Sunday, May 8, 2016

Day #13 Viking Western Mediterranean Cruise - Paris 4/27/16

We docked in La Havre, France this morning at 7 am. This port is the second largest port in France, after that of Marseille, and is the largest container port. The name Le Havre means “the harbour” or “the port.”

This port and city on the Seine River were founded by King Francis I of France in 1517 and development was interrupted by religious wars, epidemics and storms. At the end of the 18th century, the port became important for slave trade and later for international trade.

The entrance of the harbor appeared to be an old fortification from WWII days and currently there is a lighthouse at the mouth of the harbor. As we pulled into port, we noticed the new Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Sea docked. It is on its maiden voyage, having been launched on April 16th. It holds over 4000 passengers. It is too big for our tastes.





We boarded a bus at 8:15 for transport to Paris and a city tour of the main attractions. Our guide was excellent and we saw the exteriors of most of the main attractions in the city. 


The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.



Earline at the Eiffel Tower

Constructed in 1889 as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but it has become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world.[3] The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.

The Paris Ferris Wheel (Grande Roue de Paris).







It seems there is a custom to placing locks on various monuments in Paris to show a sign of commitment to each other. Recently, thousands of locks were removed from the Pont des Arts bridge because of worry over the weight hurting the bridge.   






The Louvre Museum

At 1 pm to 4 pm we had time on our own and spent part of that time eating in a French cafe and drinking wine. We walked along the Seine river and across a few bridges.



Getting through rush hour traffic, we were back on the boat at 6:45 pm looking forward to dinner and more wine. Life is hard. :)







Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Day #12 Viking Western Mediterranean Cruise - Sea Day

Today is a slow sea day as the ship travels to La Havre, France, the site where the excursion buses will transport us to Paris for a short self-guided tour day. 

There is not much going on on the ship today except for the show at 9:15 pm. Earline, Bonnie and Earl are going to be jocks and go to the gym on the ship. We’ll see how that works out. I’ll save my energy for pre- and post-dinner dancing where I can demonstrate my best moves. :)

They revised the schedule for today and added several activities. At 3:30 there is a lecture on Port Wine.
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Port Wine Talk (Gregory Bowden)

Port is grown in the Douro region of Portugal. Porto was a Roman port, but that is not where Port wine was grown. Douro is divided into 3 sections: Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo, and Duro Superior (the best area).

These are among the steepest vineyards in the world, making it difficult to harvest the fruit. The temperature is too hot to make wine in the areas of harvest, so they transport the juices down river to where it is cooler…to Vila Nova de Gaia. 

In 1386 the marriage of John I of Portugal to Phillipa of Lancaster started the Anglo Portuguese alliance. Jean-Baptiste Colbert of France, the French finance minister under King Louis XIV,  closed the import of English wines. He brought the French economy back from the brink of bankruptcy but in retaliation, Charles II of England put trade restrictions on French wines and other goods. Because of this, the English started to buy wines from Portugal. 

The wines on the coast of Portugal were not ideal as they were weak and astringent and did not suit the English palate. They sought more robust wines from the upper Douro River valley but transporting them via road was difficult. They therefore began to transport them via the Douro River to the city of Oporto in the coast for shipment to England. Although the wines came from the Douro River Valley, they took the name of the city from which they were sent. Thus Vinho do Porto meant Oporto wine.

In order to make the wine keep during the long voyage, they started to fortify the wine with a small amount of “grape spirit” or brandy. However, this fortification should not be confused with the method of making port wine in which some spirit is added during the initial fermentation. This addition of alcohol killed the yeast leaving residual sugar. This is what makes port wine sweet.

In 1703 a treaty was signed between Portugal and England whereby wines produced in Portugal would pay 1/3 less duty than wines produced in France. This, along with royalty liking the taste of the sweet port wine from the Douro region cemented the port wine business.

Evolution of the Port bottle. They went from a rounded bottle to a more typical port bottle. The exporters found that it was best to bottle the wines with the “leaves” (dead yeast) in place rather than take it from casks.  This bottle shape was meant to store the bottles on their side so that the cork would not dry out.



In 19th century, railways arrived into the Duro. In 1879, when the railroads reached the Duro, they could then send wines rapidly to the Oporto. Still, they continued to use boats until dams made it impossible to go down the river. Getting back up the river was difficult and could take two weeks. 

Making of Port
Fermentation is stopped after 36 hours by the addition of strong spirits. It raised the alcoholic content above 15%, killing the yeast. This leaves the sugar behind, making the port very sweet. It doesn’t give much time to extract the phenolics. Thus the phenolics had to be extracted in stone trays called lagars where the grapes are stopped by foot. Now robotic lagars are in effect but are not as good as by human foot.
Stomping Port Wine Grapes


Aguadente is a strong spirit of 70% alcohol that is put in the port. It is added until 19-22% alcohol content. The initial fermentation only makes about 5% alcohol. Today aguadente can come from anywhere in the EU. In the past it only came from the Douro region. In the Spring the wines are shipped to the lodges at Vila de Gaia where the temperature is cool to store and mature the port. The best ports are stored in oak casks. It allows the wine to oxidize more slowly. They only use casks used previously for other red wines. They rack the wine three times to get rid of the leaves. Before final bottling, they blend the ports to get a consistent product.

The harvest in the Duro is almost entirely by hand. About 80 grape varieties can be used in port. Normally only about 5 varieties are most widely used. Touring Frances grapes are most commonly used. Tina Roriz (tempranillo) makes good port and represents about 10% of the plantings. Tina Barocca grapes are the first to ripen. Touriga National is only 2% of plantings. It is low-yielding and suitable for those trying to make a top quality port.  Quinta do novo nacional is one of the finest ports (1963). Tinto Cao is difficult to grow and is a low yield. It is late ripening and has a great balance of alcohol and acidity.

White port: Quite rare. It is drier than red port. Served chilled as an appetitive.
Pink port: A new product introduced to get ladies interested in drinking port. It is not to be taken seriously.
Ruby port: The cheapest type of red port. It is stored in cement tanks. It is ready to drink in about 2-3 years.
Premium ruby port: Fonseca Bin #27 
LBV Port: 4-6 years in casks. This won’t age well. They are ready to drink when bought. They should be drun within 2-3 weeks after opening them.
Crusted port: Aged in oak 2-3 years and are bottled without fining. 
Tawny Port: Port aged in oak for 6 or more years. It loses color. Choose tawny up to 20 yrs but not more. Ready to drink when sold and do not age. The cheapest tawny are not the best buy as they are made from cheap grapes. A good tawny can survive in an open bottle for up to 8 weeks.
Colheita Port: 
Garrafeira Port - private reserve. Aged 5 yrs in casks nd 5 years or more in delimiters before bottling after blending
Single Quinta Port: Product of a single quinta in a single year. Ready in 8-10 years.
Vintage port: The ultimate style of port. It is expensive. It is all about the year. Only the best years of grapes go into this. 2 yrs in casks. Placed in bottles unfiltered and with the leaves. You should wait 20 to 30 years after bottling. 1963’s are exquisite. Once opened, they do not last long. They only last 2-3 days.

Top shippers: Symington Family, Floodgate (Taylor’s, Croft)
Churchill, Ramos Pinto, Ferreira.

Decanting and serving: You must decant them before serving. Bottle upright for a few hours before decanting. Chip off the wax from the bottle top. Stop pouring when leaves begin to enter the decanter. 
Port is always served by passing to the left. There is a Celtic tradition that going to the right is unlucky. 
Top vintages: 1963, 1966, 70, 83, 85, 20000, 2003, 2005, 2011, 1991, 1994, 1997 (on;y god, not special)
National 1963 - about $3000

In 1993, there was a damp spring, cool summer and made the wine weak. Don’t buy it.

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Following the enrichment talk on Port Wine, it was followed by an excellent talk on sharks.

Lecture on Sharks
  • About 360 species of sharks. Sharks are very old…more than 300 million years ago. Sharks are cartilaginous fish. 
  • Jawless fish today - lamprey eel and hagfish. It’s teeth are derived from skin or branchial bar scales. It sucks onto its prey. Its tongue rasps some tissue from its prey. The gill slits evolve into jaws.
  • Megalodon was a 50 ft long shark with giant jaws. One tooth is the size of your hand.
  • Sharks are layered according to depth. Whale sharks stay at the surface. Greenland sharks are the deepest at about 5,500 feet deep. 
  • Whale shark is the largest fish in the world. Up to 40 feet long. The Dwarf Shark is the smallest shark. 
  • Megamouth shark is very deep and has a gelatinous body. There is bioluminescence in its mouth.
  • Mako sharks are very acrobatic and can leap from the water
  • Walking sharks are on the bottom and are bottom feeders.
  • Bull sharks. 9 ft long can move from salt to fresh water and back. They are in the Amazon river and the Mississippi, etc. There have been bull sharks found in the Potomac.
  • Goblin Shark - deep water. It has a large snout and extensible jaws.
  • Frilled Wobegon is a strange shark.
  • Oceanic White-tip Shark. Very dangerous. They are curious and feel with their mouth.
  • Cookie Cutter Shark - makes holes in other animals
  • Sharks use only the tail fin for propulsion. The pectoral fins arrange depth. Sharks do not have a swim bladder but they have a liver that changes the amount of oil in it and thus buoyancy. Some sharks have to always move to respire. The sharks have a spiracle to pump water over their gills.
  • The constantly swimming sharks have a lot of red muscle. 

Finding prey: The ear is the sensitive organ. It can hear 1000’s of yards away. It can smell hundred’s of yards away. The lateral line of the fish is sensitive yards away. It detects pressure. The eye is only good for a few yards. They have electroception that can detect electrical activity in the water.
Great White sharks migrate long distances. They can go from South Africa to Australia and back again.

Not much else was happening during this sea day. They continue with infection control measures that include hand washing upon entering and leaving the food areas, the pool and hot tub are drained and now unusable and the crew needs to serve all food to the passengers, even at the buffet line. This has slowed down the eating process a lot. Mixed with this are crazy cross-contamination measures.

I watched one staff member gather up used napkins from tables without gloves. She placed the used napkins into a container and then without hand washing, she proceeded to wrap up utensils in new napkins for placement on the tables again. Wow... who is the infection control officer? I never saw the ship's doctor except once when he was introduced on stage.

Day #11 Viking Western Mediterranean Cruise - Bordeaux Day #2

Well due to the fear of contagion, departure for La Havre was cancelled last evening and the ship stayed in port and is possibly going to leave at 7 pm this evening. They say we’ll see Paris but it will certainly be a shortened visit.

We got off the ship at about 9 am after eating breakfast and decided to purchase all-day tickets for the trams to explore the outer reaches of Bordeaux. There are three tram lines that are color coded (pink, violet and red) and the routes are clearly marked at the tram stops. Purchasing a ticket can be done at the metro stops in the grey machine next to the tracks or in the metro offices that are scattered around the areas.

We tried to purchase at the kiosks using our credit cards but were not successful as the machine kept kicking out our credit card. Other passengers were successful however, so perhaps it was just our particular kiosk that was faulty. In any event, if you wish to try your luck, use the selection wheel to get a trip du jour and push the center button of the selection wheel. You will be charged 4.3 euros for an all day ticket. You can also use the selection wheel to add additional tickets before inserting your credit card. No PIN number is required if you have a card with a chip. It will then ask you to insert the card and if you are fortunate, it will charge your card and kick out the tickets in the tray below. There is a language selection button to the left of the selection wheel from which you can choose English or Spanish. It seemed to work intermittently for us, but we could not complete the transaction. Perhaps there were no tickets in the machine to be dispensed.

We purchased our all-day tickets at the tram office located in the Place des Quinconces where our credit cards worked just fine. We then rode the red (B-line) to both ends to see different areas of Bordeaux. We did the same with the pink (C-line). This gives you a pretty good picture of where people work and live. 
Pizza Delivery

Another Cathedral - Old Bordeaux

One of the four gates to the old city of Bordeaux

Unique sculpture made from old movie projector parts.



We finished our exploration at about 4:45 pm and decided we were away from food and drink for too long. Therefore, we went to afternoon tea/coffee with a variety of canapés.

Following dinner, we went to the ship’s operatic show that was pretty good except for the fact that the computer generated backdrop was out of sync with the song selections. The Cruise Director said they would present the show later when the glitches were worked out.


We decided to go to the Torshavn night club following the show,  to dance to the music of a very professional band composed of keys, bass, guitar, drums and two singers. Calling it a night, we are on our way to Lahavre, France. Tomorrow will be a sea day.

Day #10 Viking Western Mediterranean Cruise - Bordeaux 4/24/16

We were scheduled for a 2-hour walking tour of Bordeaux scheduled to start at 10:45 am. The ship was scheduled to leave at about 7:30 pm, so we must be back on board at 7 pm to leave for Le Havre, France.

Our walking tour of Bordeaux started at 10:45 am with an American working and living in Bordeaux. Jamie was a delightful guide and was a fount of information on the history and local sites. While I can’t repeat much of the history, I’ll try to point out some of the highlights.

Off we go!

Pont de Pierre
This stone bridge was the first bridge across the Garonne River and was built by Napoleon Bonaparte I so that he could move troops and assets across the river. It took three years to build (1819 to 1822) and there were significant challenges to its construction due to the swift currents in the river at the point of construction. There are seventeen pillars in the bridge, the same number as the letters in name Napoleon Bonaparte.  On the sides, each pile of bricks is capped by a white medallion in honor of the emperor. It also carries the coat of arms of the city (three intertwined crescents).

Earline at the World's Largest Water Mirror
This is the world's largest water mirror and is placed in front of the Place de la Bourse facing the river front. This river  front is all reclaimed land. The river used to extend close to the buildings.


The Place de la Bourse was built from 1730 to 1775. Originally, there was to be a stature of Louis XIV but this statue was destroyed in the French Revolution and was replaced by a large fountain called "The Three Graces."
Three Graces Fountain - Bordeaux

Porte Cailhau




There are four gates to old Bordeaux and this one, Porte Cailhau dates to 1494 and remains nearly unchanged. The old walls of the fortified city used to extend to each side of the portal.

The waterfront area has been reclaimed from the river that used to go up to the entrance of a 12th century gate into the city. Thus, the new soil is sandy and cannot support high buildings. You therefore mostly see buildings of maximum height of about 4 stories. The newer construction is towards the river and the older city is inside of the portal. There were palaces within the fortified walls but these have been removed and the area extensively changed. There are remnants of buildings with carved faces that showed they were wealthy and ostentatious people living there. There are many quaint squares and a beautiful areas containing the opera house and old hotel. To keep the character of the city, the new electric trams have no overhead wires but instead use a third rail that is only powered when the tram is directly over the rail. The guide stood on the rail to show it was safe when there was no tram.



Grand Hotel

Opera House

APS uses a third rail placed between the running rails, divided electrically into ten-meter rail segments with three-metre neutral sections between. Each tram has two power collection shoes, next to which are antennas that send radio signals to energize the power rail segments as the tram passes over them. At any one time, two consecutive segments under the tram will be live.   Tram System of Bordeaux



Tram tracks

Parking techniques in Bordeaux! :)


How does the white car get out?


Airbus Wing going through Napoleon's Bridge


Tight Fit - All hell to pay if Napoleon's Bridge is damaged!

Bordeaux City Streets

Marker showing the path of the pilgrimage of St. James through Bordeaux

Place des Quinconces is located on the site of the old Château Trompette - the “Castle Trumpet”. This castle was built after the Hundred Years War as a way to protect Bordeaux against future English aggression. The castle was demolished in the early 19th century and made place for this magnificent square which was built shortly after the castle demolition. 


Place des Quinconces 

The name, “Place des Quinconces”, comes from the original formation of the trees planted on the square.  A “quincunx” is a geometric pattern consisting of five points; four of them forming a square or rectangleand a fifth at its center, much like a “5” on a regular dice. The square has also been a center of transportation since the installation of the tram network in 2003.




After returning to the ship, our departure was cancelled by the captain as there have been a number of acute gastroenteritis cases on the boat. They are therefore enforcing hand washing with soap and water upon entering and leaving the food service areas. Self service of food items is suspended. I never thought the game they played a few days earlier, whereby the cruise director and the captain and others raced around the ship to see who could shake the most hands was a wise thing to do. I am surprised it took this long to spread disease.

Because of departure cancellation, we will be spending an additional day in Bordeaux.