Tag: Luftner Cruises

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 1 and 2

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023 and Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

Tuesday afternoon we left for the airport. Five of us were traveling together and we were meeting our sixth traveler in Paris! Our flight left Columbus and we arrived at Washington Dulles for our overnight flight to Paris, France.

Ready for our flight from Washington Dulles to the Paris Charles de Gaulle.

We arrived in Paris, got our luggage, and the bus took us to the Amadeus Diamond, our riverboat for the week.

Amadeus Diamond

We left our luggage because the crew wasn’t ready for us to go to our rooms yet. We met our nephew here, our sixth traveler, and he took us to a riverboat cafe down the way so we could get something to drink and a snack while we waited to board the ship. We could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

During the evening’s cocktail hour, champagne was served for a Captain’s toast.

During dinner we noticed the Eiffel Tower was lit and sparkling! The video was taken with our iphone.

We celebrated one of our traveler’s birthday after our first dinner on the ship! The restaurant staff brought him a cake and sang to him! It was a great way to finish our first evening on the riverboat!

Happy birthday Jeff!
Clapping after singing Happy birthday!

We were so tired after getting little sleep on the plane we went to our stateroom not long after dinner!

Rhine River Cruise Day 1 & 2

Wednesday, October 30th, 2019 and Thursday, October 31st, 2019

We joined the Hilliard Chamber of Commerce for a Rhine River Cruise and an extension in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  It was a rainy day when we left Columbus so we were ready for our adventure!  Our flights were from Columbus, OH to Atlanta, GA, then to Paris, France and on to our destination of Basel, Switzerland. IMG_8035 There weren’t any issues with our three flights so we were happy about that.

After collecting our luggage and going through customs, we boarded our bus for a tour of Basel.  Part of the tour was on the bus and part of it was a walking tour and then we had some free time before meeting again and going to our ship!

Our guide shared that Basel is the third largest city in Switzerland and borders France and Germany.  Its population is about 180,000 with about 40 museums.  It is considered to be the cultural capital of Switzerland. (at least she thought so)

After our city tour we had time for lunch and walking around the town.

IMG_7093
Where we ate lunch with Jackie and O’Neal.

Our group met our bus to take us to our boat.  We boarded our riverboat and were shown to our room for the week!

After unpacking, we went to the top deck to watch the ship leave Basel!

Leaving Basel!
Tea and dessert as we left Basel.

Taking a shower after an overnight flight and a day of sightseeing was next on our agenda.  We felt refreshed and went to the ship lounge for our mandatory safety and life on board presentation from our cruise director, Svenja!  Dinner was delicious and the wine was excellent.  The servers kept filling our wine glasses. 🙂   It was an early night for us because we were exhausted from our flights.  Tomorrow will be another adventure!