Cruisin' in France

 

We've done several anniversaries in France so we decided to use up some frequent flyer miles this summer and do it again for our 45th; this time with a river cruise up the Seine and back from Paris.

 

On 1 September we arrived at Detroit's DTW airport. The night before we stopped in Port Huron and then the next day went by the allergist for Jo-Anne in Mt Clemens and then on to Detroit. Our flight was non-stop from Detroit to Paris and the sleeping accommodations in the business class pod were obviously ok ... blogster at 38,000 feet is oblivious of the paparazzi flashbulbs. 

 

After a very smooth flight to Paris we were whisked by the cruise company to our first night's hotel, the Pullman Eiffel Tower. We added the extra night before the cruise to un-jetlag as we had learned from experience. Because the flight arrived at 8am we deposited our bags with the hotel and wandered the two blocks over to the tower itself, had a baguette and some wine and waited to check in.

Finally the hotel was ready at about 3pm and we had a pretty good night. The Pullman is a modern hotel, probably built in the 1960's with no French charm, but it was picked by the cruise company ... won't do that again.

The next day though we arrived at our new hotel on the Seine River, the Avalon Tapestry II. Our room was on the upper row of windows about half way back.

The room itself was about 200 square feet and while there is no balcony, the sliding doors roll fully open making the whole room a balcony and you can lie in bed and watch the French countryside flow slowly by.

Here's the blogster looking at the planned schedule for the trip.

 

As we boarded the ship at about 4pm, time in the room was short and we headed to the piano lounge for a scotch on the rocks and a chocolate martini. Life's getting better by the minute!

Then a quick glance at the dining room and up to change for the Captain's welcome dinner at 6.

After our welcome and introduction to the entire crew and a wonderful three course meal we headed back to the room for our first night. The room was remade, the orchid beautiful, the "love notes from cruise director Sylvia" were on the bed, and the TV tuned to a crackling fire.

There were 108 passengers in this floating hotel served by 35 really enthusiastic crewmembers. When we got back to the room, I peeked out and realized we were already gliding motionless along the river and we watched the Paris suburbs dwindle in the darkness. Much, much more to follow ...