The Creamer Girls go to France

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The over-stuffed suitcase was impossible to close.  In desperation, I finally sat on the lid while tugging on the zipper. Breathing a sigh of relief, I congratulated myself on a job well done.  Hmm. That was before I saw the mesh bag of underwear on the bench beside the suitcase. Once again, I positioned myself atop the suitcase and yanked on the zipper.

The first thing I noticed was an overpowering odor of hairspray. Too late I realized that the spray can had released its entire contents on my neatly packed travel togs.      The red jacket that I planned to wear on the plane was streaked with black dye from its fur collar.

With a sickening sense of dread, I carefully pulled my clothes out one by one to assess the damage. The good news was that the jacket, matching turtleneck and scarf had soaked up all of the spray and spared damage to the other packed items.  The bad news was that the black streaks would be difficult in not impossible to remove.  I spent the next two hours in a sincere session which included Oxyclean , Shout, hard work and lots of prayer.  And the garments came clean. Except for a few stiff spots in the jacket, the outfit was fine.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

We left at 9 a.m. for the Nashville airport. I was totally stressed out about flying to St. Petersburg alone, but the flight was uneventful, and before I knew it, there I was in the baggage claim area of the airport in Tampa. 

Mona and Tony, the maintenance supervisor at her condo complex, were there to pick me up. Tony handily retrieved my suitcase from the baggage carrousel while Mona and I chatted. Then we were on our way.

By the time we got to Mona's condo in St. Petersburg and compared notes on our trip plans, we were both starved. My sister (who probably has not cooked a meal in 5 years) had made dinner reservations at the Yacht Club, so off we went to enjoy a delicious meal while watching the Tampa Bay Rays get slaughtered.

Friday, October 8, 2010

This day was started with a walk in the park across from Mona's condo. Realizing there would be many walking tours in France, we wanted to be prepared.

Mona lives across the street from a beautiful park overlooking Tampa Bay which offers an incredible view of a section of the park which has been planted with palm, evergreens and flowering plants. Further down, toward the St. Petersburg Pier and restaurant, there is a tennis court, pool and marina.

Next, we filled out the forms for our tour director and made copies of our passports, credit cards, driver license and medical insurance cards. These copies would be stored in our carry-on luggage in case our purses and/or checked baggage were lost. With a shudder, I realized that my identity could possibly be shared with everybody from the guy in the copy shop to the maid in the fancy Paris hotel. Well, anybody who wanted to use my medical records surely had a death wish, but before they died they could max out my credit and debit cards and use my social security number for the next thousand years. For dinner, I treated Mona, whose birthday was October 6, to a belated birthday dinner at Outback. With our tummies full, we returned to her condo and vowed that we would take a long walk the next day. Saturday, October 9, 2010 With all of our packing done and re-done, Mona and I took another stroll through the park and hoped we burned a few calories in the process. And it is a good thing we did because Greg (my brother, the gourmet chef) had prepared a feast of crab cakes, salmon grilled on cedar planks, a veggie/pasta casserole and salad. He even baked a sugar-free chocolate birthday cake for Mona because we were belatedly celebrating her birthday again.  To make it a real celebration, Barbara and Greg had invited Mona's friend, Bert, Barbara's sister, Cheryl and husband, John, Brad, Melinda and little Gavin. Sunday, October 10, 2010 We arose early and commenced to get ready for the plane trip from Tampa to JFK airport in New York. Mona's friend, Tinker, had reserved a limo to take us to the Tampa airport. They arrived a few minutes early, but this was not a problem since we had been sitting on ready for half an hour.          The plane trip was uneventful and before we knew it, we were at JFK airport. There was a 3 hour wait for our plane to Nice, so we ate sandwiches and chatted with our fellow travelers until time to board. By the time we were in the air, Mona and I were exhausted and promptly started to doze. Regrettably, the plane to Nice was crowded; the seat space was small, and the 9 hour journey seemed to go on forever. Monday, October 11, 2010 Finally, we were in the Nice/Cote D' Azur air terminal where we did the customs thingy following which we were herded onto a large coach for the short journey to the Boscolo Hotel which is located in the center of Nice, not far from Old Nice. Nice is a very cosmopolitan city which offers a breathtaking view of the shimmering azure blue Mediterranean shore. Our room at the hotel was somewhat Spartan but clean. With our days and nights all mixed up, we fell asleep as soon as we got to our room. It was late night, Midnight by my watch, but it was daylight outside and all the clocks read 6 a.m.       Behind the hotel, we found a pedestrian street with shops, bars and restaurants where we browsed away some time while we rested up from the journey. In the afternoon, we attended a welcome reception/orientation hosted by Yvette Laurent, cruise director for our ship, Avalon Scenery. There was wine and snacks for all. Soon I would realize that the French serve wine at every opportunity at every hour of the day.  At 5:30 p.m., we departed for Monaco and the casino at Monte Carlo. Our tour guide on the bus was quite knowledgeable but unlike Yvette, she spoke with a French accent that was music to my ears but practically unintelligible. I enjoyed the view of the French countryside and took a few pictures as we made the circular climb toward Monaco.       We arrived at the Vista Palace Hotel and were ushered in to another reception, and yes, there was more wine and appetizers. Famous for its exceptional location, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, from the Principality of Monaco to the Italian Riviera, the Vista Palace Hotel offers one of the most spectacular views of the French Riviera. Next, we were served a meal which included barely acceptable food and more wine. But the view was incredible and our table group was the best in the house. We rounded out the evening in the casino at Monte Carlo where I won 18 Euros. All in all, the evening was a complete success. Tuesday, October 12, 2010 When I awoke this day, it was 5 a.m., but my watch read 12 Midnight. I guess my body had caught up with the jet lag because I was wide awake.       We did a walking tour of Nice and found their famous Flower Market to be one of the best attractions in the whole city. There are also gourmet shops and other boutiques here. The stands in the market are packed with amazing produce and a myriad of flowers. It operates six days a week, replaced on Mondays by a flea and antiques market. Vieux Nice (or Old Nice) is right next to the market. These narrow streets have great shopping, dining and some of the city's most happening bars, but we were not there long enough to experience everything Nice has to offer. We visited the Church of the Annunciation, but my photos of the church were terrible. I found some on the web which are shared below.  Mona & I bought sandwiches for lunch at an open-air market and ate in the park across the street from our hotel.  Luckily, our friend, Pat McMillan had given us a picture book for travelers because we had a difficult time buying bottled water until we showed the non-English speaking clerk a picture of bottled water.  Around 1:30 p.m., we checked out of the hotel and departed by motor coach to Arles. Wednesday, October 13, 2010 On the northern tip of the Camargue, Arles is the capital of Provence and was once known as the Little Rome of Gaul.  At 8:45 a.m., we departed our boat, the Avalon Scenery, for a walking tour of Arles where we saw the Roman Amphitheatre, Les Arenas. [1]This amazingly well-preserved amphitheatre [shown below right] was constructed in 46 BC and could seat 26,000 spectators. Each of its two stories is made up of 60 arcades. It is now the venue for bullfighting as well as concerts and operas. We saw the Church of St. Trophime which  [2]...was named after the city's first bishop (mid-3rd century), this Romanesque building is notable for its magnificent carved portal, interesting furnishings and glorious cloisters.      Van Gogh was inspired by the special light of the Provence and spent a very productive year in Arles in which the influence of Provence is reflected in his paintings.  We enjoyed a quick lunch onboard and quickly departed by motor coach for a tour of St. Remy and the hospital where Van Gogh was confined as a patient and  spent several years of his life. We returned to the Avalon Scenery with visions of Van Gogh's detached ear and wondered how such beautiful art could have come from this madman. Thursday, October 14, 2010  Today, we awoke in Avignon. Our walking tour included a visit inside the Pope's Palace and the surrounding city. Avignon is completely enclosed in Ramparts, a stone wall several feet thick, which surround the entire city.  In the distance, we could see the Bridge of St. Benezet, The Bridge at Avignon, and were somewhat surprised to learn that it is actually a ruin. In the afternoon, we traveled by motor coach to Pont du Gard, the famous Roman Aqueducts. There must have been a genius or two in Avignon to have designed these aqueducts to move all that water up those hills. I'm still trying to figure out what the tour guide explained about the keystones.  I was really impressed and would tell you all about these aqueducts, but the brochure was written in French which I cannot read. Next, we visited the tiny village of Uzes where strict code insures everything is kept in its original state as it has been for centuries. Some of the fashionable shops with their Provencal wares, stylish clothing, shoes or whatever had earthen floors. I guess this is convenient, because they never have to sweep the floors. Back on the Avalon Scenery, we enjoyed an elegant dinner with our American Stage group shown above at right. Other evenings we usually dined with Brian, Amy, Ed and Barbara shown in photo at left.  Following dinner, we were entertained in the lounge by a spirited concert performed by a Gypsy band complete with a Gypsy Flamenco dancer. Friday, October 15, 2010 Shortly after we arose, the Avalon Scenery passed through the Bollene Lock of some 23 meters (75 feet) as our riverboat was lifted on our gradual climb from the Rhone to the Soane.  Our cruise director, Yvette Laurent, provided a Power Point presentation on the various regions of France in which I learned that France derives 80% of its power from Nuclear Energy plants, some 54 in all. What it does not use, it exports. Later in the day, Yvette provided a wine and cheese tasting seminar in which she explained how to enjoy and how to select French wine and cheese.  We learned that French wines and cheeses are named for the unique region of their origin and no wine or cheese from a different region can carry that name. We were told how to decipher all you need to know about a French wine from the label and the shape of the bottle. The seminar was much enhanced by our having a true wine connoisseur among us.  I observed her deftly sniff the ruby liquid with her nose almost touching the wine while I practiced twirling my glass and ended up sloshing it all over my lap and the wine connoisseur's feet.  She was very kind about it though.  Later, she explained to me that she had cultivated the skill of wine tasting over many years of study, many classes and lots of tasting.  She did not swallow much of the wine though the way I did.  Incidentally, the lady's husband accompanied her and, to my utter amazement, he looked exactly like a dear friend of mine, but the similarity stopped there. While I am sure Viviers is every bit as interesting as the brochure depicts it, I was too tired for a walking tour today and would stay on the boat, read, catch up on this journal and rest up for the balance of our trip. Mona could give me the details of what I missed. By the way, Mona decided to take the minibus instead of walking to the town. I took a nap!   At 4 p.m., we were treated to a surprise Miam Miam which included wine from the region (This time I was careful about the twirling) and appetizers of sausages, cheeses, breads, pastries and other local delicacies which we munched on as we listened to piano music provided by Avalon Scenery's own pianist,  Angel.  Following dinner, we were entertained by the Avalon Scenery's one and only Crew Show and laughed through the entire presentation.  Saturday, October 16, 2010 Being an early riser, I was in the club lounge for coffee at 6 a.m. Oh my! What was that aroma? I looked up just in time to see the waiter place a huge platter of warm French pastries on the serving table. Well, one tiny pastry with my coffee certainly could not do much harm, but I had three! Later, I had a very light breakfast before our walking tour of Tournon.       According to the Avalon Scenery Daily Newsletter, Tournon - Vienne - Saturday, October 16, 2010, The twin cities of Tournon and Tain L' Hermitage lie nestled among vineyards between the River Rhone and the granite slopes of the Hermitage. Tournon, with its imposing 16th Century castle and Roman ruins is one of France's oldest medieval cities.... During the walking tour, we visited Tournon's [3]Old City. The town is characterized by wide, tree-lined avenues and a number of charming houses (such as the fine Tourette Mansion), many of which have historic corner and niche sculptures, which reveal the citizens' piety during the 16th to 18th centuries. The Valrhona Chocolate Factory is also located in Tournon, but after eating all those French pastries in the morning, I thought I'd best pass it up.  By 10:15 a.m., we were back aboard the Avalon Scenery and bound for Vienne. Yvette's Port Talk included a commentary on the Cote du Rhone Vineyards where the [4]. . . principal red grape planted is the Syrah, whose dark vintages appreciate a couple of years in small oak barrels to take a little edge off their high tannin content. Reds like this primarily come from the extremely steep vineyards of the Cote-Retie region that begins by Vienne, and they are the ideal accompaniment for game and truffle dishes. . . .      At 4:00 p.m., we were summoned to the Lounge for a Port Talk on Vienne and, much to our delight, there were more local delicacies of fresh French pastries and coffee that our Cruise Director, Yvette Laurent, had purchased in the market at Tournon.   I skipped the Galley tour because I had done these on several cruise ships and figured this one would be about the same.  Mona took the tour and commented that she could not see how they could possibly prepare 120+ meals three times a day for their guests and crew in the small space provided in the Galley. For Happy Hour, we had coffee and a variety of wonderful fruit and chocolate filled French pastries from Tournon.        By the time we arrived in Vienne, I was ready for the walking tour, but instead of walking, we boarded a quaint little train which took us up the hill to the crest of Mount Pipet which had a lovely cathedral and a spectacular view of the city below. Next, the train took us down the hill to the small city and deposited us in its midst. Our tour guide walked us back to the ship by way of the market on Place Francois Mitterrand. Sunday, October 17, 2010 At  4:45 a.m., we departed Vienne and cruised  toward Lyon.  I was awakened sometime before dawn to  find that our boat was surrounded by concrete walls. Luckily, before panic set in, I realized that we were passing through yet another lock.  In all, we would transverse twelve locks, nine on the Rhone and three on the Soane.  After enjoying a leisure breakfast in the Avalon Scenery dining room which included a lovely custom prepared omelet along with bacon, sausage, prosciutto, French toast and warm French pastries, we were off to Lyon to tour the city and its famous silk factories.  According to a Chinese legend, a princess, in China, of course, was sipping tea in her garden when a strange object fell into her cup. When she tried to remove it, a long silk thread started to unravel from what turned out to be a cocoon. Well, as legend has it, that was the start of China's silk trade. Other countries wanted to participate in the production of silk, but only in China could the mulberry tree be found, and this was the food of the silkworm, without which the silkworm could not survive.  Not to be outdone, in the sixteenth century or thereabouts, mulberry trees were secretly imported into Lyon. When they were mature, monks smuggled the silkworm cocoons into Lyon in hollowed-out canes and thus was the silk industry started in Lyon.       Alas, with the advent of synthetic fabrics, silk production in Lyon diminished, and all that remains of the once booming industry are looms that have been preserved for demonstration. The silk factories have been converted into high end (read expensive) condos. We toured one of the factories and saw the looms in operation. And yes, we bought some of their pure silk scarves. In the afternoon, we returned to Lyon and visited some wall murals (From the bus, I tried to tell Mona to get on the other side of the woman in the blue coat and talk to the woman, but she could not hear me.).  Most interesting, we toured two troubules.      These troubules are street to street secret passages which were used by the silk merchants to protect their silks as they moved them through the city to the river for transport.  These have adjacent apartments that have been converted into high-end (read expensive) condos. Our tour guide lived in one of these.  We toured an upscale (read expensive) market in Lyon that had anything and everything in the world to eat.  And this is where Mona & I bought cheese.      When we asked the clerk what kind of cheese it was, she said, "buul" and placed her fists above her temples like horns. Later, we decided to have an afternoon snack and try the cheese we'd bought, but then we started to wonder just what part of the bull was used to make the cheese since we knew it could not be milk.  Before we threw the cheese out, we asked Yvette about it. She read the label, laughed and told us that the cheese was made from a mixture of cow and goat milk and that the clerk probably did not know how to say "cow" in English. The cheese was very hard, like Parmesan, but we ate it anyway.  By 5 p.m. our boat was underway to Macon and Tournas.  Monday, October 18, 2010 The Avalon Scenery arrived in Macon around 4 a.m. When we arose, we filled in the dreaded departure forms and tip envelopes as instructed by Yvette. Because of the re-packing detail, we skipped the optional Premier Shore Feature Castle Cormatin, a hidden secret.  so I guess I'll never learn what the secret is.  Anyhow, our boat departed at 9:15 a.m. for Tournus. The passengers seemed a bit subdued on this stretch. The weather was bleak and everyone was probably worn out from packing our suitcases for Paris and preparing for our departure from the Avalon Scenery.  We docked in Tournus briefly and at 3:30 p.m. sailed for Chalon.  In the evening, we enjoyed farewell cocktails in the lounge followed by a farewell gala dinner for our last evening onboard theAvalon Scenery. A local accordionist, Yves, played nice music during dinner. Tuesday, October 19, 2010 We departed the Avalon Scenery at 9:00 a.m. for Beaune where we toured the city and had to decide whether we would visit the Marchand de Vin for a Burgundy wine tasting with a visit to the cave of an old cloister or to visit the Hospices of Beaune, a hospital built in 1443 by Nicolas Rodin for the sick and poor.  I chose to do the wine cellar while Mona chose the Hospital.       Now remember, this tour took place shortly after 9:00 a.m. and as I mentioned earlier, I never learned how to taste wine. The guide in the cave, or wine cellar, gave us a souvenir tasting vessel which held about a third of a cup, and with each tasting she filled it to the brim! After about three tastings, I told her I would just take her word for the exceptional quality of the wine because if I tasted any more, I would need a designated walker back to the square!  Incidentally, Beaune is the home of the famous Dijon Mustard, but I did not feel like having any mustard after the wine episode. Some of our friends bought the expensive treat only to have it confiscated by customs at the Charles De Gaulle airport.        Before leaving Beaune, we ate pizza in a local restaurant and browsed around the city then met Yvette on the city square and returned to our motor coach for the trip to Paris where we planned to arrive around 5 p.m. However, getting to the hotel turned out to be a problem.  Due to the labor protest against the French government for proposed changes in the retirement age (from 60 to 62), our coach was unable to use the normal route to the hotel. We drove around for two and a half hours before our tour guide was able to convince a policeman to let us through the barricade.  This scenario along with the fuel shortage made me wonder if I would ever get home!  Finally, we checked into the Le Meridien Montparnasse hotel located on the Left Bank in Paris. Wednesday, October 20, 2010 This day we awoke in Paris and started our day with a sumptuous buffet breakfast at  Justine's in our hotel, Le Meridien Montparnasse following which we were herded into our motor coach for  a three hour tour of the city.      Riding through Paris was like passing through the pages of a French travel magazine. We saw the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, several picturesque Paris cafe's (like those on my placemats at home), and many high fashion shops.  [5]Stretching from Place de la Concorde to Napoleon's gigantic triumphal arch, the Champs-Elysees still deserves the title of the world's most celebrated avenue despite extensive commercialization. The imposing Grand Palais at the bottom of the avenue houses temporary exhibitions, while the Petit Palais now displays the municipal collections of Fine Arts. The Palais de l'Elysee is the official residence of the President of the Republic. We drove by the hotel where Princess Diana stayed on the night of her death and saw the tunnel where the fatal crash occurred.      We returned to the hotel and barely had time to get a bite to eat before it was time for our coach to depart for a tour of the Louvre. I was tired, and my feet hurt but I was not about to miss this, so off we went.  [6]The Louvre is so huge that people are sometimes frightened to go in at all. But you do not have to be an art fanatic to realise that to come to Paris without setting foot inside this great palace would be a crime. And you can't miss I.M Pei's magnificent glass pyramid covering the entrance.  Francois I, the Louvre's first collector, acquired four Raphaels, three Leonardo do Vincis and one Titian. It now owns thousands of the world's most prestigious works of art, including Greek statues such as the Victory of Samothrace and Venus de Milo, and works by Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Titian, Van Dyck, Rubens, Velazquez, El Greco and Durer, not to mention icons such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (La Joconde), always surrounded by admirers. Did I mention that my feet hurt? I enjoyed the Louvre but was glad when it was time to return to the coach which took us back to the hotel. Probably the world's most legendary cabaret, the Moulin Rouge has been welcoming millions of spectators over the past 110 years. Today's show was entitled, Feerie, and we did not want to miss it.  As soon as we got back to the hotel, I did take time to change my shoes, but the new duds I had purchased to wear to the Dinner and Show at Moulin Rouge remained in the closet because it was 6:25 p.m. and time to board the coach. Our tour guide, Antje, had secured an excellent table at the Moulin Rouge for our party of four, Tinker, Penny, Mona and me, and we enjoyed a nice meal of shrimp salad, steak , potatoes, chocolate Ganache cake, red wine, white wine, coffee and champagne. I felt a bit guilty eating in front of those apparently anorexic show girls whose costumes did not even cover their flat chests.  Well, it was very dark so maybe they could not see, and besides, I was really hungry and the show had cost each of us $159 Euros. Friday, October 21, 2010 We departed the hotel for the Charles De Gaulle Airport in the early afternoon. Our plane took us to Atlanta where we boarded our final flight to Tampa.  Saturday, October 22, 2010 When we arrived in Tampa, it was after Midnight, actually Saturday. Tony was there to pick us up and take us home, or to Mona's home anyway. The following day, October 23, they returned me to the airport where I boarded a Southwest flight to Nashville.  Sunday, October 23, 2010 Thus ends the tale of the Creamer Girls in France. In case you have not figured it out, our maiden name is Creamer, Mona Creamer Erickson and yours truly, Fay Creamer Burton. [1] Memories of Your Avalon Cruise; Page 4, Arles; Avalon Waterways, 5301 South Federal Circle, Littleton, CO  80123; [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid Page 9 [4] Ibid Page 11 [5] Welcome to France, Avalon Waterways, JPM Guides, The Seine: Paris Rouen LeHavre, Page 7, c2101 JPM Publications S. A. Avenue William Fraisse 12, 1006 Lausanne, Switzerland. [6] Ibid Page 14.