THURSDAY

Our originally planned trip on the Escargot was to end on Thursday, but the Chardonnay cruise lasted one more day until Friday. Prior to flying to Paris we had to choose which date to end the cruise - Thursday or Friday. Eight opted to leave Thursday. By the time Thursday came some of those were wishing they could stay till the end of Chardonnay's cruise, but hotel plans had already been finalized. So we said good bye to Allyn Bradford, Maxine Scott, Millie and Dick Clark, Barbara Richardson, Kathleen Carroll, Don and Polly Tritschler.

After our fond farewells, the Chardonnay continued cruising as there were kilometers to go before reaching Tournon, our port for this night. Here are some photos taken during that cruise. The last photo is of a "low bridge" that required the deck passengers to duck.

In the afternoon we went on a walking tour of Tournon. The following photos were taken close to where the boat was moored.

The first destination of our walk was the Chateau de Rochemaure which is shown in photo 1 (photo was later, from across the Rhone). The second photo shows a picturesque building as seen from the castle steps. Photo 3 shows the only original wall of the castle that still remains. The last photo shows a gracefully arched ceiling located in the castle.

The photos below were taken from the castle, looking down on Tournon.

After the castle tour, Jonathan led the group to a wine tasting. Sandy and I had tasted enough wine on the Chardonnay, so we went on our own walk. We crossed the Rhone, and Sandy liked this display of sneakers.

Late in the afternoon, the Chardonnay continued on to Andance.

In the evening, we had a gala farewell dinner. The waitresses out did themselves when they set the table.

Photo 1 shows Richard doing his thing with wine. Photo 2 shows Scott acting out a fairy tale about cheese with Denise as his subject.

As the dinner progressed and the wine flowed, our ability to communicate to the French speaking tourists improved. Below we see Jim (photo 1) and Tansey (photo 2) reading off color phrases from a French phrase book.

And then there was the final thanks to the crew.