Paris to Normandy--Les Andelys, France

Les Andelys, France
M/S Bizet
Grand Circle Cruise

Last night I was too tired to blog about the Fairy Tale.  Our tour guides and staff (including the captain) put on a cute skit.

George had Anne in his lap.  There was a lot of cognac consumed by everyone during the Fairy Tale.  

Different members of the audience were picked for parts in the fairy tale.



George made a wonderful tree.

George had Christi (the Princess) tied to him.

There have since been a lot of tree jokes about "branching out" and "out on a limb".



After breakfast the boat sailed to Les Andelys.  Anne gave a presentation on Chateau Gaillard prior to our arrival so we would be informed about it.

We arrived around 10:30.

Pay attention to the castle just above Bill's head.

There's a little control box right beside the captain which helps with docking the boat.

Bill and Linda are having a little competition.

Out goes the gangplank and off we go.  No waiting in line like on the big ships.

It was a perfect day, but once again Bill and I were overdressed for temperatures.

Notice Linda doesn't even have a jacket.  Bill regretted wearing a coat in a short time.

Lucky for us, before we left home, Anne emailed us and suggested we bring walking sticks.

This castle was built in the late 1100's by King Richard the Lionheart of England.

Look at the view of this RV park down by the Seine River from up at the Castle.

We knew it was a steep long walk up to it, but were happy we did it.

This was the dungeon of the castle.

Here's the quaint tiny village of Les Andelys down below the castle.

The walk back to the village was much easier going down.







At noon Captain Jean Baptiste aka James Bond, gave a nautical talk.  It was very interesting and informative.

After lunch and a couple of glasses of wine, I decided to go back to the cabin and take a nap.  Bill was going to do a painting class, but decided a nap sounded better.  

The Bizet was scheduled to sail at 4 pm.  Unfortunately, someone hadn't dropped their boarding pass at the desk.  Guess who that was?

Once we were underway, Captain aka James Bond, gave us a tour of the wheelhouse.  

He showed us how he maneuvers the boat on the river.  It can make a 360 degree turn.

He dropped the wheelhouse down to show us.  He can stick his head out the overhead when it is down low.

Everyone had a chance to sit in the Captain's chair.

Bill looks like a captain don't you think?

We toured the kitchen and can't believe all the steps that the staff goes up and down on.

When the plates are all decorated they are put on these racks until they are filled.

We enjoyed the beautiful countryside as we cruised on the Seine.

There was a party for all Inner Circle Members.  I can't remember if its 3 or 4 cruises before you belong.  This is our 9th cruise with them.  You do receive 10% off in the gift shop.



We were given champagne and wine.  There were trays of appetizers including caviar.  Following all that they came by with glasses of calvados.  I had tried that before, but it was way to strong for me.

We passed through another lock before dinner.








Anne gave tonight's port talk.  They give them every night 15 minutes before dinner so you know the plans for the next day.  She had time to explain about the Euro which was very interesting.

I forgot to mention the other night that France is the second largest consumption of wine in the world.  The Vatican is number one.  On average 66 bottles of wine are consumed in a year. 

As we were having dinner, the boat docked at Rouen.  

Another wonderful day.  What can I say?  

Turtle Safely.......