MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 – DAY 7           LYON

This is the final day of our cruise. It has been a whirlwind of activity – tours, tastings, food and more food. After a bus tour of Beaujolais wine country, we stopped for a tasting at Chateau Ravatys. The tasting itself was nothing outstanding but the tour of the facility was the big draw. We were led down into a stone cavern with narrow passageways – kind of the way wineries used to be before all the modernizing.

After lunch was the optional tour for the Taste of Lyon. I had high hopes for this one as Lyon is purportd to be the food capita of France. Kathy and I were both disappoint as it was nothing special. It was a walking tour through town with stop at 4 shops. The first stop was Café Comptoir where we sampled 3 types of salami accompanied by a local red wine. Second stop was for cheese at Bistro Martine that had an interesting history. It seems that French philosopher, author and journalist Albert Camus enjoyed his wedding feast there on December 3, 1960. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature at 44 in 1957 – the second youngest in history to do so. Third stop was at Les Delices de Charlie where we had a taste of a fruited bread similar to Panettone. The chocolate shop was Voisin, a chocolatier since 1897. We sampled chocolate truffles covered in a blue gum. I bought a pound of French style coffee (with a hint of chocolate) for a friend’s birthday.

I expected to sample some actual French cuisine. I guess for that to happen, the cost for this tour would have been a lot more money. I looked up these places to discover that they serve amazing food. We did not get any of that!

Captain’s Cocktail Party tonight with champagne and appetizers. We sat for our final dinner with our favorite couples we had met on this cruise (Dominic and Marcie from St. Louis and Dick and Jane from Ontario, Canada).

Salade Lyonaise – frisee salad, bacon, croutons, poached egg, walnut vinaigrette               Roasted Chicken – herb mashed potatoes                                       Poire a la Beaujolaise – pear in red wine sauce, vanilla ice cream

There was a port talk and final farewell – instructions were given for luggage handling and bus assignments for trip back to Marseilles airport.

Photos, hugs and farewell promises for Facebook friending, etc. Our room steward Petar deserved an extra tip for his special service this past week. Victoria, the head of housekeeping so thoughtfully made copies for me of the week’s menu for my blog. Extra tip to her for sure!