We had to get our suitcases out in the hall before 6 am. I woke up at 5 am and fell back asleep. Thank goodness, I set my phone alarm and requested a wake-up call at 5:30. We put our suitcases out and went to breakfast at 6:00 a.m. At 7:40, we went to the lobby to identify our suitcases. Once we identified our suitcases on the sidewalk, we were allowed to board the bus.
We had a 2-hour bus ride to Reims, where we got a tour of the cathedral. It was a beautiful cathedral. The weather was very windy and very cold! After the tour, we had time for lunch, but when we tried the bakery, we would have had to sit outside. Instead, we decided to hit McDonald's. The food was served in reusable plastic containers. After that, we stopped by the bus to get our gloves and for Don to get his knit cap. We had 30 minutes to explore, but it started to rain and sleet. At 1 pm, we found Elliot, who told us that we could go to the bus. We had a 2 ½ hour bus ride to the Luxembourg American Cemetery, and we saw where General George Patton was buried. We had a 30-minute stop here and then headed to the ship.
We arrived the the Viking Herja in Trier at 5:30. We got on the ship and a crew member escorted us to our room (104). Our suitcases hadn’t arrived yet, so we went up to the Viking Lounge for a drink, and at 6:30, we had the Welcome Aboard speech. There are 54 crew members for the 176 passengers. We met the senior officers and told them what to expect for dinner and the safety talk. Then we had the port talk before we headed for dinner.
At dinner, we sat with Dell (attorney) and Randy (nurse practitioner) from Albany, NY, and Jack (geophysicist) and Wendy (opera singer) from California. I had a rib-eye steak, and Don had mahi mahi. For dessert, we had creme brulee.
When we got back to our room at 9 pm, we found our suitcases and we unpacked. It was a really long day!
Original photos by Pat Hensley
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