Trip Report- Uniworld's Grand France

[jklc123]

It was the Uniworld Grand France itinerary in 2015.

[boblerm]

Day 6 May 22  Caudebec- En Caux, Honfleur

Today we are docked in the town of Caudebec- En Caux.  We took a morning excursion to Honfleur, the other option was golfing at Etretat.

The bus ride to Honfleur was quite scenic, I was fascinated by the thatched roof houses.

 

 

 

 

Some even had flowers growing

 

Our cruise manger, Florence, was very fond of the Normandy cows.  She said that in Normandy, the weather is so nice that even the cows wear sunglasses.

 

The cows are fed cider along with hay which makes the beef taste like Kobe. A good life until........

 

Honfleur is a charming town at the southern bank of the Seine.

 

 

 

 

 

The Church of St. Catherine is the largest wooden church in France.

 

 

 

 

But the highlight of Honfleur is the Old Port area

 

 

 

 

 

After our morning tour, we were give the choice of staying to explore and have lunch on our own with a late shuttle back, or to return to the ship for lunch.  We chose the latter, as we have been to Honfleur before and had time to explore.

 

After lunch we wandered around the town of Caudebec- En Caux for a bit.

 

There is a lovely church there called Notre Dame de Caudebec- En Caux.

 

 

 

 

After dinner, there was entertainment by Duo Robert Lenoir.

 

I forgot to mention that yesterday's entertainment was the showing of the movie Momma Mia!  Here we Go Again in Claude's.  We peeked in at one point- no one was watching.😏

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, boblerm said:

I forgot to mention that yesterday's entertainment was the showing of the movie Momma Mia!  Here we Go Again in Claude's.  We peeked in at one point- no one was watching.😏

 

What's a cruise without ABBA??? 

[boblerm]

13 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

What's a cruise without ABBA??? 

So true.  One can never get too much ABBA!😂

[jklc123]

On a Caribbean cruise one night we were watching Mama Mia! outdoors on a big screen when a light rain started, just when the fountain in the film burst out. Great coincidence!

[boblerm]

Day 7 May 23 Rouen

 

Today we had a walking tour of Rouen, where we are docked, a nice break from the longish bus rides we have had the past few days.

As a non French speaking American, I always thought this city was pronounced Ro En.  This is not even in the ballpark.  The correct pronunciation, is, well, more or less not possible for North Americans who are not fluent in French.  But a reasonable approximation can be made by saying RooAh but said as one syllable, and closing off your throat at the end.  If you can roll the R at tad, and give a bit of a throaty sound at the end, so much the better.  Finally, our tour guide told us that it must be pronounced with a healthy dose of French attitude.

Voila.

 

Rouen is a great city for walking around

 

 

 

 

 

There are 2  well known landmarks here, the cathedral which was the subject of several Monet paintings that he did at different times of day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomb of Richard the Lionheart

 

 

BTW, this cathedral is called Notre Dame de Rouen.  I am beginning to see a trend in the naming of French churches.

 

The other major claim to fame is for being the site at which Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake, there is a church here in her honor.

 

 

 

The Great Clock of Rouen, mechanism made in 1389

 

 

 

Even McDs is classy here

 

Marketplace

 

Tonight's dinner menu

 

Chicken Pot Pie, Veloute Longchamps Soup, and Grilled Lamb Rack.  A definite winner of a meal.

 

The evening's entertainment was, (brace yourself),  a showing of the movie "Johnny English Strikes Again".  Seriously.

 

[jpalbny]

Great shots of Rouen et Honfleur! So picturesque. We were there on Silversea last year and loved those stops. Thanks for all the great posts!

 

We have to visit the beaches and the Bayeux tapestry soon. Thinking about a week in the area on our own. So much to see!

[boblerm]

24 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Great shots of Rouen et Honfleur! So picturesque. We were there on Silversea last year and loved those stops. Thanks for all the great posts!

 

We have to visit the beaches and the Bayeux tapestry soon. Thinking about a week in the area on our own. So much to see!

Thank you JP and Chris.  I think a week in this area would be great, there is indeed much to see!

[boblerm]

Day 8 May 24 Mantes La Jolie, Versailles

 

We set sail from Rouen late last night, and arrived at Mantes La Jolie at 10:30AM.  Our tour was at 12:30, so we had a bit of time to poke around the town.

 

 

 

 

Can you guess the name of this church?

 

 

Give up?

It is Notre Dame de Montes La Jolie.

Whoda thunk it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our choices for excursions this afternoon were the Palace of Versailles including secret apartments, or Versailles Gardens and Queen's Hamlet.  We had visited the palace previously, so we chose the hamlet excursion.  It included a visit to the Petit  Trianon, where Marie Antoinette resided when she couldn't stand living in the palace (who could?), it's associated gardens, and a small village that she had built so that she could hang out with her best buds.

 

Shortly after entering the city of Versailles, we were greeted by a statue of Louis XIV

 

This church is called..............

wait for it......................

Notre Dame de Versailles.

 

Our bus parked at the Grand Trianon, which we did not visit

 

We walked down a path to the Petit Trianon

 

 

 

We walked around the beautiful gardens

 

 

 

 

to the Hamlet

 

 

 

Then we toured the inside of the Petit Trianon

 

 

 

We were very pleased with this excursion, lots of walking.

 

Dinner menu

 

Caviar, Lobster Bisque, and Sole Meunere. We often skip desert, but couldn't resist the Baked Alaska (at least I couldn't)

 

Entertainment was by Chanteuse Joie de Vivre

We got some dancing in, just in case we didn't do enough walking today😊

 

[Roz]

Breaded Celery Picatta.....🙄  Excuse me, it's celery.

 

Roz

[deec]

what is that furry animal!!

great pictures and I am loving your comments!

[boblerm]

25 minutes ago, deec said:

what is that furry animal!!

great pictures and I am loving your comments!

The general consensus is that it was a muskrat, but no one seemed to know for sure 😊

Glad to hear that you are enjoying!

[boblerm]

Day 9 May 25  Paris

We are back in Paris on our final day aboard the Joie de Vivre.  We had a "Paris City Tour" excursion today  Yes, we have seen these sites before, some of them multiple times, however somehow the phrase "too much Paris" just does not compute!

 

Arc de Triomphe

 

St Augustine Church

 

Church of la Madeleine

 

Louvre

 

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

 

 

Place Saint-Michel

 

Pantheon (buried here are Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, many others)

 

Les Invalides

 

 

This was mainly a bus tour, with 2 stops.  The first was at the Trocadero, where one gets the best view in Paris of a site that I don't think I can ever tire of seeing

 

 

 

and  Luxembourg Gardens.  Not much in the way of flowers, but still a beautiful place to walk around.

 

 

 

 

 

Spent the afternoon relaxing and packing, as we have to leave the SS JdV tomorrow😕

but we get to board the SS Catherine!😊

 

Dinner menu

 

I had escargot, salmon cake and quail stuffed with foie gras.  Also had the cream puff (did I say that I rarely order dessert?😮)

I thought the meal was excellent, Jeannie had the  salad, barley vegetables soup and char, and thought it was just ok.

[Roz]

I want the rump steak.....

 

Roz

[boblerm]

5 minutes ago, Roz said:

I want the rump steak.....

 

Roz

Not the lentil and vegetable curry?😂

[Roz]

10 minutes ago, boblerm said:

Not the lentil and vegetable curry?😂

 

Actually, lentil and vegetable curry sounds pretty good.  I'm loving the photos.  France is so French. 

 

Roz

[need2travel1]

Bob,

 I agree with you that too much Paris does not compute!  We've been to Paris 4 times (& 2x were w/ Uniworld) & are hoping to go back in 2020.  No matter how many sights we see there are always more on our list.  

I'm really looking forward to your review of the SS Catherine & the south of France as this itinerary is on our Must Do list sometime in the next 3-4 years.  

 

Enjoy the next phase of your vacation & keep those awesome pictures coming!!  

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, Roz said:

 

Actually, lentil and vegetable curry sounds pretty good.  I'm loving the photos.  France is so French. 

 

Roz

 

It would make a good side dish – with the arctic char.

[HappyTvlr]

Loving this! I'm hoping to go next year.  Getting back to Honfleur, did anyone do the golf option? If so, any information would be appreciated.

[boblerm]

13 hours ago, HappyTvlr said:

Loving this! I'm hoping to go next year.  Getting back to Honfleur, did anyone do the golf option? If so, any information would be appreciated.

HappyTvlr, I spoke to several people who took the golf excursion, and they were very pleased with it, said that there were fabulous views from the course.

[acwmom]

14 hours ago, HappyTvlr said:

Loving this! I'm hoping to go next year.  Getting back to Honfleur, did anyone do the golf option? If so, any information would be appreciated.

We did, last year. We were on the first cruise of the season, in late March, and experienced snow on our first day of the cruise. Fortunately, on "golf" day, the weather was perfect. Greens fees, clubs, and balls were included. If you wanted a cart (either pull or ride) that was extra. Most of the locals playing had their own pull-carts. We had the ship fix us "sandwiches to go" which the cruise director had ready for us when we left in the morning. We were one of the first to arrive at the course, around 9?? And, we got back to the ship around 2-2:30. The course is fairly wide open and level, except for a couple of holes.

 

Happy to answer any other questions about golfing at Etretat.

 

(sorry to hijack your thread, Bob😃)

 

Robin

[boblerm]

4 hours ago, acwmom said:

We did, last year. We were on the first cruise of the season, in late March, and experienced snow on our first day of the cruise. Fortunately, on "golf" day, the weather was perfect. Greens fees, clubs, and balls were included. If you wanted a cart (either pull or ride) that was extra. Most of the locals playing had their own pull-carts. We had the ship fix us "sandwiches to go" which the cruise director had ready for us when we left in the morning. We were one of the first to arrive at the course, around 9?? And, we got back to the ship around 2-2:30. The course is fairly wide open and level, except for a couple of holes.

 

Happy to answer any other questions about golfing at Etretat.

 

(sorry to hijack your thread, Bob😃)

 

Robin

Absolutely no hijack, your post and pics are very much on point and much appreciated!

Bob

[boblerm]

Day 10 May 26  Transfer to Lyon and Boarding the SS Catherine

Today we bid farewell to some friends that we made on the Joie de Vivre that were daparting. There was a group of about 40 of us who were continuing on to the Catherine.  We were bussed to the Paris Gare du Nord train station to take the high speed TGV train to Lyon.

The ride was a pleasant and comfortable one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another cruise, another toast?

Why not?

We spent the day unpacking, relaxing, and getting to know the ship.  We set sail to Macon at 6PM.

 

 

Dinner menu

 

 

 

We both had Asparagus salad, potato leek soup (no pic) and sea bass. First 2 courses were great but bass just ok.

 

 

 

[boblerm]

Let's take a little tour of the SS Catherine

 

 

The Van Gogh Lounge

 

 

 

Can you guess the name of this venue?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you guessed Leopard Bar, you are correct.  (Or, more precisely "Bar du Leopard".)

 

Pool

 

(the water is not laden with algae, the green color is from lighting)

 

Gym (not nearly as big as it looks- optical illusion due to mirrors)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our room was very similar to the one on the Joie de Vivre, but oh so easier on the eyes

 

 

They call this an "open air balcony".  In truth, if one is thinking in terms of a veranda on an ocean ship, it is nothing like it.  The top half pulls down, and there is a net that you need to put up so that insects do not invade, as there is no way of closing it off from the rest of the room.  The bottom is fixed (thankfully, as there is no railing.)  So like the "french balcony" on the JdV, to me this is another Big Window.

 

Still, a very lovely, comfortable room.

[robertmartha]

Bob

 

Thank you so much for all your very informative postings, your wonderful photos both on and off the ship (s) and for taking the time to post all of this information ! Really enjoying traveling along with you - !

 

Thanks again -

Bob