Dan and I decided to take a stroll along some of the almost abandoned streets last night before bed, so we had a bit of an idea of what to expect on our walking tour today. Imagine: a spectacular Roman-era amphitheater with a capacity of 14,000 built into the hillside; the Temple of Augustus & Livia, an incredibly well preserved 1st-century structure that was used until the late 1800s; the enormous Gothic Cathedral of St. Maurice, built almost 500 years ago; the Abbey of Saint Pierre; the Church of Saint-André-le-Basand; and an old Roman neighborhood, Garden of Cybele, dotted with Roman remains. Our guide explained that Vienne, colonized by order of Julius Caesar in 47 BC, was a very important city in Roman times, hence the ruins, until it lost its influence to Lyon.

When Hettie was getting dressed this morning one of the nose pads on her glasses popped off. She crossed her fingers and asked our tour guide right off if there were any optical shops in town. At the end of the tour the guide directed us to an optical shop and as a courtesy the optician fixed Hettie’s glasses. You could almost hear our collective sigh of relief knowing how dependent we all are on our glasses. We spent the remaining free time popping in and out of charming shops and bakeries. Lunch was ready by the time we got back to the vessel.

The rest of our day was spent slowly sailing and navigating several locks along the peaceful river while enjoying the view of villages, pretty vistas, vine-clad banks, contented swan families, and green hills. The first half of the afternoon no one was allowed on the top deck because of the low clearance under the bridges. The deck was open the second half of the afternoon, but everyone had to agree to sit when we went under bridges. The sun was with us the whole day much to everyone’s surprise and delight.