Second installment of moving to Europe and finding a barge.

Well there we were in Paris with 2 dogs and 6 bags and exhausted and cranky and I think stunned that we had actually done it. A little like Chinese cooking - a lot of prep work. We rented a car and drove for another 5 hours- not sure why we made that decision -to get to St Jean de Losne where we had arranged to live in a Gite while we searched for our new home(barge). St Jean de Losne is the French barging capital. There are several barge brokers and it was a good place to start our search. We looked at a number of barges and it was not to be - they were all months long to life long projects(read money pits). Our preference was something that would not consume us with all work and no fun. We know this was a ridiculous expectation when you start with a barge that was most likely built in the late 1800s to early 1900s. But there is always hope and naivete. You need to know that neither Eric nor I had ever owned,lived on, or had any experience with a boat and we were from a ski area 8500 feet in the Rocky Mountains. Now in Eric's favor was a short and unlikely stint in the Coast Guard. He was a navigator but swears that the most he did was scrape and paint in Bermuda. So we had no luck in finding a barge in St. Jean de Losne and neighboring St Symphorien. We departed after about 10 days to go and look at 3 other boats in Paris . They were just as disappointing but would be great for someone who needed a project. We then went on to The Netherlands. The Netherlands is the "home" of barges. Most barges were originally built in The Netherlands. Now please understand we are still in "stunned" mode and we have just switched countries and cultures and language. We were staying in Hotels with 2 dogs, 6 bags and assorted stuff that needed to be hauled out and in with each stop along the way. To say nothing of finding a laundromat - a challenge beyond belief. One day we spent an entire afternoon looking for a laundromat that was all of 10 minutes from where we started. The Dutch could not give us directions because they always go there on their bicycles(the principle means of transportation) not by car. The Dutch geography is such that there are canals and water everywhere so driving directly is not an option. When we finally arrived the owner of the laundromat was so delighted to see us ( he had just opened this laundromat) and he could obviously tell we were at the end of our endurance. He immediately gave Eric a beer and me a cup of coffee and welcomed us warmly to his new store. Again we were saved from a meltdown by the generosity and kindness of the people we met.

We met with a number of barge brokers and again saw many, many barges that were life long projects. We were in Enkhuizen(looking at the last barge on our list of barges) a lovely ,lovely port village on the Iljsemeer, when we were thinking we might as well just go to Spain for the winter and then decide what to do next. No boats on our horizon and we were getting really tired after 4 weeks of traveling and looking.


We connected to the internet just one more time and found a boat broker we should have found before we left the USA. He was in England(Bowcrest Marine) but had a Dutch connection. So off we went to Elburg to meet Peter Dejong at De Elburgscheepsbemiddleing (no kidding this is the name of his business - the Dutch like to run words together) and his fabulous and wonderful assistant Mandy. They had the barge and long story short we bought "Oldtimer." We loved Elburg so much that we asked that the owner of "Oldtimer" with Eric bring the boat from Mepple to Elburg so that we could spend the winter there - this is now November. There are a million more stories that go along with this time period but too many to tell; we came for one night to a lovely bed a breakfast called the "Rose Garden" (Martha Stewart eat your heart out)in Elburg and they let us stay for a month(with 2 dogs) breakfast included each morning and all for 50 euros a night, Mandy drove us all over Holland, Sudi had a shoulder infection that required an emergency operation, the central heating boiler on our barge was from the early 1800s and nothing is colder than a cold barge, making a telephone call to our bank in the USA was a challenge, opening a bank account in Holland was nothing short of a miracle and very funny, Peter and Mandy helped us beyond the call of duty, food in Holland is ham, kaas and brood(ham and cheese and brown bread)and the world famous Stomperpot(mashed potatoes and kale) as well as Erwtensoep(delicious Pea Soup), you bike into the wind no matter which direction you go, the Dutch are extraordinary people in so many ways and we just loved being there, the tulips and flowers are fabulous, yes you can pass your boat licensing exam in Dutch, we provided entertainment for the locals with our lack of boat handling skills, our favorite Dutch word is "winkelwagentje" meaning shopping cart, we thought "Alle Richtingen " was someone famous when it really means "all directions."

Our mooring in Elburg - we were lucky enough to be moored next to two of the most beautiful three masted ships both of which had been built in the 1800s. The entrance to the town of Elburg.(picture below). The entrance is over the moat/canal which runs around the town , then you walk through the main gate of a fortified wall. The town was only about 4 square blocks and just charming.

Molly and Tulah, our two dogs, were our ticket to meeting some wonderful friends, as we ran around the dike that surrounds Elburg, each morning. We met Gra and her wonderful family with"Dior" - we had Christmas with in their home and Gerda and "Kiria"- we spent New Years in their home. We were so lucky and so out of our element. It makes for wonderful stories and some very funny experiences. At the time, though, we certainly had moments of "what are we doing here?"

So enough for now - next chapter is our , not the boats, maiden voyage from Elburg on April 17, 2006. It felt very much like we were leaving home.