Lyon River Cruise: Pre-Cruise & Cruise Day 1

Thursday, May 22: Lingering in Lyon + Boarding the Boat

I went out for a lovely morning walk and spotted a rainbow over the hill.

I discovered that apparently Reacher has cross-cultural appeal – so incongruous to see this hanging on the side of a historic French building lining one edge of Place Bellecoeur!

I was also quite impressed to see that the city provides compost bins in addition to trash and recycling containers along certain streets.

We joined Mr. E’s family in the breakfast room at the hotel and enjoyed several Americanos along with a huge variety of sweet and savory homemade baked goods, fruit, eggs, cheese, and charcuterie. Mr. E’s favorite style of breakfast, for sure! M had worked with the hotel staff to make an appointment at a nearby clinic for her dad to get his arm checked out, and we all paid a small additional fee to have a late checkout at 2pm, which gave us more flexibility for our morning activities.

Despite the cloudy and potentially rainy weather, Mr. E and I decided to go for a walking tour of the city to get reacquainted with the area and do some shopping.

We had success in finding my special sweets – Lion bar minis and Krema Regal’ad fruit chews – yay! I also picked up several mass market fiction books in French and a few other souvenirs, including some new socks, purple tights, and a small poster of Lyon to add to our collection.

Throughout the morning, we were getting text updates from M about her dad, who had been sent to a local ER for some additional tests and X-rays. They all ended up spending the entire day waiting to see the medical team! Such a bummer. Luckily, we were able to explain the situation to the hotel, and the staff gave us keys to their rooms so that Mr. E, his mom, and I could pack up their stuff and complete check-out on their behalf. We stored all of our bags at the hotel and returned to the yummy DIY salad spot for lunch.

We lingered there for a bit since we couldn’t board the boat until 6pm. Then we took another stroll for some additional window shopping, and Mr. E and his mom stopped off at Starbucks for late afternoon beverages and dessert. I headed back to the big Monoprix on the street where we had rented an apartment during our previous visit to Lyon in 2011 (!!!) to look for an adapter for his aunt and uncle, who had forgotten to pack one, and was able to find something adequate so that they could charge their devices for the rest of the trip. I rejoined Mr. E and his mom at Starbucks for an Americano, and then we all headed back to the hotel to ask for assistance in ordering a taxi large enough for three people and eight bags, since the rest of the family was still stuck at the ER.

Our taxi dropped us off at the Quai Bernard, where a bunch of different riverboats were moored. Mr. E and his mom waited there while I went to find our CrosiEurope boat, the Rhône Princess. Of course, it was all the way at the other end of the Quai and also hidden by another boat! This can be typical for riverboats to “buddy up” when they moor, since there is limited space at all of the docks, so guests from one boat often have to cross through or over a different boat to return on board.

Luckily, we were some of the first guests to arrive, and the crew of our boat was hanging out at the end of the gangplank. I explained to them our unusual situation, and several of them – including the Captain! – followed me back to where Mr. E and his mom were waiting to help us pull all of the bags to the boat’s location. We checked into our cabins, and I confirmed my dietary restrictions with the kitchen staff and also made sure that our family group of six would be seated at the same table.

The cabins were more spacious than I was expecting and had more storage and a better layout compared to the cabin we had for our Bordeaux river cruise. A nice surprise! Fortunately, our main cabin was on the side of the boat facing the river and not the other boat, so we had a lovely view and plenty of natural light from our big window. 

I unpacked and got organized while Mr. E’s mom rested, and the rest of his family luckily arrived shortly thereafter. Coincidentally, the hospital ER where they’d been all day was literally across the street from the boat dock!

We had a 7pm welcome and orientation from the crew in the Lounge Bar, including announcements about the next day’s schedule, and then a bit of free time before the first dinner. Our table was right by a window, on the same side as our cabin, and we enjoyed the view of the river and the city as we ate. Per usual, I called it a night before the rest of the group and snuggled into the very comfy bed in our cabin while others lingered over coffee and dessert.