This morning our bags had to be out by 6:45am as they were being transported separately by truck, all the way to Bordeaux. We said our farewells to Mark and Jill who were finishing the cruise and heading to London and the south of England for a few days. Those of us continuing on to Bordeaux were transported by bus to Montparnasse station to catch our late morning super fast TGV to Bordeaux. This was a train journey that covered the 700km trip in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Mind you, we were in a first class carriage, and it was quite scungie so I don't like to think what second class would be like... we were accompanied all the way by two tour guides, picked up by bus upon our arrival, and driven to our new boat - the AmaDolce, waiting at the Bordeaux dock for us to embark at 1:30pm.
There was a light lunch available, and after 3pm we were able to get into our cabins. We (and the Barrows)have been given an upgrade for this leg of the trip - from category E in the bottom of the boat (small windows at water level) to category B+ on level 3. There is no difference in cabin size or quality, just the appearance of a French balcony (a sliding ranch-slider with a rail to stop you sleepwalking out of your room). Still, the stairs will be a little easier for me, not so much of a curved spiral. I did have to request a better effort on cleaning our room though (and it was done immediately) - it is not impressive when you find someone else's cut fingernails on the floor...
We had a quiet afternoon, choosing from a rather complicated list of tour options for the coming week.
Although we were all going to miss having Janos as our Cruise Director, we were pleased to have Anja as our new Director for this trip. She had been called in as an emergency replacement for the Director we would have had, having toured the Seine with us as a reconnaissance for a cruise she would be directing next year. She is also excellent.
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