Well it's a river actually!
Life has been quite hectic for the past week, hence then lack of posting. We have been very busy doing all the things that need to be done when you are taking a houseboat down the river. There have been many hours spent improving the suntan, checking the catches of the day of the local fisherman, reading month old magazines ( thanks Carmel), watching life on the river, making friends with the donkey and chickens at the locks, feeding the ducks and swans our left-overs of beautiful French baguettes, attending to manicures, greeting Bonjour to passing boats, dining alfresco breakfast, lunch and dinner, and of course sampling the local wines and cheeses, all under perfect skies.
Linda with Joan - our wonderful chef extraordinaire!
The gang enjoying lunch on the deck.
There are the locks to deal with. Initially we started off with some new high tech ones that use a remote control unit to trigger the opening of the massive gates. These were a great asset and so much easier to use than the next group which required us to grab a long rod dangling across the river. Not a easy thing to do from the bow of a 17 tonne moving vessel! If it was missed it would fly across the top of the boat hopefully not knocking out the next person trying to grab it!! A close shave a couple of times.
Then came the enormous river locks. These are designed to take commercial barges and those every so popular river cruise boats like APT and Scenic. Apon approaching the first of these locks the lock-master was seen waving frantically an orange life vest. We quickly took the hint and donned our jackets which had fortunately been put up on deck the previous day. Such a stunning fashion accessory but a necessity in these massive locks.
A new experience for us was going through a 650 metre tunnel (two of them in fact). Eat your heartbout Luna Park Tunnel of Love! What a buzz!
There's light at the end of the tunnel!
Frank guiding us through, under the watchful eye of our skipper John.
Even the washing participated in the tunnel adventure.
Shopping has also been full of fun experiences. Our first market stop in Fontenoy-le-Chateau to get supplies was a challenge. The market consisted of 3 stalls - the butcher, the green grocer and of course the wine merchant. The search for a supermarket proved fruitless but a few meager but essential supplies were obtained at the boulangerie. With our fridges stocked and ready for the plats de jour, it was onto the next port. Here we found a wonderful supermarche at the far end of the town with even more wonderful staff. Trying to figure out how we were going to get our big grocery buy up back about 2 1/2 kms to the boat we agreed that a taxi would be the best option. On enquiring in minimal French of the checkout girl if there was a service in town, she made a phone call and motioned us to wait outside for a few minutes. A couple of minutes later the butcher in his white gum boots, came out of the shop dangling his car keys. Our taxi had arrived.
The hospitality of the French in Corre continued that night with owners of a nearby house inviting us to join them for drinks in their beautiful back garden. Martine and Frederique were lovely hosts who shared their home brew spirit eagerly with us. Tony and Frank were a tad worse for wear to say the least the next day. Who said the french are not friendly?!
Our friendly taxi butcher!
Our first week has been an adventure of France in all it's wonderful glory including Bastille Day. We celebrated this in Dijon, a magnificent city that is a smaller version of Paris. It's beautiful cobbled stone streets, iron lace trimmed buildings and smaller version of the Arc de Triumph were just as much fun to explore as the capital itself.
Viva la France!
No comments:
Post a Comment