We left Viviers overnight and spent the day cruising up the Rhone River and had quite the view out of our window. We could see the steam for miles and finally came upon this massive power plant, which remarkably also included wind power.
I thought that I might give you a view of a day going through locks. It was a gorgeous cruising day and we are approaching one of the tallest ones (the tallest being 70 Meters).
Mind you, as we are cruising into this big thing, we are being serenaded by beautiful classical music.
And then there was light...this gate lowering so that we could motor on.
We had a lovely dinner that evening and were happy when the maitre brought on regional wine for those of us not sporting the fancy-pants wine list ($800 a person!). This one was quite delicioius and worthy of a photo.
We arrived in Vienne, right around midnight, going through a couple more locks and when we awoke, the bright beautiful day offered breakfast and awaiting local guides to show us the sights in the Roman city of Vienne.
They broke us up into the usual groups, trying to mix and match, so that we would meet new people. Our particular bunch loaded onto a kind of Zoo Train that took us up to the top of the promentory towering above the town to a beautiful little church, which was a Notre Dame. Very charming. Here she is!
From this hill, we had commanding views of the entire area and got to see the Roman Ampitheatre at the base of the hill, which is still being used for theatre productions, as you can see.
The view was spectacular.
We soon trundled back onto the little train and rumbled past the ancient Roman walls, down to the town, where we diembarked and got a walking tour, including being able to see this amazing relic of Roman times, which is the 1st Century Temple of Emperor Augustus & Livia.
We went into the big cathedral that you can see in the view photo and then we were set free to wander the town before lunch. I was swooning over these but they were a bit steep for my budget. I think that if I had it to do all over again...I would have gone in there, because nowhere else did I see such amazing and artistic frames! Pout.
We bid au revoir to Vienne and began our journey to Lyon!
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