The Start of the Cruise

Sunday : Checked out of the hotel in Dijon and walked to the railway station where we caught a train to Chalon-sur-Saone, meaning the town of Chalon on the Saone River (pronounced “sawn”). There we boarded our river boat the “Viking Europe” to begin our 7 day cruise down the river Saone. We overnighted in Chalon and then on Monday went on a tour of the town of Beaune, the centre of the wine-growing region of Burgundy.

On Tuesday, we set sail down the river and arrived at the city of Lyon, where the Saone River meets the Rhone River. We spent a day and a half at Lyon, visiting various sites in the city and overnighted there. On Wednesday morning, we explored the city some more and then set sail down the Rhone to the ancient town of Vienne. We did a half day tour of the city before setting sail after dinner down the Rhone again.

The “Viking Europe” is a 140 metre long river cruise boat and accommodates about 140 passengers. There are about 100 Americans on board, 4 Aussies (including us) and the rest from everywhere else. It seems most of the passengers dye their hair grey – we are definitely not the oldest people on board. Our crew is international, with a couple of Germans and an Austrian chef. The Margarittas are good, but they don’t do Tacos, although I am lobbying the chef for Kaiser-schmarrn. There’s certainly no shortage of alcohol on board….

Sue has been hitting the ladies shoe and clothing shops pretty hard and it’s a race to see whether we or our suitcases exceed the weight allowances on the ‘plane trips coming up later in the trip.

Wine tasting in a cellar in Beaune, Burgundy

The market square in Chalon -sur-Saone

Our humble cabin on board the "Viking Europe"

About to board the cruise ship



No shortage of choices for cheeses in France



The beautiful city of Lyon

Kicking up our heels at the geriatric dance night

The historical town of Vienne

"Puffless-Billy" took us on a tour of Vienne