Day Eight - Lyon and Oingt Village France

This morning we each wandered around Lyon on our own since we had different agendas -- I poked around in the shops -- and wandered the streets of the old town. Patte and Dave went to see more churches and monuments and Phil just walked long distances.

After lunch on lunch on board -- we meet our guide, Solene, who takes us to tour a vineyard in the Beaujolais wine growing region but first a stop at Oingt a village just northwest of Lyon.

Oingt is a 14th Century village where real people still live -- it feels very much like a movie set with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. At the highest point in the village is the Chappelle to St. Joseph-- I just had to take a photo of this statue of a priest but I don't know who he is -- no label.

Leaving Oingt -- we're off to meet Pascal, the wine producer at Domaine de la Logere vineyard -- this guy is a real character. He portrays himself as not speaking much English so Solene will translate. While we are "among the grapes" in the field -- someone asks him a question --- he responds with perfect English. Pascal is dramatically French and most passionate about what he does. After an explanation of how he grows his vines we are ushered into a room for tasting three of his wines -- un blanc and deux rouge. During the tasting Pascal demonstrates old winemaking tools from his collection -- some tools are 100 years old.

Dave and Phil decide we need wine while we are in Paris for two days so they purchase a package of the three wines for 22 euros --- amounting to $28.60 or about $9 a bottle. By the time we leave Pascal is babbling away quite proficiently in English.

We've had yet another interesting and fun day on the Rhone River.

Thanks for reading!