April 5, 2026

Last night we had dinner at a small bistro, Bistrot Richelieu, which was recommended by our hotel concierge. We sat outside and did some people watching while having a lovely dinner. At a nearby table, a mom and adult daughter on their first trip together were happy to meet us and chat with us. The mom is living in Florida and her daughter in Denver. What a lovely evening we had! They told us about a gelato place a couple of blocks away that had a long line so they thought it must be pretty good. After dinner we walked over and had to wait about 45 minutes to get in. It was worth it!

We walked back to our hotel and had a good night’s sleep – maybe we are finally adjusted to the time change.

This morning, we started with a typical French breakfast at a sidewalk cafe. We then packed up, called an uber and made our way to the port to board our riverboat – the Uniworld S.S. Joie de Vivre.

We got there before rooms were ready and had coffee in the bar while meeting lots of people who were to join us for the week. Some connections to friends of former co-workers in Phillipsburg, NJ were quite a surprise but it just shows how small the world really is.

When we arrived in our room we found two lovely cupcakes and chocolate Easter Bunnies waiting for us.

After we unpacked, we had a safety briefing and we met Alexandra, the 2nd captain, Ruben, the hotel manager and Richard, the cruise manager. They all shared information about what to expect and specific information about tomorrow’s agenda.

We leave tonight at 10 PM and will arrive in La Roche Guyon at about 8 AM. We will do a tour of Chateau de La Roche Guyon ( I will post details after our visit). After lunch we will sail to Giverny where we will visit Monet’s Gardens.

We had a delicious dinner with new friends Dave and Brigitte from the Isle of Jersey.

Surprise of the day is that Norm shaved his beard so he now has a very French looking mustache!

Happy to start the next part of our adventure.