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The Dame Does Travel.

Scenic Gem “Gems of the Seine” 10 night Seine River cruise from Paris to Normandy beaches.

What a little Gem this cruise turned out to be in early October 2018.

Having previously cruised the “bucket list”- Amsterdam to Budapest and Amsterdam to Basel – I initially thought this France itinerary would not have the WOW factor. How wrong could I be.

History and Art never fail to surprise in Northern France – never a truer word was written.

If you love your Art and History you will not be disappointed.

Every bend of the River Seine took us further back in time and I could picture the Vikings sailing up the river and conquering this region in the 800’s.

We visited the beautiful village of Les Andelys in the shadow of the ruins of Richard the Lionheart’s Chateau Gaillard from the 1100’s, in Rouen we visited its magnificent Gothic cathedral burial site of Rollo the Viking Duke of Normandy and nearby the modern Church of Saint Joan of Arc where she was burned at the stake for heresy in 1431.

Fast forward to a sobering day shedding a few quiet tears at the Somme WW1 battlefields of 1918 and again at the Normandy Beaches WW2 landing sites of 1944 – Operation Overlord. Every day we peeled back layers of history, travelled thru regions of staggering beauty, dined on local cuisine, sipped award winning wines and happily came home to our cabin tuckered out.

Our shore excursions always seemed to include wonderful food and wine (I hate that she never said) be it partaking in the Scenic Enrich Dinner at the Benedictine Palace in Fecamp, a sunset Calvados (apple brandy) Tasting at Manoir d’Aprevel or just raiding our always replenished minibar for a nightcap after a big day of touring.

Other highlights included a visit to Monet’s Garden, exploring the stunning half timber harbour town of Honfleur or climbing the white chalk cliffs of the Alabaster Coast (Monet painted many scenes here ) above the gorgeous seaside town of Etretat.

This cruise sure put me back in my box and I can highly recommend it.

A bit of D-Day trivia if you are a Star Trek fan – Scotty from Star Trek (James Doohan) landed on Juno Beach as a lieutenant and was hit by 6 rounds of friendly fire. He took four in the leg, one in the chest and one through his right middle finger which was later amputated. If you look carefully you will see his four fingered hand on Star Trek.

Get in touch if you’d like to hear more about this wonderful journey, or if you’d like to plan a bucket list adventure of your own.