During this time when travel has been restricted, we have been reminiscing past travel memories in France, and asked our newsletter recipients to share their memories with us as well.

One interesting story came from Roger Dozier that has a long history with travels in France, and his story includes the unexpected ways the Dozier name has brought him to interesting places.

Enjoy!

As I was asked to provide information of my visited to France for Tourist Attractions, I hereby present the follow brief accounts of some of my visits there over the years:
A number of years ago I visited Jean Francois Dozier in Lyon, France after he visited several Doziers on a visit to the USA.  His wife, Christiane, was totally familiar with Paul Bocuse and many of the chefs who trained under him. 

I visited them for a week when I had only planned to stay a day or two, but they insisted I stay for a week as it was the “week of lights in Lyon”.

This was an unbelievable visit as Christiane cooked 2 full french meals every day of my stay as everything was prepared fresh and expertly presented with perfect timing and temperature for each course.  In the meantime, Francois, select a perfect wine to complement each meal.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I felt like a King in their home.  He also showed me around town and we visited local wine store where I purchased some exquisite French wines.  And we took trips in the area and visited several wineries and a local restaurant recommended by Christiane who know the chef who had trained under Paul Bocuse.

I have also visited Vezelay and the castle there where many Doziers moved around 1750 and that is when my Dozier family moved to the USA so we think we are related,

I have also visited Paris many times with friend and family to enjoy so much culture, the restaurants, and enjoy the wines.
I visited France on numerous other occasions including Viking river cruises in the south of France.

Francois provided a book of French wines to me and noted that there was a Dozier Winery in Bordeaux.  So guess what?  I had to visit.  And I did and they had to most exquisite wines I have ever tasted.  And they gave me some to bring home and I bought some others to share with my families back in the USA.

I planned and scheduled a Viking River Cruise at Bordeaux with friends in late March 2020, but I had to cancel my portion of the due to needed surgery and now it turns out, I would have had to cancel anyway at last minute to to the CoronaVirus.

I hope and trust this will be a short lived virus here and around the world.  I would like to get back to France for another visit during my lifetime as I am currently 71 years old.

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We want to thank Roger for sharing his story with us, and we will post other stories in the weeks to come.

One of the places Roger visited was Bordeaux. If you would like to visit the region, Discover France has several self-guided cycling tour options.

https://www.discoverfrance.com/european-tours-destinations/bordeaux-bike-tours