We arrived in Le Verndon, France this morning. The local authorities cleared the ship at 8:00 AM and we took the first shuttle into town at 8:30 AM. The nearby seaside town, which is called Soulac, is located approximately twenty minutes by car/bus.
We awoke about 6:00 AM this morning and had a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. We spoke with some of the regulars who we usually see at breakfast and we also met a couple who lives about fifty miles from our home who boarded the ship in Rome. We then went to the Fitness Center and worked out for about forty-five minutes since we wanted to catch the first shuttle to town. Our plan was to workout again in the afternoon.
We took the first shuttle into town. The town is a very nice quaint seaside town. We walked all around the town. We went into a market, which sold cheeses, seafood, fruits and vegetables, and we also walked into three different bakeries. Each bakery had wonderful looking baked breads of all sizes and shape and a nice variety of French pastries and cookies. We also walked into a few other shops and into a church. As we walked towards the beach area we saw some nice outdoor restaurants and a few small hotels. The residential neighborhood is also located adjacent to the town square and we saw some of the local residents purchasing items such as bread and fish and walking back to their homes either by foot or on bicycles.
We came back to the ship at 10:30 AM as all passenger’s needed to be back on the ship by 11:30 AM as we were scheduled to sail at 12:00 Noon to the commercial port that serves Bordeaux, France. We enjoyed lunch in the Main Dining Room. After lunch, we went back to the Fitness Center to finish our workout from this morning. We continued with our packing since we will be disembarking the ship on May 1.
During the afternoon, the ship cruised towards the port of Bordeaux and from the ship we could see the picturesque French shoreline. Several times we passed little towns and we could see beautiful homes and other buildings.
The ship arrived at the Bordeaux port of call at 5:00 PM and will remain overnight in this port of call. The port is located approximately thirty minutes from Bordeaux. Our ship is too large to dock in downtown Bordeaux. Evidently, the ship tried to dock there as part of another time and it pulled down an electrical cable that was located above the water due to our ships height knocking out power to three small towns. We will plan to go into Bordeaux, tomorrow, although we do realize that most stores will be closed on Sunday. We had considered a shore excursion for either today or tomorrow but we decided that we would just walk around the town on our own.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Silk Road Japanese Restaurant. We tried a few specials in addition to the other wonderful food that they serve there on a regular basis. Our server was someone who has become our regular waiter whenever we dine there. His name is Anthony and we have enjoyed talking with him each time we dine there.
During the course of the World Cruise passengers have signed up for a variety of activities from artwork, to the choir, to memoir writing, to a college level computer course, to piano, to foreign language. One activity involved creating a World Cruise Quilt and we have included a picture of the quilt which has been on display in the main lobby area.
Keith & Anne Marie
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