Conflans and Tour of Outdoor Food Market
November 7 – 15, 2009
- Updated Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010
About 35 trip photos mainly taken by Betty
Nolan are posted at www.ritzpix.com in an
album entitled “2009 – France” under member name of Lewis “Buzz” Nolan’s email
address. Email lewis_nolan@yahoo.com
for instructions on how to access. Note: captions were being added to photos in
late 2009.
By LEWIS NOLAN
Nov. 13, 2009, Friday – In Conflans, France
After our usual
breakfast in the splendid dining room, Betty went on a walking tour of the town
of Conflans near Paris while I napped,
worked on my travelogue notes and read some of Tom Clancy’s great book “Power
Plays: Politika.”
Viking Ship ‘Seine River’ Docked on France’s
Seine while Passengers Shop, Tour
Betty enjoyed her
morning tour and spent some time poking around the town’s wonderful outdoor
market stalls selling fresh fish, other sea food, flowers and vegetables grown
on area farms.
A few of our fellow
passengers got an early start for a bus ride to the beautiful French palace at
During Betty’s visit
to Conflans she hiked up a hill for a good view of a chateau now serving as a
museum and also of a floating church on the river.
For lunch, I indulged in a small amount of French bread covered with a
bit of egg salad (off my low-carb diet) and a small taste of Torte Normandy,
followed by a mid-afternoon lecture on French cheeses. There are over 400
varieties of the region’s cheese, with samples of a few served in the boat’s lounge.
Those passengers present also sat through a lecture given by boat staff on
de-embarkation procedures, which proved to be as flawless as other services
handled by ship’s crew.
We tried to sit on the outdoor deck topside on the sunny afternoon, but
quickly retreated back inside the boat due to annoying cigar smoke.
Dinner that evening was most enjoyable, featuring fresh mussels served
on a bed of slaw-like cabbage and lettuce. Betty had spotted the ship’s
fabulous chef personally selecting and purchasing the mussels at the market she
toured earlier in the day. Seeing the chef actual shopping for fresh food was a
major difference between this boat and an earlier cruise in France on the Grand
Circle line, where virtually all the food for its cruise in a nearly identical
boat is bought in advance at the home port.
Besides a bowl of steamed mussels for dinner, I had three lamb chops,
two samples of cheese, and a taste of a chocolate pastry that was wonderful. I
and other guests at the table enjoyed glasses of red wine bought in town by our
companionable fellow passenger Paul Granett.
That evening, Betty took advantage of a special, two-hour excursion on
the
So I stayed on the boat and in bed while Betty enjoyed the impressive outing
that included views of the
(Continue with Part 6, Visit to
Napoleon’s Tomb in Paris /
Return to Nolan Travels Home Page)