano to which I asked dove? (Where are you from?) and she replied Palermo. I turned around and saw a painting of Cefalu which is Gina’s Grandfather’s home town so I went outside and told Gina to come inside from the patio. Now Cefalu is in the region of Palermo so I introduced Gina my Cefalutano wife and everybody did the happy dance. We ordered way too much food and ate most of it. We had the best Sicilian arancini (rice balls) I have had since Palermo with her cousin, one portion of pasta alforno, a portion of lasagna and a mini calzoni with lemon soda. It seems the owner’s family is not only from Cefalu but her grandfather was also from Lascari where Gina’s grandfather is from. They compared surnames and decided they were not related as the lady knew some of Gina’s cousins. We all did air kisses because of covid and off we went very full of great Sicilian food. I picked Aix en Provence as it was about 30 minutes to the Marseille airport and Marseille being France’s second largest city and a seaport does not have the best reputation for safety plus the Marseille airport is about 20 minutes from Marseille. We were not disappointed with Aix en Provence. Mom is 81 so she needed to rest after a full day on the road. Gina and I took the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Paul Cezanne as we had seen a Cezanne and Pissaro exhibition in Paris on an earlier trip. We took the car out to Carrieres de Bibemus which is a huge nature park. It was about an hour and a half before sunset so we understood why Cezanne loved this place. The park does not have very much parking and miles of no parking signs, but we were there late in the day in the off-season after Covid so it was easy. We headed out on a hiking path and a young French jogger helped us with the trail map so we could quickly get some viewpoints onto Sainte- Victoire Mountain. We were rewarded with a perfectly clear sunset on Cezanne’s favorite subject. In fact, it was yellow on the way out but we found Sainte-Victoire had turned pink on the return hike to the car. We hit the parking lot at dusk and returned to the Cezanne Boutique hotel in Aix as the natives call it. Mom was ready for bed after all the food at lunch but we needed a light bite. We showered and headed to the main square which was about 3 blocks from the hotel. Aix en Provence is a pretty hip town with multiple colleges and by 9p the place was hopping. We tried the restaurant Cezanne Boutique hotel staff had suggested but our French Pass Sanitaires had still not been issued and the assistant manager was afraid to let us in with the shot cards as her manager was off for the evening, so we kept going. We picked a bar that served tapas and settled in with a good bottle of Cotes du Rhone and some appetizers. The manager told us that as long as we had the shot card we were welcome. I applauded him as being smarter than Macron and we took a table on the patio. As the bar scene started to fill up, we realized we had chosen an LGBTQ bar but the couples were very friendly and our waiter spoke pretty good English that he said he learned from playing video games and the tapas was excellent, so all was good. Later we made our way around the bar scene and stopped for a Guinness for me and a Kilkenny Red for Gina at a nice Irish Pub. In a college town in Europe the people watching is amazing. Cezanne Boutique Hotel had a killer breakfast included with the room rate with everything you could think of on a European continental breakfast so we loaded the jeep thankfully for the last time and headed to the airport to meet the Avalon representative. Avalon Waterways Active and Discovery Cruise on the Rhone on the Poetry II We bought the prepaid transfer from Avalon Waterways to the Poetry II. We waited by arrivals and the representative showed up right on time. She called a very nice taxi man with a Mercedes van and off we went to Port St. Louis. We could have hailed a cab but it would have cost more and we would have had to find the boat. Book with a travel agent and you get secrets like that for FREE. We were surprised it was about an hour to Port St. Louis which is where the Rhone River meets the Mediterranean. We loaded in and had a great evening meal as Avalon Waterways offers flexible dining times. When you consider that most shore excursions are included, wine and beer with dinner and lunch are included (I have been drinking Kronenborg on tap all week plus good French wines) these are more expensive than ocean cruising but include a LOT more. We stopped worrying about the Pass Sanitaire’s arriving as we were in the protected river cruise/escorted tour bubble and we were eating mostly on the ship. This is an Avalon Waterways Active and Discovery River Cruise on the Rhone so the route is a little shorter to allow more time for the Activities but we are traveling as two very active 60 year olds and an 82 year old so we have different activities planned for both age groups in most places. Port Saint Louis/Camargue Nature Preserve The first stop on the Rhone Active and Discovery River Cruise is Port St. Louis which is a very small working seaport near the mouth of the Rhone on the Mediterranean. We walked around town in about 15 minutes. The purpose of this stop is the Camargue Nature Preserve where they raise White Horses, have sea salt ponds and raise bulls for bullfighting. We chose a bicycle ride as the active optional tour the next day. The bikes were lined up in a parking lot near the ship after breakfast. The guide was very good and pointed to small, medium and large Trek bikes so with a short instruction we loaded up for our first bike ride in 30 years. The guide announced that it was 45 kilometers for the day which is about 25 miles. We joked about tour de France as we rode with the instructor on the first 12 miles to the Nature Preserve we were flying with a tail wind. This is actually a classic TDF tactical mistake as we ended up at the back of the Peloton since we are in our 60s all the way home peddling into the wind, but the stragglers encouraged each other to keep going to avoid the chase van. We were proud of ourselves as we left with a group of 22 and 7 or 9 were in the van by the way home, one minor crash of a fellow rider but our “team” managed to make it all the way back to the ship. After lunch we set sail for a 3 hour sail to Arles. On Avalon Waterways, I am in a basic suite room which is worth the upgrade as the glass pocket doors open up and I am writing this blog with the Southern France breeze in my face on a sunny 80 degree day. Arles Today was a walking tour of Arles and we met a retired matador at the amphitheater. Sometimes expectations can be misleading when you read about a tour and then actually take it. The town of Arles was absolutely fantastic so we understand why Van Gogh loved it towards the end of life. Gina and I did some shopping in the afternoon after the tour and very much enjoyed that also. The tour started with a presentation including questions and answers by Juan Leal who was a retired bullfighter from a family of bullfighters. Avalon waterways had an excellent English-speaking guide that translated for us. The bullfighter explained all about the sport and we stopped later at his restaurant to see the shrine to his family’s bullfighting heritage on the walls. He explained that this is a big money sport and his nephew was one of the five top bullfighters in the world today. They traveled France, Spain and even South America. With a bullfight the bull is sold to the promoter as he is probably not coming home but sometimes he has such a heart that the crowd starts cheering for a pardon. A top bull can fetch 15,000 euros and a bullfighter can be paid as much as 125,000 euros. One lady asked when he decided to quit. He said it was the day the bull had him by the pants and was beating him to death. It took them 10 or 15 minutes to get him out of the ring and away from the bull. Gina and I went back into Arles and had our first major shopping trip in 2 years so we shopped like drunken sailors. I bought a buffalo laptop bag and she got a great Italian dress for 20e at a side street store. That night was a musical treat on the boat as 3 musicians a a female singer that had retired from from the Gypsy Kings were the entertainment. They are from the Camargue area and were playing on the riverboat to get through the pandemic. Avignon We did two overnights in Avignon. I had a lovely afternoon writing this blog from my suite on the Avalon Waterways Poetry II. The entire glass wall folds up into pocket doors and it is a lovely day on the Rhone River. In Avignon, we have a ship excursion to the French Pope’s Palace and Les Halles Market. Our guide was very good and Avignon and knew all the history of the French Pope. After we walked through the city and he pointed out some points of interest he purchased all our tickets for the French Pope’s Palace. The highlight of this guide by the name of Manu was a point where he stopped in the main chapel and sang in Latin to show us the acoustics. After the Pope’s Palace we walked to Les Halles Market Avignon for a visit but the tour got changed as we were supposed to have shopping with a picnic in the park near the market but everything is adjusted a little for Covid as the authorities have removed the picnic tables from the park outside the market. The tour director on the ship did the shopping and only our walking tour group had an aperitif from the market before lunch. We went back to the market for spices but they were closing but we did get half a pound of dried porcinis as the kitchen cabinet is getting empty. We got hooked on them in Italy and they are very expensive in the USA including the shipping. Those local guides are from the city that you stop in so they are also a good resource if you have questions about your free time. We wanted to get Mom off the ship for a dinner to see a little of Avignon so he assisted me with an easy place to have the driver drop and pick me up and also which of the restaurants were non-touristy. He stopped an whispered a tip about European restaurants when he pointed to a menu that had all of the choices including Italian, French and even some American dishes catering to tourists. He said if a French menu has more than 10 choices it is not a good restaurant as they are not working with fresh ingredients. This is a good point to talk about European Prix Fix menus. For lunch you can usually get 3 courses for between 15e and 20e depending on the region and most restaurants have a little board at the entrance showing what today’s choices are. That evening we got a cab and went back to the clock square with Mom. The taxi we called never showed up but a gypsy taxi stopped and asked if we were going to the restaurant. We overpaid a little bit but I still tipped him and asked him if he wanted to make the return trip which he eagerly did. He was a French African or French Caribbean guy who spoke impeccable English. Taxis are always a problem so if you can find a guy who is friendly pay a little extra. Also taxi’s although expensive can sometimes solve a particular problem or save a bunch of time over public transport so use them when necessary.

Viviers We met Mom for 9A breakfast as we are daytime sailing this morning through the largest lock on the Rhone Lock Bollene. This is a hydro electric project that took the boat up 76 feet in elevation. The project has nuclear, wind turbines and hydro electric so it looks like it produces most of the electricity for the region. The locks are always an interesting part of these river cruises as it is amazing watching the captain manipulate the ship from the outside joystick as there is only inches to spare. After lunch we loaded up in a motorcoach in Viviers to kayak the Gorges de l’Ardeche which is Europe’s Grand Canyon on a smaller scale. The buffet breakast and lunches were superb. Evenings in the dining room always has a choice of nightly entrees along with some standard choices, soup, appetizer or salad and dessert. Lunch is served in the restaurant, in the lounge and also on some days there is a bar b que on the top deck. This particular day there was a bar b que on the top deck but Mom was not getting up there with the steep stairs. One of the waiters offers to bring us back a sausage and some grilled salmon which were both very good. After lunch, we are loaded up for a one hour bus ride to the Gorges de l’Ardeche. Mom is heading to the perfume farm and factory on a Discovery tour which she said was also very interesting. When we arrive at the Gorges de l’Ardeche, the guide mentions casually that the river is running high. To which, I ask are these class one and two but I am told that today they are class 2 and 3. My wife looks at me as I grimace a little in reaction to that answer. When we are on the river I explain we should be ok as experienced ocean kayakers as I have run rapids as a kid in the Boy Scouts, but the guide should have called the boat to allow other inexperienced kayakers to cancel the trip, if conditions were challenging. We all got pretty wet on the run but we all did ok with the rapids until the last set when we one boat overturned and another ended up on the rocks. It was the last rapid of the day, so we held at the top to allow them to get people out of the water and we actually listened to the guide so we picked a line which worked out good to the bottom. After that we passed through the highest arch on a freshwater river in Europe. It was a very pretty day and we had good weather. We skipped the night-time ghost tour in Viviers as none of us is interested in the paranormal and a light rain started to fall. We set sail in the evening from Viviers so the pocket doors were open until we fell asleep and we were docked when we got up in the morning. Note there are times when you cannot use the doors if you are double docked as you are looking into somebody’s room. This happened 2 or 3 nights on a 7 night trip and we picked a suite across the hall from Mom’s so we had a 50/50 shot at an open view if we got together. The Avalon Waterways rooms are spacious enough that you can entertain somebody or another couple especially of you open the French balcony as you have a Loveseat and another chair. Tournan/Tain l’ Hermitage We started the morning docked in Tournon which is paired with Tain l’ Hermitage across the river. Mom is going to the chocolate factory to make her own chocolate bar and we are heading on a rail bike to do a descent of the Gorges du Doux. This was one of the neatest attractions we had seen in a while and believe me we have done everything in a lifetime in this business. We started with an old diesel locomotive that chugged up the mountain about 8 kilometers. The rail tracks followed a deep gorge and were right on the edge. When we got to our destination the engineer and guide unchained some little race cars that were pedal driven and set on a siding of the railroad. We all loaded up and one by one pedaled out of the station towards the bottom of the hill. They asked us all to stay at least 50 meters apart which at times required using the breaks with the steepness of the hill. You could look out over the edge but we were never in any danger as we were attached to the rails. We hit a couple of flat spots and the cars were 350 pounds so the pedaling was a little tough in those flat spots. Before we knew it, we were down at the bottom and we really thought this was one of the best attractions on this river cruise. The guide asked the group did we want to tour Tain l’ Hermatige and the famous pedestrian bridge between the cities but the group voted for a stop at the chocolate factory store on the way home. We ran into Mom at the chocolate store so she walked the quarter mile home with us to the ship. It is amazing as quarantine/lockdown took a toll on the older people as Mom had entropied but seemed to blossom on the trip and was walking longer distances by the time we got back to Zurich. We sailed for Lyon after lunch so I was able to sit in my Avalon Poetry II Suite to write this blog along the river. We enjoyed the sailing days along the river as it was about 70 on this portion of the trip and it is interesting to see all the different types of boat traffic along the river. As we neared Lyon, a light rain began to fall so we canceled our night tour of Lyon as I seemed to be getting a cold from the 3 hours of wet clothes on the Gorges de L Ardeche and Mom did not want to risk the rain so we all turned in early. Lyon When we get to Lyon, I definitely had cold symptoms. We are traveling with an emergency kit including a thermometer and an oximeter, so all was normal. As this is a breakthrough indication of Covid we were all freaked that the trip would end with ten days of Covid quarantine in Lyon. We were already scheduled for an onboard covid test we all did the happy dance when the Covid test results came back negative. Most of the tour companies and river cruises are doing the covid testing as part of the deal. Same as many of the all-inclusives in the Caribbean to comply with US law about negative test for arrival at US ports of entry. I think the requirement is stupid as we are all required to be vaccinated to enter most European countries at the point and we are returning to the USA where covid at this point is much worse than Europe. It was raining very hard in the early morning so we canceled Mom’s French Chef tour and we certainly were not doing the bites and highlights of Lyon in the rain. The rain was starting to let up and the sun was poking out of the sky so Gina and I hit the ATM and did a little shopping with our KN95s firmly in place. We opted for a taxi driver to take us up to the Basilica hill and on to Les Halles de Paul Bocuse food market. After some shopping for the train lunch next day, we did the butcher restaurant at the food hall market with skirt steak, a huge Lyonnaise salad and split a burger 3 ways. Angel one of the crew members was riding the same train as us so I offered a ride to the train station. We shared a love of fishing and he was a casino host on Celebrity in a past life so we agreed I would take him kayak fishing for redfish, if he ever came to Florida. There is a lot of camaraderie in the travel industry as we were all unemployed together during lockdown. He promised we would have a beer before we parted and he helped with Mom’s luggage at the train station. He was heading as far as Geneva and then taking Valujet to Bulgaria. His mom was cooking chicken soup and stuffed peppers, so the mood was positive as we got on the train. Andrizito, the adventure guy; was leaving the next day and he was happy to be seeing his six year old with his contract pay he promised her ice cream for the first time in a year. Once on the train Angel pulled a couple of beers from his bag and we toasted to tourism as we were practically the first American tourists to arrive in a reopened Europe. I haven’t been shaking hands during the pandemic but I reached out today and he said “we both have a shot” and grabbed me for a bear hug which I am guessing is a Bulgarian thing. We all got shots for free in the USA, but the first thing he was doing with his pay was getting his Mom a shot when he returned to Bulgaria. He was vaccinated first as he needed it to work. Wow, the pandemic story is mind blowing as we begin to move about the world again! Even though we paid the “suggested gratuities” the fact was not lost on us that these people from poor countries are proud tourism workers and glad to be back to work. We were generous with small individual tips to everybody that waited on us and we lived like Kings and Queens on the Avalon Poetry II. It has always been my policy to leave a little something extra as you can afford to tip, if you can afford to travel. Now more than ever as we emerge from this pandemic help the small people that work in tourism as it has been rougher for them than those of us in the industrialized world. The level of appreciation you will see for 1 or 2 Euros will amaze you. Suggested gratuities for the whole team on Avalon are 12e per guest per day and 3e for the tour director. We were leaving 1 or 2e for each waiter/bartender when they waited on us and another 2.5e per day for the housekeeper. Try my system the next time from day one and you will be amazed how much personal service you get with a little extra tip, especially as we emerge from