VERNON-LES ANDYLES-ROUEN

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We left Vernon this morning amid a fog. There was a bit of mist coming up from the water in the morning, which as we went down the river got even foggier so you couldn’t see anything.

As we sailed through the fog,   We had a presentation about Gaillard castle, which was a home of Richard the Lionhearted, a Duke of Normandy who became king of England.

When we arrived in Les Andelys we took a hike up the hill to see this castle. It was a nice hike, and we made the walk in about 15-20 minutes. I went to the top of the hill and Zoe made it all the way up to the old castle which was a good uphill hike that I didn’t think she could make..

It was again a beautiful day, and not even so cold today as some other days have been, but every day we have an outdoor activity that it isn’t raining, I consider it a win. And so far we have had no rainy days.

Les Andelys is another cute little village in which nothing is open for business during the lunch hour, which is apparently about three hours. I went shopping at the end of our little hike and bought a cool necklace that’s made of plastic that reminds me of bakelite. Zoe went back to the boat because they were having a cheese tasting between breakfast and lunch – lest any of us faint from lack of food, I suppose, and after I finished shopping, I came back in time to actually taste the cheese without having to sit through the lecture. Wouldn’t want to expand my horizons through anything but my mouth. As soon as we finished the cheese tasting, it was time for LUNCH.

After lunch, Zoe and I signed up to take a watercolor painting class.

The instructor was a bit disorganized, or something, but she was basically unable to get around to all the students, and we had to go back and ask for water and paint, which seem pretty basic. I eventually made something that could generously be described as resembling the watercolor we were copying, but decided against contacting the Monet giftshop to have them put it up for sale. We left the class an hour early because it didn’t appear that any more instruction for the likes of us was forthcoming. Since the boat wasn’t scheduled to leave until 3:45, we had enough time to do a little shopping, and maybe more stores would be open. We did, and had a good time. Except for the fact that I didn’t look at my watch. At 3 p.m. we had decided to leave the painting class and go shopping. I didn’t factor in all the time we spent putzing around actually leaving the class, looking for the boarding passes, etc., and didn’t look at my watch while we were shopping. After the second store, we saw our tour director, Jean-Pierre running down the street, looking for us because THE BOAT WAS LEAVING! How embarassing. I put my coat over my head as we did our perp walk across the quay to get to the boat. But wait, there’s more. Remember the disorganized art teacher? After they pulled up the gangplank behind us, she was still on board (she lives in the town) and it’s only because we were so late that she managed to even get off the boat. So there.

Zoe is going to an Inner Circle Testimony Meeting tonight. I haven’t mentioned this, but Grand Circle seems to me to be a bit of a cult. They make a big deal of how many trips you’ve been on with the company, and any event where you have to introduce yourself always turns into a love fest for why these people always travel with Grand Circle. I’m still in the Outer Circle because this is only my third trip, and I don’t know whether you get into the Inner Circle on the fourth trip or the fifth. I’ll tell you this right now, I’ve already been in a cult, and I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid.    Wine, yes.

After four today we had an easy afternoon of just cruising, where people either sit in the bar, or on top of the ship (where it’s cold) or, as we do, in our cabin where we don’t have to be sociable. I could be sociable, but every meal lasts an hour, except for dinner, which lasts two hours, and that’s about all the time I can stand to be polite. Not that people aren’t nice, but you have to feel around way too long to see if you are allowed to be liberal and/or cynical, without pissing people off. It’s easiest if you can find the Jews and sit with them, but we haven’t had luck locating any on this trip. There are a lot of midwesterners on the boat, including three brothers with the last name of Tracy who are all married to women named Mary. And a bunch of other people who like to talk football. I think someone said there was somebody here who was a coach at Stanford, but we’ve never sat with them. There’s a doctor on the ship who wrote a book about some midwestern college who had some sort of a Cinderella year in football. Apparently he has a garage full of these books, likely due to the fact that the book is 650 pages long and must contain a description of every play made during the Cinderella year. Every time he goes on a cruise, he brings a copy of the book and puts it in the ship’s library. He apparently persuaded the coach to look at it on this trip. Coach read the first chapter or so,  leafed through the rest, and then gave it to someone else.

We’re having Karaoke night tonight, but I think I’ll skip it. Did it once, American Idol never called back.