By Linda Harward, 2-time traveler, Colorado Springs, Colorado
My husband, Robert, and I traveled back-to-back on Grand Circle’s Cruising Burgundy & Provence to the Cote d’Azur and The Seine: Paris to Normandy River Cruises last fall—and several months after returning home, I am still re-living the most wonderful vacation I’ve ever had.
I have been to Europe on three previous trips and loved them all—but they pale in comparison to river cruising. Today, I finally figured out why. On our previous tours, we hit all the usual tourist must-sees, but we interacted very little with the locals because we had so little time on our own in any one place.
On our Grand Circle cruises, we not only stopped in picturesque villages—we explored them on walking tours and had plenty of time to investigate on our own because our schedule always gave us just the right amount of free time. Our ship was always moored within walking distance of the city center, so we could amble back any time we wanted.
I brushed up on my French before the trip and I enjoyed talking to the locals using the few basic phrases I knew. They appreciated my efforts and were so encouraging. A friendly “Bonjour, Madame” when you walk into a shop, or “Au revoir” when you leave, or “S’il vous plait” and “merci” go a long way.
The two home-hosted meals were a wonderful introduction to who the French really are, where they live, and what they think … and I enjoyed them tremendously.
Last, but not least, we had wonderful Program Directors. I know this must be said about all of Grand Circle’s Program Directors, but the ones we had were simply the best: Catherine Chamoux on our Cruising Burgundy & Provence to the Cote d’Azur River Cruise and Christine Brouillet on our The Seine: Paris to Normandy River Cruise vacation, as well Marie-Pierre Vouriot and Lionel Auber, were just fantastic!
I have created several two to five minute videos from both of our France River Cruises. Here are videos from our visit to the Normandy beaches and Monet’s home in Giverny. I enjoyed our trips so much, I wanted to share the videos with other travelers too. I hope you enjoy them …
Explore some of the wonderful landscapes shown in Linda’s videos of Normandy and Giverny during our Cruising Burgundy & Provence to the Cote d’Azur and The Seine: Paris to Normandy River Cruises.