River Cruise Diary – Scenes on the Rhone River

Old Suspension Bridge on the Rhone (24 April 2006)

Now that we’ve returned to presenting this trip, I want to see it through to the end…no more gaps in the posting. At the time, my transition to digital photography was barely a year old and this trip produced some favorite images. Before we arrive in Lyon, here are some impressions of the river between the ports of call.

One thing that has changed with Grand Circle in nineteen years…our itinerary is no longer offered. The cruise line replaced the ‘Chardonnay’ (43 passengers; see below) with a larger vessel, which I suspect cannot navigate the smaller Soane River. The current tour sails to/from Lyon in the north and Arles in the south and flies people into Lyon and Toulouse (not Nice). When we took the trip, after Lyon, we sailed another day up the Soane and ended with three nights in Paris…much better.

The ‘Chardonnay’ Docked in Lyon (25 April 2006)

Our charming old boat was first built as a commercial river boat in 1956 and converted to a passenger vessel in 2000. Designed for the river and its locks, it is 262 feet long, just 28 feet wide, and sits less than six feet underwater.

 

One Way to Enjoy the South of France,

Rhone River (23 April 2006)

Isn’t this so much better than being on a floating city with 4000

strangers out at sea with nothing to see but water and the horizon?

It was so delightful to sit in the Jacuzzi, soak in the sun, adult

beverage in hand and watch the beautiful French countryside scroll by.

There are two decks of cabins. Under this sun deck, the upper deck cabins have large windows while the lower deck cabins have round port hole views. Looking ducks in the eye confirms that much of you is below the water line.

A Porthole to the Rhone (27 April 2005)

The replacement boat accommodates twice as many passengers, is 76 feet longer, but has the same width…remember that all vessels can be no wider than the locks they must navigate.

We were fortunate to have warm, sunny days the entire week. They said that the week before, there was so much rain that the high water levels required the passengers to be bused to each town on the route. Passengers ate and slept on the moored boat, but there was none of the wonderful, leisurely, scenic travel. Major bummer. Some river cruise they paid for...

Dawn in the Nuclear Age, Saint-Alban Nuclear

Power Plant, Rhone River, France (25 April 2006)

With respect to flow, the Rhone is France’s largest river. This makes it a favorable location for power generating stations. Four nuclear power plants with a total of fourteen generating units were built along its banks.

Cooling Towers at the Cruas Nuclear Power Plant,

Rhone River, France (24 April 2006)

Completed in 2005, this mural project added an

environmentally themed image to the cooling tower.

France should get some props. Twenty-five years ago, in the eyes of some, they were pariahs…all in on nuclear power. Now that global climate is the next existential crisis, fossil fuels, even natural gas, are the bogey men. Importing Russian oil and gas is also problematic. It’s not so bad that the nation generates two thirds of its electricity this way.

Into the Mouth of the Beast,

Bollène Lock, Rhone River, France (23 April 2006)

On this leg of the trip, we passed through the highest

lock and dam on the Rhone. The boat was raised 75 feet.

Inside the Bollène Lock (23 April 2006)

Some locks accommodated our boat with inches to spare on either side.

Chateau D’Ampuis, Rhone River, France (25 April 2006)

While there are industrial sites and communities on the Rhone, there are also farms, vineyards and forested stretches that make the journey feel remote and wild. Among the magnificent historic properties on the river is Chateau D’Ampuis. Dating to the 12th century, the complex was home to aristocratic families until it fell into disrepair in the 20th century. An eleven-year renovation has restored the chateau which is now the headquarters of the Guigal wine label.

In our next post, we feature Lyon.

River Cruise Diary – Tournon, France

After extolling European river cruising in 2020, I posted twelve stories (June 2 to November 20, 2020) from what was then, the most recent trip, our fourth, which sailed the Rhine and Moselle Rivers. The next trip to detail was our first, which sailed the smaller Rhone River in 2006. The most recent post, the sixth on this trip, appeared June 18, 2022.

Sorry that I abandoned that travelogue midway as my attention returned to more graves, state houses, ballparks and election ranting. The rest of this trip, my first time in France, included terrific stops in Lyon, the Burgundy wine country, and Paris. But before that, there was a less-than-exhilarating stop in Tournon, and true to the journalistic standards we have at Images and More, it is reported here.

Tournon at Night (24 April 2006)

Completed in 1825, by engineer Marc Seguin, Europe’s first

suspension bridge with iron cables spans the Rhone River.

Unlike the many suspension bridges we see in the U.S.,

it has a single tower midway across the channel.

Statue of Marc Seguin, Tournon, France (24 April 2006)

After touring Viviers, we sailed upstream to dock in Tournon for the night. This is a tidy town of 10,000, named for its towers. There was no formal sightseeing here because this was the place where passengers are met by local residents and escorted to their home-hosted dinners. This popular feature of the cruise operators is appreciated by the guests, who are briefly immersed in French language and local culture. The hosts are also interested to meet Americans and practice their English...most of them, anyway.

Tournon Castle (24 April 2006)

Built on the ruins of a tenth-century fortress, Tournon Castle

is now a museum and exhibition center.

Becky and I (along with two other couples) had a different kind of evening. Our host, a single mom with two daughters, ages ten and three, lived in a very small apartment with a tiny dining room. While the food was edible, the space was cramped and young Inez dominated the evening. The meal lasted until 11:00 PM. Between that and the cat and the nine, caged, Chilean squirrels (pets or food?), our patience was tested. It was great to walk in the night air and make our way back to the boat. We might have been the last group to return.

The next morning, as we sailed toward Lyon, all the passengers shared wonderful stories of their experiences from the night before. There were tales of fascinating homes, interesting people and references to local culture, personal vineyards, and history. The six of us agreed we had nothing positive to contribute to the discussion and remained silent. After we privately offered feedback to the tour guides, Grand Circle removed our host from the roster of local families.

While this was the low point of the trip, what we saw of Tournon was lovely and the remaining days on the river and in Paris were spectacular so, hang in there with me.

Airplane Window Seats - An Update

News Flash – TEN years ago, I posted a complaint about flying in a window seat with no window. Little did I know my seven readers got a glimpse into the future. Recently, the Washington Post reported that a class action lawsuit has been filed against two airlines for charging extra for window seats when the seats have no windows.   

Seat 15A or The Closet with No View (21 August 2015)

Silly me. When Boeing designed and built their planes, they added windows with the reasonable notion that they would line up with the rows of seating. However, the carriers have taken that basic plane body and cram-squeezed as many seats into that space as humanly tolerable. Of course, seats no longer align with windows. Get used to it. The airlines’ response to the recent challenge is to identify certain places where ductwork and electrical conduits are located. Please, child.

Older flyers can remember when there were two seats on either side of the aisle. Then it became three and two. Now, only the puddle-jumper, short-haul planes have fewer than six seats in every row.

I imagine it would be easier to avoid this litigation by simply knowing the seating plans in each plane and X-out those seats that no longer line up with a window, then stop charging extra for the insult. How hard would that be? Certainly, it is less costly than paying lawyers to defend your deception. Apparently, other airlines do that.

We’ll see where this goes. In the meantime, stay with Images and More for a head start on what should make you nuts.

Ballparks - # 27 - Coors Field, Denver, Colorado

8/18/25

Coors Field (16 August 2025)

A summer getaway took us to Denver to visit old and new friends. The lowly Colorado Rockies were home and the league-leading Dodgers began a four-game series the night I added Coors Field to my life list. While the Rockies already have a hundred losses this season, they split the series with the Dodgers after winning this game with an exciting ninth inning walk-off hit. The box score can be found at the link above.

Cornerstone, Coors Field (18 August 2025)

Coors Field was built in the Lower Downtown (LoDo) neighborhood of Denver. The team played its first two seasons in Mile High Stadium, also the home of the NFL Denver Broncos.

The Colorado Rockies began as an expansion team in 1993. In 1992, major league baseball had two divisions in each league. The American League’s East and West Divisions each had seven teams. The National League’s two divisions had six teams so the Rockies joined, along with the Florida (now Miami) Marlins, and the two leagues then organized into three divisions to better spread the teams geographically…and expand the playoffs…to make more money…and extend the season further toward the winter. Five years later, the game expanded again to its current roster of thirty teams when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays joined the game.

(Modest) Wall of Fame, Coors Field (18 August 2025)

Like many other ballparks, Coors has a place of honor for the retired uniform numbers of star players. Like all other venues, Jackie Robinson’s number 42 is included. The ‘KSM’ honors team president Keli Scott McGregor who died suddenly in 2010 at age 47. The ‘17’ and ‘33’ recognize Todd Helton and Larry Walker, respectively. Shame we in the east did not see much of these two…who had fantastic careers with a mediocre team in an inconvenient time zone.

Both players are in baseball’s Hall of Fame. Helton, with a career batting average of .316, played first base for seventeen seasons. Walker, also a career .300 hitter and a Canadian by birth, had an awesome run. In the three seasons, 1997-99, Walker batted over .360, something no player had done since 1929-31. As I write this, the Dodger, Freddy Freeman, is leading the National League with an average of .300. We may see a league leader finish with an average below .300. This makes Walker’s three-season run over .360 even more remarkable.

Bleacher Wilderness, Coors Field (18 August 2025)

Instead of a dark wall in straight-away center field (every ballpark has some alternative to brightly clothed fans so batters can better see incoming pitches), the field has a living representation of the Rockies environment with evergreen trees and water features.

Dodger Blue Everywhere, Coors Field (18 August 2025)

It’s pretty clear that Dodger fans are everywhere. I don’t know if it’s their long storied history or the Big City vibe or their origins in New York (the Center of the Universe for many). Just as their fans outnumbered the locals in Oakland last year (as Yankee fans did when I attended the Angels game in 2022), Dodger Blue was clearly evident across the stadium this night.

Even non-baseball fans know that the altitude here makes Coors a park known for home runs and scoring. To address that (and present a better case when you try to recruit pitchers), the fences have been raised and moved back to give Coors the biggest outfield in the game…thus creating the park with more doubles and triples than most. Also, because it is the dry air more than the altitude that makes balls fly far, since 2002, a humidor room has been installed to store baseballs in an environment that mitigates that effect.

Coors Field (18 August 2025)

Again, due to its short history, few notable events have occurred here. In 2016, Ichiro Suzuki notched his 3000th hit here. Another nod to Japanese big leaguers goes to Hideo Nomo. Despite the park’s overwhelming hitter-friendly rep, the Dodger pitcher threw a no-hitter here in 1996…before fence realignments and humidor use…to date, the only no-hitter in the park’s history.

Scoreboard, Coors Field (18 August 2025)

Like most modern scoreboards, this one is ginormous and packed with information. Curiously, my slow-motion collecting of ballparks has often included Shohei Ohtani. When I visited Angels Stadium in 2022, he homered for the home team. When I saw a Tiger game at Comerica Park in 2023, he pitched a shutout for the Angels. Last year’s game in the Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, Ohtani, now a Dodger, homered again against the A’s. You’d think I was some kind of ‘Swiftie’-inspired fanboy. Just a coincidence.

Celebration, Coors Field (18 August 2025)

Not sure what to make of the team’s mascot…a purple pot-bellied triceratops. It turns out that ‘Dinger’ (cool slang name for a home run) dates to the construction of the stadium when dinosaur fossils were found in the excavation.

Thanks to Larry and Kate for making this night happen.

Shot of the Day - # 54 - Hoover Dam Art

Winged Figures of the Republic, by Oskar Hansen [1935]

Hoover Dam (11 May 2009)

In 2009, I went to Las Vegas to stink up another tournament and see some of the nearby sights. The burgeoning Vegas metropolis could not exist without the ready source of fresh water in nearby Lake Mead. And Lake Mead would not exist without Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam is one of those great Depression-era projects that many believe we are incapable of producing anymore. By 1936, a consortium of companies completed the job two years ahead of schedule…all after figuring out how to build a dam on a scale never attempted before.

Then, like the cherry on the sundae, they added some artwork. The dam straddles the Nevada-Arizona border and on the Nevada side, you will find two bronze giants.

Shiney Toes

Winged Figures of the Republic, by Oskar Hansen [1935]

Hoover Dam (11 May 2009)

Since the toes are the only part within reach,

visitors have (of course) rubbed them to a full shine.

I’m drawn to the heroic scale, the balance and the stark depiction of this classic art deco style…and then there’s this special abstract background of the jagged canyon rock wall that anchors the dam.

The winged figures are thirty feet high. As you can see, if you want to take a top-to-bottom, all-in picture, it becomes a stick figure. Sadly, I didn’t have enough sense then to get close and shoot just the torso and head but there’s always the miracle of cropping.

Winged Figures of the Republic, by Oskar Hansen [1935]

Hoover Dam (11 May 2009)

With the bronze figure more than a half inch thick, each statue contains more than four tons of metal. The figure rests on large blocks of polished igneous diorite. The clever way the blocks and statue were placed without any damage is noteworthy. Each was first positioned on a block of ice and slowly and precisely guided into place as the ice melted.

The sculptor, a Norwegian immigrant waxed poetic that the figures represent the triumph of the American spirit. They express "the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment." [emphasis added]

Maybe someone at MAGA Central can confirm that was when America was great.

One day, we will return to Lake Mead because it presents a vivid illustration of the challenges of populating the arid west. While the dam is a marvel of twentieth-century engineering, the dwindling reservoir behind it portends something far more serious.

Passed Chief Justices - # 4 – John Marshall

 

Bust of Chief Justice Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court,

Washington, D.C. (11 April 2019)

The G.O.A.T.

I sometimes think this abbreviation is a recent addition to our lexicon. It stands for ‘Greatest of All Time’ and became more prominent when footballer Tom Brady, the most successful player at the most prominent position in the nation’s most popular sport, was wrapping up his career. Of the seventeen Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, there is no doubt the GOAT moniker belongs to John Marshall.

As we continue to present the last resting places of our nation’s sixteen passed Chief Justices (in order), Number Four will stand apart from the rest. The first three might have set the stage to shape the new country’s judicial system, but they actually adjudicated few cases in the eleven years of the court’s existence. John Jay, John Rutledge and Oliver Ellsworth resigned from the court because they had other priorities. Every Chief since has either retired (4) or died on the job (8).
  

Portrait of John Marshall by Robert M. Sully [1830],

U.S. Supreme Court, Washington, D. C. (11 April 2019)

John Marshall was every bit one of our Founding Fathers. He was a soldier in the Revolution and served with Washington at Valley Forge. He was elected to the Virginia legislature and was a delegate to the Constitution Convention in 1788. Having served in the House of Representatives and as John Adams’ Secretary of State, Marshall is on that short list of individuals who have filled constitutional positions in all three branches of our government.

Often called the “Father of the Supreme Court,” Marshall solidified the body as a co-equal branch of government. The 1803 Marbury v. Madison decision continues to be cited today as the cornerstone case that established the Court’s role in judicial review and its responsibility to determine whether laws are constitutional.

He was the longest-serving Chief Justice. With over thirty-four years on the bench, only three of all 116 Associate Justices have had longer tenures. When he died in office in 1835, the Liberty Bell was struck in Philadelphia. Some believe that was when the bell cracked and was never rung again.
  

Bust of John Marshall,

Virginia State Capitol, Richmond (5 April 2019)

Marshall’s importance to the nation is reflected in the monuments and tributes one can find in public spaces. Inside the Virginia capitol in Richmond, the old House Chamber is preserved as a museum that honors the many Sons of Virginia that have contributed to the Nation. In addition to the eight U.S. presidents, our fourth Chief Justice is recognized.
   

John Marshall, Judiciary Square, Washington, D.C. (11 April 2019)

In 1884, forty-nine years after his passing, this bronze depiction of Justice Marshall was dedicated on the west front of the U.S. Capitol. The inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1980 began the practice of staging that ceremony in the same place and the statue was moved inside the Supreme Court building. In 1982, this replica of the sculpture was placed in the John Marshall Park near Judiciary Square just off Pennsylvania Avenue. Another replica can be found in Philadelphia.
   

Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia (6 April 2019)

Shockoe Hill Cemetery was founded in 1820 when the in-town church graveyards reached capacity. The burial ground holds many veterans from our Revolution and War of 1812. John Marshall’s beloved wife Polly passed first, and he was known to make regular visits to her grave.
  

Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia (6 April 2019)

It was a damp, gloomy morning when we visited John Marshall’s

last resting place. The gray atmosphere served to highlight the

weathered, stained, 150-year-old graves and faded inscriptions.

Also buried in Shockoe Hill are twenty-seven of the victims of the Browns Island Disaster. On March 13, 1863, a munitions factory on the James River exploded, killing fifty workers. The memorial stone inscription notes that most of the victims were “...girls under age of 17 who helped fill manpower needs and whose small hands were useful in such work.”

It seems fair to suggest that much of Marshall’s greatness stems from the fact that he led the court that finally established its presence in federal government. During his tenure, the court cranked out a thousand decisions, half of which were written by the Chief Justice. Just as George Washington’s legacy is enhanced by the fact that so many of his executive actions were precedent-setting, the Marshall court laid down the legal framework for the growing nation.
   

The Marshall Family Graves,

Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, VA (6 April 2019)

A weather-worn tablet covers the judge. The inscription is no longer legible but says -

John Marshall

Son of Thomas and Mary Marshall

was born the 24th of September 1755

Intermarried with Mary Willis Ambler

the 3rd of January 1783

Departed this life

the 6th day of July 1835

   

Grave of John Marshall

Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, VA (6 April 2019)

Name – John Marshall

Born – 24 September 1755; Germantown, VA

Died – 6 July 1835; Philadelphia, PA (age 79)

Nominated by – John Adams

Preceded by – Oliver Ellsworth

Succeeded by – Roger Taney

Served as Chief Justice – 4 February 1801 – 6 July 1835

(34 years, 152 days)

Resting Place – Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, VA

Date Visited – 6 April 2019

Shots of the Day - # 53 - Looking Back on a Triple-Digit Day

One day this week, the temperature in Baltimore hit 104 degrees. I give thanks for air conditioning.

As I shelter in place, I worked to select favorite images to set aside in a ‘Best of the Year’ folder…a practice I’ve employed since going digital in 2005. A set from February caught my attention. You can imagine that pictures of fresh snow could be particularly attractive on a scorching day. I paused my review of the rest of this year’s shots to post some thoughts.
   

Hungry Cat and Dismembered Monkey (12 February 2025)

When it snows here, I enjoy taking the camera down our wooded paths to find images. This snow was of a consistency that made it cover vegetation in a particular way. I suggest (even without mind altering substances) one can see familiar figures in natural settings. We do it with clouds. Instead of ink, these are like white Rorschach tests.
    

When You Come to a Four in the Road… (12 February 2025)

While this snowfall was not particularly beautiful and the images have limited aesthetic appeal, I believe they have achieved ‘Best of’ status because of their titles. As I noted in 2017 (S.O.D. #5), my image titles are almost always mundane, ‘place-date’ affairs. Once in a while, there is this urge to call it something else. I do believe a clever title can influence an image’s reception.

Anyway, put another ice cube in your cold drink and know that in six months, you may be shoveling snow again.