It’s an onboard requirement to wave back.

The trip from Rouen up the Seine toward the Channel (or La Manche, as the French would prefer), was quite pretty. And lots of river cruise boats. Gotta try that one of these days.

Lots of bright yellow rapeseed fields everywhere, they bloom in April & May. Cultivated for (less rudely titled) canola oil.

Next up, the Monet house & garden. Two bucket list checkmarks in two days. One of the images below is not mine.

No, not Guns & Roses. Guns & Ice Cream.

The Normandy American cemetery in Collevielle-sur-Mer.

Our first full day on the ship was a long one - a 10-hour shore excursion to the Normandy beaches. Equal parts fascinating and sobering.

A quick Uber from the Rouen train station to the port, and voila, we (finally) board our ship.

After a few days, it’s time to turn this trip into a cruise, as originally planned. We took t he train from Paris to Rouen, to meet up with the ship (about 8 days late). The train was fun and easy - no luggage lines, no security lines, no boarding gate lines, no 14-minute “how-to-fly-safely” videos. No seat belts. On big comfy seats.

If/when we’re in Paris, we’ll visit the d’Orsay, and reacquaint with some old friends on the walls. Love Degas’s snooty little ballerina girl. And the view from the open roof area is great.

Remember those horrible videos of the carved tall spire, engulfed in flames, and finally just falling? Lookin’ good now.

The last time we were in Paris was July of 2019, three months after the Notre Dame fire. Great to report that the restoration appears to be spectacular. Everything is bright and squeaky clean. Magnificent, and inspiring.

Great little hotel, on a very narrow, very quiet one-way street in the Latin Quarter. From the front door, walk 40 feet north….and you’re at the Seine. Look to your right: Notre Dame. Look to your left: the Louvre.

Some typical photos from just being out & about, the last few days.

Aloha, friends and fam! Greetings from Paris. This one has gotten off to a dreadful start, with a Gregory-medical-issue & ER day at the hospital delaying our entire plan. Rather than boarding our ship 8 days ago in Lisbon, we had to delay all our flights, and come to Paris to regroup. Have been here a few days, and will take the train to Rouen tomorrow, to catch up with the ship, eight days in. Such is life. This was the original cruise itinerary, we just will miss all the great stuff along the Portuguese and Spanish coasts. Grrrrrr.

OK, 11 ½ hours from London to LAX, a night at an airport hotel, and 5 ½ hours more, from L.A. to Hawaii. Always nice to come home, with a quick arrival/aerial glance at our wonderful reefs, not to mention reuniting with the two juvenile delinquents.