When, in 1950, Armand first began bringing elderly Parisians to his family Chateau of Montguichet in the countryside north of Paris for vacations, such a concept was not only new, it was indeed revolutionary. Most of these octogenarians had worked hard for many years without ever taking any time off. Jet-age holiday travel and long ski weekends were not yet commonplace like they are today. Here, for a period of a few days or several weeks, groups of elderly persons and young volunteers can live together, sharing, renewing their forces after a long winter, preparing for another one to come. In recent years, we have paid special attention to the need for a vacation for those whose handicaps make it impossible to participate in the many vacations packages now available to senior citizens.
Summer vacations are important to everyone.
Especially when, because of your age, the hard winter keeps you at home for months, more isolated than ever. The cruise format was selected because a lack of physical mobility is less important when one can literally sit and watch the world go by. Each evening the ship docks in a different port where local authorities have arranged shipboard or on-shore entertainment, with folk singing and dancing while sipping Rhine Valley wines. The long-term improvement registered in participants on these cruises astounded even the attending medical staff. The chance to be like everyone else, sometimes after years of staring at the same ceiling and the same four walls, worked psychological, and even physical, miracles.