Sunday, October 25, 2015
There was no port talk yesterday. There was no announcement
that the clocks had to be moved back one hour overnight. Bogdan, the Celebrity
rep escorting his group onboard, came from table to table telling us each to
adjust our locks. In good news, I have to eat my comments last night about the
rigid service schedule in the restaurant. The maître d’ brought our 2 soups and
one salad out within minutes of our ordering them. We were finished eating them
before all the other tables had finished ordering. He didn’t tell our table’s
waiter he had done it and a good 15 minutes later after our dishes had been
bused, the waiter arrived with 2 bowls of soup and no salad! We were all
surprised that after complaining about this since October 1, we had finally
been heard and listened to and the maître d’ had also chosen to act on it. We
can only hope it was not a one-off experience. Now that we know they can do it,
we’ll expect it. It was stupid that we spent all that time for weeks on 3
different boats waiting for soup and salad courses like that. We know they are
already prepared and we should not have to wait 15-20 minutes through each
course for mains an hour later if the whole table doesn’t want to dine that
way.
Today we got up at 6am with some worry that the clocks were
right. They were. Sekt was served on the breakfast buffet as it is Sunday. We
set out at 8:30am with less than the 28 passengers onboard for the city tour of
Lyon. We rode around for a bit of an overview then we stopped at Les Halles de
Lyon Paul Bocuse. We left the bus for a walking tour of the covered market and
some tastings. We had red wine and 3 kinds of saucissons and 3 kinds of cheese.
It was a most upscale market the likes of which we hadn’t seen before. The
second stop was at the top of the hill Fourviere at a panoramic viewpoint and
the basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere. The last stop of the day was at the
riverfront of the Saone in old town where we had a guided tour and some free
time. Then we returned to our dock at Quai Claude Bernard and lunch on the
boat. (We must have past the confluence of the 2 rivers in the dark when we
arrived in Lyon and sailed up the Rhone to dock there!) We all skipped ordering
anything since we only had an hour and just ate from the buffet. Plus it felt
like we’d been eating all morning. At 1:30pm, we set off for an afternoon
touring the Beaujolais wine region. We drove north of Villefranche-sur-Saone
where we exited the highway and drove through ever increasingly small roads to
reach Chateau de la Chaize (1676). It was stunning. The landscape of the
hillside behind covered in fall colored vineyards and the formal gardens and
the house was just amazing. We were welcomed at the cave by the vintner and he
only spoke French. Our guide translated and we learned about how they make
Beaujolais. I still don’t like it. We tried a rose which is new for them and 2
reds. One from a young vine and a more expensive and longer aged in the barrel
from a very old vine. I think we all preferred the old vine! They told us we’d
have another stop in Beaujolais Villages but we drove straight back as we were
running late and then traffic was heavy in Lyon so we just got back in time for
all aboard and sailing anyway. We were in Odenas in the Brouilly cru area of
the 10 crus of Beaujolais. The area where we didn’t stop is the region of
Nouveau Beaujolais. I don’t like that anyway so I didn’t feel I missed
anything.
We got back onboard and immediately started sailing back
south. I have forgotten to mention that this boat, Symphony is the first to
make a big production when we come aboard or return aboard. The accordion
player comes out and plays and greets us all in French and there are usually 2
people in the lobby with wet cloths and some kind of beverages on offer. It is
a nice touch.
There is a big full moon tonight. We sailed past the
confluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers and they have a big new modern
building there as a museum of the confluence. That sounds interesting. It is
fully dark now as we are going through our first Rhone River lock on our way
down to Arles.
Dinner is at 7pm. The “Journey Around the World” quiz is
tonight at 9:15pm. I don’t know if I can get Clay and Graham to join me, but I
have plans to dominate again.
