France 2024 - Week 5 - Paris to Portland

We..are..home. 😊

The trip was wonderful, but home is always best. Smooth flights, easy customs check at Dulles/D.C., then to PDX with an early arrival. 

We loved the many small towns and villages we visited. The food was excellent everywhere, of course. As you might guess, we did lots of walking - over 130 miles. Lots of stairs and a few hills were ascended, including a climb up to the Chateau Galliard. So much fun!

The French countryside was beautiful, but Paris is very chaotic due to the upcoming 2024 Olympics. Traffic is a nightmare, and some locations and sites are closed until after the events are completed later this summer. We did manage a walk to the Arc de Triomphe and croissants on the Champs Elysees, a guided tour of Montmartre, and a cabaret show.

I will leave you with a GREAT TRAVEL TIP from our wonderful Viking River Cruise program manager. It seems that some past guests have forgotten to clean out their room safe before leaving the boat… abandoning things like passports, cash, and other important items. Solution? Put in ONE of the shoes you plan to wear on departure day. You’ll see from our picture that our safe was full, with iPad, 2 Kindles, 2 passports, and our cash envelope - plus one Nike shoe. We didn’t forget a thing.

Thanks to all of you who have read these posts over the past month. I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about our adventures. Have a lovely summer!

Team Sorensen 

France 2024 - Week 4 - Normandy

It was a sunny and beautiful day on Sunday as we visited the American Cemetery at Normandy where more than 9,300 of our military soldiers and sailors are buried. Ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of D-Day were held on June 6, with President Biden and President Macron attending to honor the men and women who served. We had a small ceremony which included a wreath laying by the military members of our tour, followed by a walk on Omaha Beach.

Dunny lost two uncles in WWII, a younger brother of his adoptive mom and an older brother of his birth mom. His birth father also served in the Navy in that war. I had great uncles who served and returned home afterwards, and as both a “military brat” and a Navy mom, this trip was very important to me.

Last week we had an historian come aboard and talk about the French Resistance, and one afternoon we had a visit to the home and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny - a very busy little town! Dunny and I pedaled to Giverny and back to the boat with a guide and several others on super heavy bikes, making me anxious to get home for “a proper bike ride” (a term used by our Belgian program manager referring to hikes we took).

Today we’ll visit the Chateau Galliard, a fortress built by Richard the Lionhart in the 12th century. Tomorrow will include Napoleon’s Château de Malmaison followed by the Palace of Versailles - a very long day.

Bonne journee from the Seine River west of Paris!