Wiki for Mâcon
Tourist Information for Mâcon & Burgundy
We will visit Cluny, including the Abbey, with cheese-tasting and free time. Lunch on board. Ship moves to Macon.
Then a walking tour of Macon with free time. Chanteuse on board after dinner.
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Actual:
We’re still in Chalon-sur-Saone. Nobody’s made a call on the river level yet, but we think the water is even higher than yesterday; it has been raining in Switzerland which feeds the Saone.
The tour groups left at 8am for the 45-minute ride to Cluny Abbey and the tour there. They’re supposed to be back around 2pm.
We met Glenn in the dining room and had breakfast with him; he said Marylou was still sleeping. About six other people were there, also skipping the tour. We came back to our cabin to do this website production and take it easy.
Both couples received an invitation to a party for President’s Club members this afternoon from three to four; probably more wine and chatting.
Later: We took off for a hike. First, we wanted to get me a new computer mouse (souris in French). We stopped at the tourist place, they gave us directions and a good town map. We hiked all the way to the recommended place (a web-user kiosk) but didn’t recognize it. It’s a circular aluminum building that I thought was a public toilet. We walked a quarter-mile beyond it before we woke up and came back to it. There, they said they don’t sell mice and sent us to Monoprix, a sort of mini-Target, which did sell mice and I bought one.
That took us to the street on which is the cathedral St Vincent. That street is full of street market vendors today (Friday). All sorts of things are being sold; fish, flowers, herbs, seasonings, mushrooms, potatoes, chicken raw and/or cooked, beef, pickles & olives, just about any consumable.
Dolores & I went into the cathedral, which is a tremendous old pile of stones, parts of which date to the 1100’s. I went back out, but Dolores explored the place a little longer. We walked back to the ship then & met Glenn & Marylou in the hallway. They’d investigated the rear lounge, which sets up an informal lunch & dinner during the day. We decided to try it. Make your own salad, good soup, nice bread. Then cooked pork neck chops in a BBQ sauce that was really chewy but good. Nice desserts.
That took until 1430. So now I’m doing this while preparing to go to the President’s Club event at 1500 at which we will eat and drink some more. I’m not sure how long I can handle this routine, but I’ll try to keep up the image of a qualified submarine sailor.
As perceived, the President’s Club meeting was a meet-and-greet with other 3-trip-plus Vantage members. But it was good. That was followed by the Captain’s greeting/cocktail hour, etc. Again, this was nice. I asked Louisa to tell the captain in French that I was a retired submariner and complement him on his skill in these narrow waterways. She did, and he offered a tour of the engineering & pilot-house. Of course, I accepted and received space for two - Glenn & I.
The plan to overcome our trapped condition was presented as “one more day”. Tomorrow we’ll bus 75 minutes to Lyon and do things there.
We then did dinner. Tonight was surf-and-turf, so the staff didn’t get a chance to giggle. But by ourselves we had enough fun.
After dinner we went to the lounge (upper level forward) for a concert by a “chanteuse”. She came with an accordionist and a male vocalist. You’d have to pay me to attend ordinarily, but it was all right. Perhaps even good. We had a snort of Asbach brandy toward the end of it, so by the time we bedded we were pretty mellow.
Photos
