Welcome

Day 6 - Tournon - Vienne

Sunday, June 12th, 2016

Welcome

Everywhere we have traveled we have been met by warm welcomes and the atmosphere on board the ship is one of welcome and hospitality.  The entire crew and all the local guides go out of their way to make us feel welcome. Every time we sit with new people at dinner we discover a lovely sense of welcome and hospitality. Paul and I had a great dinner with two people from England while Sally and Margi were making new friends with folks from San Jose, California.

The ship was docked in Tournon last night and for those who wished to start the day a bit early we had an opportunity to go on a guided walking tour of this quaint little riverside town.  Since it was Sunday the shops were closed and families get to enjoy a day of rest and recreation.

At 9:30 the buses left to take us to the train station where we boarded the open air steam Train de l’Ardèche for a short locomotive ride through the deep gorges of the Ardèche plateau, cut by the Doux River.  The views were incredible as we traveled deeper and deeper into the wilderness. We returned to our ship and we were greeted by the crew welcoming us back on board. ( I had a great picture but the internet will not load it for me - I will try and load it to my facebook page and you can see it there)

We enjoyed lunch as we cruised to Vienne - a beautiful town with an ancient Roman past.

You know you are coming closer to the end of your voyage when the program director starts talking about disembarkation and that is what we heard about after lunch before we arrived in Vienne.  Of course for our group this will just mark the midway point of the trip as we will travel by high speed train to Paris and board our next ship if the train is not shut down by a strike which is a possibility.

On our walking tour of Vienne we visited the Temple of Augustus and Livia, the Roman amphitheater and the Gothic Cathedral of St. Maurice and then we took a little trolly ride to the top of the hill to see the most beautiful view of the city and the surrounding countryside.

All in all we had a fabulous day.