We all love a bit of an adventure, especially a travel adventure. As regular readers will no-doubt be aware, we had our BIG adventure in Last week, however, we had an adventure of a completely different kind. We booked our river cruise in France with Great Rail Journeys. We were to take in the history, culture and cuisine of the regions and do it all from the serene beauty of the River Marne on board the MS Raymonde.
As instructed, we met up at St Pancras Station, where we met some of the other members of our group and our guide Garreth, who was to escort us to our boat in Paris. We were given our train tickets and given instructions on how to get to the Eurostar train from the concourse.
Of course this was all very familiar territory to us, having used the Eurostar service on many occasions. We could appreciate how useful it must have been to anyone a little apprehensive about getting through a busy international station though.
In the blink of an eye we were in a huddle at Gare du Nord before boarding our transfer coach. Now this is where it all got interesting. Bastille Day draws crowds from all over France and results in the closure of almost every road within central Paris. Our journey to the Raymonde appeared to be blocked at every corner and after over two hours on the coach Garreth suggested our best option was to walk to where our boat was moored.
Disembarking near the Trocadero we knew we had a walk of around 1. The Raymonde is absolutely lovely. We all gathered together in the lounge to meet the crew and be briefed on the safety routines on board. After a delicious evening meal we sat back and enjoyed a bit of entertainment whilst getting to know some of our travelling companions a little better. It was a really nice cordial evening, culminating in some spectacular fireworks at the end. Our first full day included a coach and walking tour of Paris before setting off on our journey up towards Champagne.
