Day Three- Conflans St. Honorine, Auvers sur Oise, Vernon

Monday November 5, 2007

We woke up early this morning so we could walk around Conflans St. Honorine before we left for Auvers sur Oise.  Breakfast was an amazing buffet, as usual.  It was COLD, (well, at least for us California girls), coming to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  But the sun was shining on the beautiful River Seine, and the town was quaint and picturesque.  It looked like a story book town, which we found out later was common to French towns.

This town on the banks of the Seine was facing an immense forest that looked magical.  I would not be surprised to see a fairy or two.  The trees were covered in greens, reds, and golds, the perfect fall foliage.  There were several wild swans paddling down the river, and a fine, misty fog coming off the water.

At 9 am, a bus came to pick us up and take us for a tour of Auvers sur Oise.  Our tour guide, Guillen, was great.  She told us all about Auvers sur Oise, the town where Vincent Van Gogh painted several hundred paintings, and later killed himself.  They still have the bed where he died, and he is buried in the towns graveyard.  But Auvers sur Oise was home to a number of famous French artists, although Van Gogh was the most internationally known.

To be honest, I wasn’t too thrilled with this tour at first.  I really would have preferred to stay in Paris.  I like Van Gogh, but I didn’t feel the need to spend a three hour tour based on his death.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I really enjoyed this town.  First of all, this walking tour takes you to some of the sights Van Gogh painted.  Near these sights are reproductions, and you can see literally the same exact sight.  It is amazing how few things changed. 

After the tour, Guillen helped my mom and me pick out French wine.  She showed us what to look for on a good bottle of wine so we could do it on our own later.  We were really happy with what we picked, and it was really inexpensive.  And I bought one of the main souvenirs that I wanted from France:  champagne from Champagne!

We were bussed back to the boat and while we ate lunch, we sailed along to Vernon.  It was lovely to sail while we enjoyed another excellent lunch.  Though it was cold outside, the weather was sunny and bright.  We sailed for about 8 hours.  I liked this down time, because after all, it is suppose to be a vacation.  I had books to read, or I could watch a movie.  My mom had cabin fever, and walked the ship until she decided to take a nap.

Soon it was time to get ready for the Capitan’s dinner.  We fancied up, but I just wore nice slacks and a silk shirt.  No one got really dressed up, for which I was thankful for.  We were so lucky to get to dine with Emmanuelle, and second captain Jacky.  Emmanuelle is so sweet, as was Jacky, despite the fact that Jacky spoke very little English.  The dinner was seven full courses, with veal, mussels and more.

Mom had a bit of trouble falling asleep, but I did not.  We watched the Da Vinic Code for a while on our cabin’s flat screen TV on the boat’s private movie channel, but I pretty much fell asleep.

Thus ended day three!