April 14 The Sapphire Day 5 of Cruise – Normandy D Day Sites
Breakfast was available from 6:00 am as the bus left for the excursion along the Normandy Coast at 7:45am. We had a 2 hour bus drive with a rest stop at the one hour mark to visit Pointe du Hoc. We were divided into 3 buses and picked up our local guides on the way. Our bus really lucked out with our guide Florent Plana. He was so passionate about anything having to do with WWII and especially our US Veterans. Florent is a French native with a strong passion for WWII History. He traveled around the US for three years interviewing WWII veterans, in order to preserve their stories and show his gratitude for what they did to liberate his country of France. He previously worked for the Normandy American Cemetery. He really made D-Day come alive with the personal stories of many of these Vets. This was an amazing day. We drove along a road bordering Omaha Beach and visited the various sites and memorial. We stopped for lunch at a lovely Chateau La Chenviere. It is actually a Hotel with beautiful grounds. The food and wine were excellent. What a treat. After lunch, we continued our tour to the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. Eight members of our Tour Group who are also Veterans were chosen to lay a wreath at the Cemetery. There was a very moving speech, the playing of our National Anthem and Taps, which is always very emotional and I think everyone had tears streaming down their face. What a day! Well done, Tauck. We then boarded our tour buses for the 2 hour return trip to our ship.
Dinner was at 6:30 in Compass Rose. At 7:30 there was a chocolate extravaganza buffet in the Panorama Lounge. At 9:00pm, there was a Crew Dance Party, which we didn’t attend. It had been a very long, jam packed excursion and we decided to call it a day.
April 15 The Sapphire Day 6 of Cruise – Les Andelys, Chateau Gaillard and Farm Visit
Our Group was split into 3 groups with tours starting at 8:30, 9:00 and 9:15. I am glad we took the first tour at 8:30 as there were only about 11 of us on the bus. The small group was nice. The other groups had about 30 people. We began our Tour at a local farm to hear the story of how the farm began and did a tasting of various Ciders and Calvados. The owner was very passionate about his farm and the products they produce. It was very interesting and the Cidar and Calvados samples were wonderful. Great tour. We then drove up to view the Ruins of Chateau Gaillard, built for Richard the Lionheart. We observed the Chateau from high above on a hilltop. We then descended to the lovely village of Le Petit Andely where our local guide showed us around the town. We then walked back to the ship from that point. We had lunch at the Compass Rose
There were a couple of activities thru the afternoon; a cooking demo and a River commentary about the Seine. Our ship arrived in Vernon and an orientation walk or short bike ride was available in Vernon. We didn’t attend these but chose to just relax in our cabin. The Chef’s Signature Dinner was held at 6:30 in the Compass Rose and we were then entertained by a Parisian Can Can performance. It was a fun act.
April 16 The Sapphire Day 7 of Cruise – Claude Monet’s Home & Gardens in Giverny
I was so excited about today’s excursion as Claude Monet is one of my favorite Artists. Breakfast opened at 6:00 and our bus left at 8:00. It was only a 10 minute bus ride, shortest of the entire tour. Thankfully, Tauck gave us a half hour private early opening visit. OMG. The gardens were awe inspiring. The light was perfect and the sky a bit overcast which was perfect for taking pictures. We even saw a rainbow twice. That was just “icing on the cake” as the saying goes. The house was absolutely lovely. We then walked up the main street to visit the Impressionist Museum at our leisure where we were supplied with an audio-guide. It was a wonderful museum filled with many Impressionist Paintings.
We then returned to the ship for lunch and decided to try out Arthurs as we both had a craving for a Cheeseburger and Fries. It was delicious. I also need to mention that I had several Capuchinos from the coffee machine during the week. It was a short walk down the hall from our cabin. We then attended an ice Cream Social after lunch. Wheelhouse visits were available in the afternoon but we had already done that on our previous cruise down the Rhine River. There was also a scarf tying demo activity for those who were interested. The Captain’s Farewell reception was at 6:00 followed by dinner at 6:30 and piano music at 8:00pm. The ship set sail for Paris during the night and would arrive at 2:00 am. We finally made it to the original docking location by The Eiffel Tower as the waters had finally receded.
April 17 The Sapphire Day 8 of Cruise – Debarkation
Our Tour was over. We had a 1:10 pm flight from CDG to Raleigh, NC. Our transfer time was set for 9:10 am with a luggage pull time of 8:40am. The Driver was a bit early but did a great job of getting us to the airport in about 45 minutes. There was still a lot of traffic but at least it was moving at a steady clip. I have to say that the return trip thru the airport was a “breeze” compared to arriving the week prior. Flying Business has its perks. It was very organized and before we knew it, we were enjoying the perks of the Air France lounge. Our Flight left on time and was very uneventful this time around. I watched two movies, ate a lot of good food and took a short nap.
SUMMARY
So, as I stated in the beginning of this review, our trip started out a bit rocky thru no fault of Tauck. We just seemed to encounter a series of unfortunate incidents that tested our faith in Tauck. Sometimes, life doesn’t proceed as smoothly as you wish but the tide eventually turned in our favor and restored our trust in Tauck. They provided us with an amazing Tour and we appreciate all of the little things they do that make the trip special, including a private car to get you from the airport and back again.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around to the end of this review and if you have any questions about this Tour, I will be happy to answer them for you.
