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. Oct 12. Fly from JFK to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris via Delta.Oct 13. Fly from C
de G to Marseille, then take bus to our ship, the Viking Burgundy in Avignon. Explore the city, the medieval home for 7 popes
in the fourteenth century and visit Arles, a Greek, then a Roman city around 1 BC. Great Arena in Arles, where gladiators
fought and matadors still fight the bulls. We had coffee just outside the amphitheatre. Van Gogh spent two years in the city
in 1888-89. He cut off an ear after a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, so the locals put him in a local hospital. Oct 14. Visit
the Papal Palace in Avignon. Very dark and spare, since the palace was stripped of its furnishings during the revolution.
The city itself is full of colorful narrow old alleyways. Plenty of restaurants and outdoor cafes. Provencal dinner on the
ship.Oct 15. Wine tasting on a visit to Tain L'Hermitage in Tournon. Tournon is a medieval village overlooked by a 12th
century castle. It contains one of the oldest railways in the world, constructed in 1891 and resurrected in 1968. The first
French railways were constructed here in 1826.Oct 16. A walk through Vienne, a Gallic town dating from the fourth century
BC. The romans turned it into a flourishing trade center in the first century BC. There is an impressive 12th century cathedral
of St Maurice. There is also a great archaeological museum across the river, showing both the diggings and the findings indoors.
Also there are computer displays and wooden models of the early town. The surprising aspect is the great number of large warehouses.Oct
17. Visit Lyon, a lively city--once the capitol of Gaul under the Romans--with the the St Pierre Fine Arts Museum, the second
best museum in France (according to Marian) and the extensive archaeological diggings in the ancient Roman sectors on Fourviere
Hill. The city is split into three parts by the peninsula formed by the union of the Rhone and the Saone rivers.Oct 18.
Chalon sur Saone. Famous during the middle ages for its pelt sales, the trade fair continues in modern France. Birthplace
of Joseph Niepce, the inventor of photography. We were driven to Beaune for a wine tasting in a cellar and also visited a
charitable hospital from the 15th century, founded by Nicolas Rolin. The hospice contains a frightening Last Judgement by
the famous Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden.Oct 19. Depart from the ship at 5 am (yuck) for bus trip to the Lyon airport
to Charles de Gaulle and then to New York via Air France. A long tedious day.
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