A unique river cruise experience sailing on the AMAWaterways Amalegro with an onboard artist/art teacher and painting classes. This sailing included visits to Paris, the gardens at Giverny, as well as a stop at Normandy. Join my guest travel writer Julie Hatfield as she tells stories from this fascinating cruise.
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello and welcome back to CruiseCompete's Cruise
Podcast where we share tips,ideas, and inspiration to help
make your next cruise afantastic e vent.
I'm your host B ob Levinstein.
Today's topic is an art themedcruise on the rivers of France
on the A MAA waterways.
I'm Allegro.
My guest is M s.
Julie Hatfield, who spent 22years as a reporter and editor
(00:38):
for the Boston globe.
Julie is now a freelance travelwriter.
Her work, has garnered a numberof awards including the Atrium
and Lulu awards for coverage ofthe fashion industry and the
Gold Prize from the NorthAmerican Travel Journalists
Association for her story aboutthe Great Bear Rainforest in
British Columbia.
You can find Julie's work atAllThingsCruise.co m.
(00:58):
We'l l be back with Julie rightafter this.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
CruiseCompete.com is a simple concept.
We give you the tools to findthe perfect cruise and request
quotes.
Independent travel agents canthen see your requests and they
respond with the best customcruise offers they can all
competing to offer you the bestdeal.
You compare these offers in oneconvenient place along with
consumer ratings and reviews ofthe agencies as only the best
(01:26):
agents survive in thiscompetitive environment.
You'll have some great optionsto choose from you then remain
anonymous unless or until youdecide to contact an agent by
phone or by email to askquestions or to book.
Find out why more than a millioncruisers are members of our free
unique service and start savingboth time and a significant
amount of money on your cruisevacation via CruiseCompete
(01:49):
today.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Welcome back.
My guest today is Ms.
Julie Hatfield, n ow working asa freelance travel writer.
Julie is here to tell us aboutan art-themed cr uise a board
the AMAwaterways Amalegro.
Julie, welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Thank you.
You selected this cruise becauseof its theme.
Can you tell us more about that?
Well, it was called artillumination and they told us
that we would be on board withan art artist and a teacher, a
professional artist, and ateacher who was going to teach
us how to paint, which myhusband and I had never, we'd
(02:40):
never picked up a paintbrush inour lives.
And we thought what a perfectopportunity to be a painter in
France?
No, I'm along the sun river.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Um, so what, uh, what were the art related programs
like on board?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Well, every other day , uh, they set up in the main
living room area, uh, ethos forthose of us who had signed on, I
think it's a 148 passenger boatand I think, Oh, maybe about 25
of us signed on to be artists.
So they set up easels in themain room and this is every
(03:18):
other day.
And, uh, with paints and, andaprons.
And there we were beginning topick up a paintbrush and paint
and we had three themes.
And the first one was justamazing because we were along
the Seine river on the way toMonet's home and gardens in
(03:40):
Geverny that you know about the,um, the beautiful gardens with
the, with the Lily pads and soeasy to paint.
The gardens are just incredible.
I've never seen such beautifulgardens.
And so we spent quite a longtime there and everybody taking
notes in their head on what wewere going to paint and we got
(04:04):
back to the boat and the nextday we all painted what we had
thought of as the garden.
Did you have any?
Yeah.
Yeah, she, the artist, um,Elizabeth, uh, Grayblur, um,
from California.
I think she would give us abeginning of a, of a, did you
(04:28):
hear any garden, you know,colors and, and how to start it
and background sky and cloudsand things.
So we had a start with her andthen we would do our own thing.
The funny thing was that, um, I,I'd say of the 25 people, maybe
10 were, had done, some art haddone a little bit of painting.
(04:50):
None of us were professional.
Most of us had not painted atall, including a dentist from
Atlanta, Georgia.
And he was really proud that henever had done any painting it
on his[inaudible] gardens wereslashes of red and um, you know,
the gardens are mostly pink andyellow and pastels and we called
(05:10):
his painting root canal, but therest of us tried to do the pink
and yellow and little, you know,the Lily pads.
And some of us were prettysuccessful at the end of the
trip.
The Ima wasn't very nice andthey allowed us to wrap up our
(05:34):
three paintings and send them towhomever we wanted to and free,
you know, they, they did theshipping.
So I sent them to my threechildren and I got no reaction.
I didn't get, Oh, they're awful.
I didn't get, they're wonderful.
I just got silence.
I don't know what the reactionwas, but I was pretty proud of
(05:56):
him.
Very good sign.
They haven't asked for more.
Actually, Juliana, my daughtersaid she would like, she, I
think she wanted to keep the oneI sent her I think, I think it
was of the Eiffel tower.
Yeah.
So, um, other than than, uh, thegardens or were there, what
(06:17):
other, um, activities did theytie into?
Did they tie into the, well, oneday we went to a little town
called on FLIR.
Uh, it's been painted by manyfamous artists because it's just
a sweet little town on a, on akind of a lagoon, uh, 18th, 16th
and 18th century townhouses.
(06:39):
And so, uh, the artists said,you know, make note of what you
see there.
These little townhousesconnected, they're all passed
down and they're, uh, along thewaters.
So it taught us aboutreflection, you know, getting
these houses reflected in thewater.
And a lot of us did that somesuccessfully, some not
successfully, but that was, youknow, that was our second
(07:01):
subject to the versa where thegardens in Giovanni, then there
was this town of all floor.
And at the end of the trip whenwe were headed back to Paris, of
course we had to paint theEiffel tower and that was harder
than I thought.
But imagine all of this soundshard to me, but I have visual
(07:22):
memory and not good with thisartist was on board because she
started as each time, you know,she would give us a background
and sky and water and reflectionand, and with the Eiffel tower,
(07:42):
she definitely started us on howto, how to start that.
It's not as easy as you think,but some history lessons too
when you were important seeingthese things.
Um, yeah.
I mean we saw some beautifulplaces when we were in port.
(08:04):
Um, uh, one of them was aChateau de model based on, which
is the former home of Napoleonand Josephine bone apart.
That was a beautiful house, justgorgeous.
And we got to go through allthat.
Um, and you know, lots ofpaintings on the walls.
Uh, it was funny, the, the shiphad, uh, impressionist
(08:26):
paintings.
I mean, they weren't probablynot real, but they were the look
of an impressionist.
So we all had that in our mind.
And then after we did ourpainting, some of us put them up
on the walls of the ship andwith price tags and you know, we
, we'd put like 25 euros andthen somebody else would cross
(08:46):
it off three year.
I mean, we really, we had a lotof fun with that.
My husband said that he wasgoing to sell his painting of
the Eiffel tower and that wouldpay for our, our Paris trip at
the end.
He didn't sell it.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I could imagine that.
But I imagine having, havingsome other folks who are on, who
are, um, you know, willing totry something new like this, um,
uh, maybe makes for some moreoutgoing,
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Oh yeah.
I mean that, that's all wetalked about.
You know, those of us who werepaid, that's all we talked about
and looked at each other's workand everybody like me thought,
Oh, that's better than mine.
You know, those are better thanmine.
We all had a little steadyafterward.
We would go around and seeeverybody else's work and it
always looked much, much betterthan what I had done.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Well, you know, it's, uh, I'm sure there were some
folks who looked at yours andthought the same thing.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah.
Maybe so, but it was, you know,it was all in good fun.
And the, the teacher was veryunderstanding too.
She was complimenting everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Well, you know, I mean, you can't expect to be a
suspect to be an old master thefirst, the first time out.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
No, no.
Our first week of painting, Imean, come on.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
So what, um, other than the, the, uh, the folks in
the arc group, what were thepassengers like in general?
Were they mostly U S the mix?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Mostly U S um, people who had crews a lot, had a lot
of experience.
Um, of course people who loveParis because you start and end
in Paris and a lot of people whoare history buffs because the
troop, the trip did stop inNormandy and uh, we had already
been to Normandy, which is verymoving trip.
(10:38):
So those of us who hadn't beenthere, spent a full day on the
beaches and you know, learningabout that history of world war
II is very, very moving trip.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
The numbers, the numbers and logistics involved
in that whole thing.
The whole human side.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yeah.
And the names, you know, theAmerican names of young, young
soldiers who died over there.
Just really, really a good, agood trip all around.
Um, so tell us more about theship itself.
Beautiful ship.
Um, I don't know if I should usenames, but, um, we found it to
(11:17):
be a lovely cruise company.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Well, you're free to use any names you want.
We're here to help folks learnabout the different cruise
lines.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Okay.
Well we, most recently we took aViking cruise and biking.
I know it just overdone it oncommercials, TV commercials, and
they're a good, good line.
But when we compare it at theend, we really preferred UMMA
because of a couple of things.
Well, Viking, the boat we wereon was a very small one of their
(11:49):
smaller boats, so it had onesmall restaurant and no others.
And the AMAA trip, um, had tworestaurants.
It had the one main one, whichwas wonderful.
And then they had a thing calledthe chef's table, which you
could sign up for it.
You didn't pay extra, but you,you know, you had, it was a
(12:09):
smaller group so you had to getyour time in.
So we went to that and it wasjust amazing.
You would watch the chef workingto put together as a meal using
local ingredients and justbeautifully done.
Um, so that was, um, I alwaysuse anything French, anything
(12:31):
French that I gather up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I try for the French and youknow, this trip, the trip starts
and ends in Paris.
So good eating there and lots ofgood French eating on board too.
And the food is wonderful.
And yeah, the people were very,very well traveled and fun to be
(12:51):
with.
And, um, they had a lot of, theyalways had activities at night,
which I couldn't do because Iwas writing my blog.
But you know, they have localpeople come in and do their
dances and singing and there'salways dancing and you know, a
(13:12):
good, a good musician on board.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
The difference with a river cruise where you know, you
can have people hop on and hopoff and go home.
Whereas a,
Speaker 3 (13:22):
and the other thing about yeah, as compared to
Viking has bikes on board, theyhave bicycles ready for anybody.
Whenever you stop in a port, oneday we took the bikes and spent
the whole day biking and thatwas really great.
Gets you get your exercise andthen you come back out and you
(13:43):
eat and eat and eat.
So I was really appreciativethat they had bikes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
So they have, I knew, I knew, uh, you know, here we've
got bikes with water bottleholders.
They have wine bottle holdersfor friends.
I did see a guy riding up, uh,right around mu.
I was at Melbourne to uh,watching the storefronts and
took a picture of a guy riding ariding big basket, fresh bread
(14:10):
in the basket and the bottle ofwine in his hand that he was
drinking.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Nice.
My first biking trip, my husbandand I have taken I think a dozen
biking trips and in fact we havea book about biking called 30
years on two wheels.
And my first trip was in Franceand I took like wine in my water
bottle instead of water, but Isoon learned it would be better
(14:35):
to take water.
Well really if you, if youtrain,
Speaker 1 (14:39):
drink and bike you get, um, I used to be a
triathlete and spent lots oftime in the back of a bike.
He was generally not wine.
No, but there are a lot of beerrides around here and biking is
very big in the state for, youknow, when you can bike.
(15:00):
A lot of them are a lot of railsto trails and biking bar and
having a few drinks and ridehome is, is a big thing.
But I found when I firststarted, I had no had no, um, no
wind.
You know, I couldn't, you know,after one it was like a kid and
brief.
But if you do that, if you startdoing it and it can't be
recommending that, but yes,you've got to do that.
(15:24):
So your, your, um, your bikingtrips where they organized
through a tour company, likeback roads.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Um, but it feels in Robinson were the main ones.
We've done a couple of Backroads.
It's funny, when we went on aback road strip in California,
speaking of wine did, the peoplewere so serious about biking and
biking, the optional extramiles.
And they said when, when when wegathered for dinner, they would
say, Oh, we don't drink mine atall.
(15:52):
We're, we're Viking.
We got to get up in the morning.
And so, you know, it wasn't asmuch fun as a Butterfield and
Robinson, which is out ofToronto and they believe in wine
at night, at night after work.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Funny.
I mean I have, I've, I've alwaysencountered a mix of folks on
the back row strips, breakersand but something not[inaudible]
.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, we did a nice trip with them, uh, in the wild
Valley about a year or two ago.
And that was a good group.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, it really, you know, you're really, um, the
best part really about theBackroads trips is the guides in
any other people.
You're with the scenery,obviously.
Well, again, the food is greattoo.
It's really who you're with and,and you know, are they outgoing
and funny or,
Speaker 3 (16:43):
yes.
Yes.
Do you know, are you familiarwith Butterfield and Robinson?
Not at all there.
They're an old one.
They've made it, they startedthe whole idea liking in Europe
and they, their guys arewonderful and they're food.
Just the best food and drink andthe chateaus.
(17:04):
Oh, I bike, our bike book iscalled 30 years on two wheels, a
biking Odyssey and available onAmazon.
It's available on Amazon.
Absolutely.
Two wheels.
If you're listening with 30years on two wheels, 30 years on
two wheels biking Odyssey byJulie Hatfield and Timothy
(17:26):
Leland.
And it's got good pictures andtalk about food.
Some people read the book andthey say, this is a food book.
It has nothing to do withbiking.
There's so much food in it.
We'd described some of theseincredible meals in France
mostly.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Wow.
Well getting back to the rivercruising size, um, any, uh, any
packing advice?
Well, you
Speaker 3 (17:49):
know, it's not like the great big huge ocean cruises
that some of them still have theformal wear MSC.
I noticed, you know, MSA, you'refamiliar with MSC, they're great
big company and uh, I did aMediterranean cruise with them
and they want the full tuxedoand long gown and everything
(18:13):
else.
But the river cruises, you don'tneed to do that.
Um, you know, for a woman,pretty jacket and evening jacket
type thing for her blouse isgood enough.
Even with black pants you canwear a dress if you want.
I brought a few dresses alongand people like to change
clothes for, you know, nighttimefor dinner.
(18:35):
I don't think a man needs tobring a jacket.
Even just a nice shirt, youknow, as long as it's not jeans,
jeans, tee shirts, you know, nota space.
It takes up and you're lucky.
Yeah.
(18:56):
And then if you are going tobike on the cruises, you know
your biking clothes are good.
They have clips.
Ours did not, did not.
I tend to travel with my bike.
I travel with my own pedals andshoes cause you like to do the
clips.
I get scared with those.
Well you know if you, here'swhat I tell anybody who asks me
(19:19):
about clips is the first coupleof times you will fall over.
Dad will be a comical slowmotion they can see on your
face, you know you're going tofall and there's nothing you can
do about it.
The only thing that will beinjured is a, is your pride and
dignity.
They do.
I the first time I said no moreclips and you know, you just get
(19:41):
a little bloody and scratched.
I have broken my wrist threetimes but not, not biking in
clips, volleyball and otherthings, roller skating.
So no biking.
I've had no serious, seriousinjuries and certainly on river
cruises, nothing.
(20:04):
I haven't had enough wine on thebike.
I'm glad I brought, I had anIndian real fancy satin jacket
that I brought out at the lastdinner and that was much
appreciated.
People really like to seesomething different and dressy
(20:25):
at the end.
You know, your last night it'skind of a celebration and on the
first night you would have beenthe jacket lady for the whole
cruise and impressions about thetrip.
That trip was just beautiful andnow I hear that you have to have
(20:48):
a group just sign up for the artcrews.
They don't just do it regularly.
So that's, that's a shamebecause so many people who would
like to just play it painting,you know?
I think, yeah, I don't know.
Maybe when the river cruisingand want to do other things,
Speaker 1 (21:05):
maybe they just need to, we need to find like a fans
of Bob Ross subreddits and thosefolks know how many different
kinds of cruises now.
Any, any overall river cruiseadvice?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Well, you know, my husband first thought that river
cruising was for people who werecompletely sedentary.
He said, don't let me go on oneof those till I'm 85 years old.
Then I got him on one before hewas 85 and he said, especially
when it got to biking, he said,all right, all right.
(21:42):
They're not sedentary.
They're not just for old peoplewho eat and do nothing else.
So he realized there's a lotmore going on with the river
cruises and that
Speaker 1 (21:52):
it's a true case that they stop you.
You know, you're, you're prettymuch right in the center of
things when you get off the boatand you're largely walked into a
lot of things.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah.
And usually there's amazingtowns.
Um, one of our cruises startedin Budapest and that's really
exciting to, you know, to seethose places get on and off the
boat.
Where your top three?
My very top would be.
(22:21):
Um, Venice number one, myfavorite city in the world.
Wow.
Um, I don't think they haveriver cruises to annex, which is
too bad.
I have biked to Venice.
Um, second, of course.
Paris.
How can you not love Paris?
(22:43):
And maybe the third would beanywhere along the Italian
Riviera.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Well then you can, you can use your Italian too.
Yeah.
You gotta like that.
Easy to be there, you know, andspeak the language.
It makes a huge difference.
I did a lot of fashion writingfrom there.
Oh our God.
Yeah.
This is number one and I hopethey can save flooding.
(23:14):
Yeah.
That's been their challengeforever.
Yeah.
Well, Julie, thank you so verymuch for sharing your
experiences with us.
Very welcome.
I hope for you've inspired somelisteners to uh, to try out a
river cruise.
It's seems to be what peoplegraduate to once they get a
little bit of Caribbean fatigueand it's been to those ports too
(23:34):
many times that are already besomething different.
It's a wonderful way to go.
Well, my guest has been travelwriter, Julie Hatfields.
Uh, you can find Julie's workall things, cruise.com and of
course on Amazon, uh, 30 yearson two wheels.
I think, uh, definitely a greatbook to a pickup if you're
interested in bikes and food.
(23:55):
So thank you for listening to usand have a wonderful day.
Bye.
Hello and welcome back to CruiseCompete's Cruise
Podcast where we share tips,ideas, and inspiration to help
make your next cruise afantastic e vent.
I'm your host B ob Levinstein.
Today's topic is an art themedcruise on the rivers of France
on the A MAA waterways.
I'm Allegro.
My guest is M s.
Julie Hatfield, who spent 22years as a reporter and editor
(00:38):
for the Boston globe.
Julie is now a freelance travelwriter.
Her work, has garnered a numberof awards including the Atrium
and Lulu awards for coverage ofthe fashion industry and the
Gold Prize from the NorthAmerican Travel Journalists
Association for her story aboutthe Great Bear Rainforest in
British Columbia.
You can find Julie's work atAllThingsCruise.co m.
(00:58):
We'l l be back with Julie rightafter this.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
CruiseCompete.com is a simple concept.
We give you the tools to findthe perfect cruise and request
quotes.
Independent travel agents canthen see your requests and they
respond with the best customcruise offers they can all
competing to offer you the bestdeal.
You compare these offers in oneconvenient place along with
consumer ratings and reviews ofthe agencies as only the best
(01:26):
agents survive in thiscompetitive environment.
You'll have some great optionsto choose from you then remain
anonymous unless or until youdecide to contact an agent by
phone or by email to askquestions or to book.
Find out why more than a millioncruisers are members of our free
unique service and start savingboth time and a significant
amount of money on your cruisevacation via CruiseCompete
(01:49):
today.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Welcome back.
My guest today is Ms.
Julie Hatfield, n ow working asa freelance travel writer.
Julie is here to tell us aboutan art-themed cr uise a board
the AMAwaterways Amalegro.
Julie, welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Thank you.
You selected this cruise becauseof its theme.
Can you tell us more about that?
Well, it was called artillumination and they told us
that we would be on board withan art artist and a teacher, a
professional artist, and ateacher who was going to teach
us how to paint, which myhusband and I had never, we'd
(02:40):
never picked up a paintbrush inour lives.
And we thought what a perfectopportunity to be a painter in
France?
No, I'm along the sun river.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Um, so what, uh, what were the art related programs
like on board?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Well, every other day , uh, they set up in the main
living room area, uh, ethos forthose of us who had signed on, I
think it's a 148 passenger boatand I think, Oh, maybe about 25
of us signed on to be artists.
So they set up easels in themain room and this is every
(03:18):
other day.
And, uh, with paints and, andaprons.
And there we were beginning topick up a paintbrush and paint
and we had three themes.
And the first one was justamazing because we were along
the Seine river on the way toMonet's home and gardens in
(03:40):
Geverny that you know about the,um, the beautiful gardens with
the, with the Lily pads and soeasy to paint.
The gardens are just incredible.
I've never seen such beautifulgardens.
And so we spent quite a longtime there and everybody taking
notes in their head on what wewere going to paint and we got
(04:04):
back to the boat and the nextday we all painted what we had
thought of as the garden.
Did you have any?
Yeah.
Yeah, she, the artist, um,Elizabeth, uh, Grayblur, um,
from California.
I think she would give us abeginning of a, of a, did you
(04:28):
hear any garden, you know,colors and, and how to start it
and background sky and cloudsand things.
So we had a start with her andthen we would do our own thing.
The funny thing was that, um, I,I'd say of the 25 people, maybe
10 were, had done, some art haddone a little bit of painting.
(04:50):
None of us were professional.
Most of us had not painted atall, including a dentist from
Atlanta, Georgia.
And he was really proud that henever had done any painting it
on his[inaudible] gardens wereslashes of red and um, you know,
the gardens are mostly pink andyellow and pastels and we called
(05:10):
his painting root canal, but therest of us tried to do the pink
and yellow and little, you know,the Lily pads.
And some of us were prettysuccessful at the end of the
trip.
The Ima wasn't very nice andthey allowed us to wrap up our
(05:34):
three paintings and send them towhomever we wanted to and free,
you know, they, they did theshipping.
So I sent them to my threechildren and I got no reaction.
I didn't get, Oh, they're awful.
I didn't get, they're wonderful.
I just got silence.
I don't know what the reactionwas, but I was pretty proud of
(05:56):
him.
Very good sign.
They haven't asked for more.
Actually, Juliana, my daughtersaid she would like, she, I
think she wanted to keep the oneI sent her I think, I think it
was of the Eiffel tower.
Yeah.
So, um, other than than, uh, thegardens or were there, what
(06:17):
other, um, activities did theytie into?
Did they tie into the, well, oneday we went to a little town
called on FLIR.
Uh, it's been painted by manyfamous artists because it's just
a sweet little town on a, on akind of a lagoon, uh, 18th, 16th
and 18th century townhouses.
(06:39):
And so, uh, the artists said,you know, make note of what you
see there.
These little townhousesconnected, they're all passed
down and they're, uh, along thewaters.
So it taught us aboutreflection, you know, getting
these houses reflected in thewater.
And a lot of us did that somesuccessfully, some not
successfully, but that was, youknow, that was our second
(07:01):
subject to the versa where thegardens in Giovanni, then there
was this town of all floor.
And at the end of the trip whenwe were headed back to Paris, of
course we had to paint theEiffel tower and that was harder
than I thought.
But imagine all of this soundshard to me, but I have visual
(07:22):
memory and not good with thisartist was on board because she
started as each time, you know,she would give us a background
and sky and water and reflectionand, and with the Eiffel tower,
(07:42):
she definitely started us on howto, how to start that.
It's not as easy as you think,but some history lessons too
when you were important seeingthese things.
Um, yeah.
I mean we saw some beautifulplaces when we were in port.
(08:04):
Um, uh, one of them was aChateau de model based on, which
is the former home of Napoleonand Josephine bone apart.
That was a beautiful house, justgorgeous.
And we got to go through allthat.
Um, and you know, lots ofpaintings on the walls.
Uh, it was funny, the, the shiphad, uh, impressionist
(08:26):
paintings.
I mean, they weren't probablynot real, but they were the look
of an impressionist.
So we all had that in our mind.
And then after we did ourpainting, some of us put them up
on the walls of the ship andwith price tags and you know, we
, we'd put like 25 euros andthen somebody else would cross
(08:46):
it off three year.
I mean, we really, we had a lotof fun with that.
My husband said that he wasgoing to sell his painting of
the Eiffel tower and that wouldpay for our, our Paris trip at
the end.
He didn't sell it.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I could imagine that.
But I imagine having, havingsome other folks who are on, who
are, um, you know, willing totry something new like this, um,
uh, maybe makes for some moreoutgoing,
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Oh yeah.
I mean that, that's all wetalked about.
You know, those of us who werepaid, that's all we talked about
and looked at each other's workand everybody like me thought,
Oh, that's better than mine.
You know, those are better thanmine.
We all had a little steadyafterward.
We would go around and seeeverybody else's work and it
always looked much, much betterthan what I had done.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Well, you know, it's, uh, I'm sure there were some
folks who looked at yours andthought the same thing.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah.
Maybe so, but it was, you know,it was all in good fun.
And the, the teacher was veryunderstanding too.
She was complimenting everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Well, you know, I mean, you can't expect to be a
suspect to be an old master thefirst, the first time out.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
No, no.
Our first week of painting, Imean, come on.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
So what, um, other than the, the, uh, the folks in
the arc group, what were thepassengers like in general?
Were they mostly U S the mix?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Mostly U S um, people who had crews a lot, had a lot
of experience.
Um, of course people who loveParis because you start and end
in Paris and a lot of people whoare history buffs because the
troop, the trip did stop inNormandy and uh, we had already
been to Normandy, which is verymoving trip.
(10:38):
So those of us who hadn't beenthere, spent a full day on the
beaches and you know, learningabout that history of world war
II is very, very moving trip.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
The numbers, the numbers and logistics involved
in that whole thing.
The whole human side.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yeah.
And the names, you know, theAmerican names of young, young
soldiers who died over there.
Just really, really a good, agood trip all around.
Um, so tell us more about theship itself.
Beautiful ship.
Um, I don't know if I should usenames, but, um, we found it to
(11:17):
be a lovely cruise company.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Well, you're free to use any names you want.
We're here to help folks learnabout the different cruise
lines.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Okay.
Well we, most recently we took aViking cruise and biking.
I know it just overdone it oncommercials, TV commercials, and
they're a good, good line.
But when we compare it at theend, we really preferred UMMA
because of a couple of things.
Well, Viking, the boat we wereon was a very small one of their
(11:49):
smaller boats, so it had onesmall restaurant and no others.
And the AMAA trip, um, had tworestaurants.
It had the one main one, whichwas wonderful.
And then they had a thing calledthe chef's table, which you
could sign up for it.
You didn't pay extra, but you,you know, you had, it was a
(12:09):
smaller group so you had to getyour time in.
So we went to that and it wasjust amazing.
You would watch the chef workingto put together as a meal using
local ingredients and justbeautifully done.
Um, so that was, um, I alwaysuse anything French, anything
(12:31):
French that I gather up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I try for the French and youknow, this trip, the trip starts
and ends in Paris.
So good eating there and lots ofgood French eating on board too.
And the food is wonderful.
And yeah, the people were very,very well traveled and fun to be
(12:51):
with.
And, um, they had a lot of, theyalways had activities at night,
which I couldn't do because Iwas writing my blog.
But you know, they have localpeople come in and do their
dances and singing and there'salways dancing and you know, a
(13:12):
good, a good musician on board.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
The difference with a river cruise where you know, you
can have people hop on and hopoff and go home.
Whereas a,
Speaker 3 (13:22):
and the other thing about yeah, as compared to
Viking has bikes on board, theyhave bicycles ready for anybody.
Whenever you stop in a port, oneday we took the bikes and spent
the whole day biking and thatwas really great.
Gets you get your exercise andthen you come back out and you
(13:43):
eat and eat and eat.
So I was really appreciativethat they had bikes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
So they have, I knew, I knew, uh, you know, here we've
got bikes with water bottleholders.
They have wine bottle holdersfor friends.
I did see a guy riding up, uh,right around mu.
I was at Melbourne to uh,watching the storefronts and
took a picture of a guy riding ariding big basket, fresh bread
(14:10):
in the basket and the bottle ofwine in his hand that he was
drinking.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Nice.
My first biking trip, my husbandand I have taken I think a dozen
biking trips and in fact we havea book about biking called 30
years on two wheels.
And my first trip was in Franceand I took like wine in my water
bottle instead of water, but Isoon learned it would be better
(14:35):
to take water.
Well really if you, if youtrain,
Speaker 1 (14:39):
drink and bike you get, um, I used to be a
triathlete and spent lots oftime in the back of a bike.
He was generally not wine.
No, but there are a lot of beerrides around here and biking is
very big in the state for, youknow, when you can bike.
(15:00):
A lot of them are a lot of railsto trails and biking bar and
having a few drinks and ridehome is, is a big thing.
But I found when I firststarted, I had no had no, um, no
wind.
You know, I couldn't, you know,after one it was like a kid and
brief.
But if you do that, if you startdoing it and it can't be
recommending that, but yes,you've got to do that.
(15:24):
So your, your, um, your bikingtrips where they organized
through a tour company, likeback roads.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Um, but it feels in Robinson were the main ones.
We've done a couple of Backroads.
It's funny, when we went on aback road strip in California,
speaking of wine did, the peoplewere so serious about biking and
biking, the optional extramiles.
And they said when, when when wegathered for dinner, they would
say, Oh, we don't drink mine atall.
(15:52):
We're, we're Viking.
We got to get up in the morning.
And so, you know, it wasn't asmuch fun as a Butterfield and
Robinson, which is out ofToronto and they believe in wine
at night, at night after work.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Funny.
I mean I have, I've, I've alwaysencountered a mix of folks on
the back row strips, breakersand but something not[inaudible]
.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, we did a nice trip with them, uh, in the wild
Valley about a year or two ago.
And that was a good group.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, it really, you know, you're really, um, the
best part really about theBackroads trips is the guides in
any other people.
You're with the scenery,obviously.
Well, again, the food is greattoo.
It's really who you're with and,and you know, are they outgoing
and funny or,
Speaker 3 (16:43):
yes.
Yes.
Do you know, are you familiarwith Butterfield and Robinson?
Not at all there.
They're an old one.
They've made it, they startedthe whole idea liking in Europe
and they, their guys arewonderful and they're food.
Just the best food and drink andthe chateaus.
(17:04):
Oh, I bike, our bike book iscalled 30 years on two wheels, a
biking Odyssey and available onAmazon.
It's available on Amazon.
Absolutely.
Two wheels.
If you're listening with 30years on two wheels, 30 years on
two wheels biking Odyssey byJulie Hatfield and Timothy
(17:26):
Leland.
And it's got good pictures andtalk about food.
Some people read the book andthey say, this is a food book.
It has nothing to do withbiking.
There's so much food in it.
We'd described some of theseincredible meals in France
mostly.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Wow.
Well getting back to the rivercruising size, um, any, uh, any
packing advice?
Well, you
Speaker 3 (17:49):
know, it's not like the great big huge ocean cruises
that some of them still have theformal wear MSC.
I noticed, you know, MSA, you'refamiliar with MSC, they're great
big company and uh, I did aMediterranean cruise with them
and they want the full tuxedoand long gown and everything
(18:13):
else.
But the river cruises, you don'tneed to do that.
Um, you know, for a woman,pretty jacket and evening jacket
type thing for her blouse isgood enough.
Even with black pants you canwear a dress if you want.
I brought a few dresses alongand people like to change
clothes for, you know, nighttimefor dinner.
(18:35):
I don't think a man needs tobring a jacket.
Even just a nice shirt, youknow, as long as it's not jeans,
jeans, tee shirts, you know, nota space.
It takes up and you're lucky.
Yeah.
(18:56):
And then if you are going tobike on the cruises, you know
your biking clothes are good.
They have clips.
Ours did not, did not.
I tend to travel with my bike.
I travel with my own pedals andshoes cause you like to do the
clips.
I get scared with those.
Well you know if you, here'swhat I tell anybody who asks me
(19:19):
about clips is the first coupleof times you will fall over.
Dad will be a comical slowmotion they can see on your
face, you know you're going tofall and there's nothing you can
do about it.
The only thing that will beinjured is a, is your pride and
dignity.
They do.
I the first time I said no moreclips and you know, you just get
(19:41):
a little bloody and scratched.
I have broken my wrist threetimes but not, not biking in
clips, volleyball and otherthings, roller skating.
So no biking.
I've had no serious, seriousinjuries and certainly on river
cruises, nothing.
(20:04):
I haven't had enough wine on thebike.
I'm glad I brought, I had anIndian real fancy satin jacket
that I brought out at the lastdinner and that was much
appreciated.
People really like to seesomething different and dressy
(20:25):
at the end.
You know, your last night it'skind of a celebration and on the
first night you would have beenthe jacket lady for the whole
cruise and impressions about thetrip.
That trip was just beautiful andnow I hear that you have to have
(20:48):
a group just sign up for the artcrews.
They don't just do it regularly.
So that's, that's a shamebecause so many people who would
like to just play it painting,you know?
I think, yeah, I don't know.
Maybe when the river cruisingand want to do other things,
Speaker 1 (21:05):
maybe they just need to, we need to find like a fans
of Bob Ross subreddits and thosefolks know how many different
kinds of cruises now.
Any, any overall river cruiseadvice?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Well, you know, my husband first thought that river
cruising was for people who werecompletely sedentary.
He said, don't let me go on oneof those till I'm 85 years old.
Then I got him on one before hewas 85 and he said, especially
when it got to biking, he said,all right, all right.
(21:42):
They're not sedentary.
They're not just for old peoplewho eat and do nothing else.
So he realized there's a lotmore going on with the river
cruises and that
Speaker 1 (21:52):
it's a true case that they stop you.
You know, you're, you're prettymuch right in the center of
things when you get off the boatand you're largely walked into a
lot of things.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah.
And usually there's amazingtowns.
Um, one of our cruises startedin Budapest and that's really
exciting to, you know, to seethose places get on and off the
boat.
Where your top three?
My very top would be.
(22:21):
Um, Venice number one, myfavorite city in the world.
Wow.
Um, I don't think they haveriver cruises to annex, which is
too bad.
I have biked to Venice.
Um, second, of course.
Paris.
How can you not love Paris?
(22:43):
And maybe the third would beanywhere along the Italian
Riviera.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Well then you can, you can use your Italian too.
Yeah.
You gotta like that.
Easy to be there, you know, andspeak the language.
It makes a huge difference.
I did a lot of fashion writingfrom there.
Oh our God.
Yeah.
This is number one and I hopethey can save flooding.
(23:14):
Yeah.
That's been their challengeforever.
Yeah.
Well, Julie, thank you so verymuch for sharing your
experiences with us.
Very welcome.
I hope for you've inspired somelisteners to uh, to try out a
river cruise.
It's seems to be what peoplegraduate to once they get a
little bit of Caribbean fatigueand it's been to those ports too
(23:34):
many times that are already besomething different.
It's a wonderful way to go.
Well, my guest has been travelwriter, Julie Hatfields.
Uh, you can find Julie's workall things, cruise.com and of
course on Amazon, uh, 30 yearson two wheels.
I think, uh, definitely a greatbook to a pickup if you're
interested in bikes and food.
(23:55):
So thank you for listening to usand have a wonderful day.
Bye.
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