{"id":1949,"date":"2018-08-13T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ustoa.com\/blog\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2024-02-22T10:59:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T15:59:23","slug":"cruising-the-seine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustoa.com\/blog\/cruising-the-seine\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Home While Cruising the Seine"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ben Schuyler, AFAR Ambassador<\/em><\/p>\n

Can I be honest? In my early years of travel photography I didn\u2019t have much interest in visiting Europe. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where nature was a stone\u2019s throw in any direction. That accessibility made it the topic of much of my early work. Growing up my family\u2019s version of a summer vacation growing up was hopping into our minivan, driving mostly forgotten highways, eating at roadside diners, and stopping to read every historical placard we could. The places to be explored in my very own part of the country felt endless. Why would I need to spend all kinds of money getting to a place full of people, buildings, and (what I thought was) very little nature. How wrong I was.<\/p>\n

My wife and I are newly married, having tied the knot in early June, and we struggled to peg down a honeymoon destination. There was a list of criteria that needed to bet met before we\u2019d settle on a location: it couldn\u2019t be overly touristy, it MUST have great food, and it should be easy to navigate. A large cruise would never be something that either of us would ever suggest, but our interest was piqued when an opportunity to travel the Seine from Paris to the mouth of the river for a week with boutique river cruise line U By Uniworld<\/a> came up. Each ship had a maximum capacity of 120 guests and focused on \u201ciconic sites, hidden gems and authentic adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0489\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1127\"<\/a>Having never traveled along the Seine and only once passing through France on a rushed and unorganized work trip a few months before, I came into this region green. However, where I\u2019d once feel concerned about going to a foreign destination with very little planning done, I found relief in the loosely structured itinerary our \u201cU Hosts\u201d provided. During any given day, opportunities to explore a small town or neighborhood on your own or with a small group during an excursion were plentiful.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0951\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_0794\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paris was a combination of so many of the things that get my gears going while traveling and shooting. Much like the ever-changing landscape from one natural environment to another that I\u2019d grown up capturing, the diverse variety of architectures and art was eye candy for this photographer. History breathes out of every corner. The smell of fresh pastries and pungent Camembert poured from quant shops on Montmarte. World class galleries lined the streets of Avenue des Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es. Modest cafes serve delicious chilled wine in Saint-Germain-des-Pr\u00e9s. The magical and allure of the city was no falsified story.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1022\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_1111\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our journey from Paris took us through the Normandy region of France, all the way to the brackish waters of the Seine and English Channel. Each town along the way offered its share of charm and history. Rouen gave us our most delicious meal, perfectly prepared Ossobucco from La Couronne. Giverny took us back in time to the days of Claude Monet as we bicycled its narrow streets. The Cliffs of \u00c9tretat rivaled the most beautiful shorelines I\u2019ve ever seen. There was something to appease every travel desire I possess.\"IMG_1498\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As we shared with friends about our adventure, there\u2019s no doubt that there\u2019s more to be seen and explored in each town we stopped in. Of course, we didn\u2019t see everything we\u2019d like to in Paris. However, traveling the Seine by river cruise was undoubtedly the best way to see the amount of France we did in the time we had.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interested in learning more about Ben\u2019s journey?<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Read more about it on\u00a0<\/i>AFAR.com<\/a>, the USTOA blog<\/a>,<\/i>\u00a0and check out<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>U by Uniworld\u2019s The Seine Experience<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

A Pacific Northwest native, Ben has spent his life drinking coffee, hiking the Cascade Mountains, and breathing the salty air of the Puget Sound. Ben\u2019s inspiration includes dirt roads, flora, and fauna, and his photographs capture a sense of adventure in warm colors that produce an ambient nostalgia. He recently traveled America to document mobile living: When the Road Is Home.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ben Schuyler, AFAR Ambassador Can I be honest? In my early years of travel photography I didn\u2019t have much interest in visiting Europe. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where nature was a stone\u2019s throw in any direction. That accessibility made it the topic of much of my early work. Growing up my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[105],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-france","tag-cruise"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Home While Cruising the Seine - USTOA Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AFAR Ambassador Ben Schuyler shares his experiences traveling the Seine from Paris to the mouth of the river for a week with USTOA member U By Uniworld.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ustoa.com\/blog\/cruising-the-seine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding Home While Cruising the Seine - 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