Our Adventures with "Oldtimer"

If only we could yodel!

2011-10-25T23:35:00.005+02:00

To see our photos set to music - I know a bit much but so much fun to create. Click on the link below and you will have a trip to the Dolomites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdGjFkHYVA
Enjoy!

Italy and Switzerland

2011-09-16T10:51:00.004+02:00

We took a leave of absence from Oldtimer this past week and drove (in our car) to Italy and Switzerland. What a treat.

We spent our first night in Annecy France which is a most beautiful place. We were lucky enough to have gone there in June to visit our friends from Vail, Jane and Joel Gros. We were anxious to return again- the swimming is great. Our second night was on Lago di Garda in Italy. Another beautiful lake and also great swimming. Our destination the next day was to stay in the Dolomites for 3 days and hike.

The Dolomites are extraordinary. The hiking and views are fabulous - it often seems like a Hollywood movie back drop. The people in the Dolomites , although Italian, mostly speak German. This portion of Italy was once in Germany. It is bounded on the North by Austria and on the west by Switzerland and Liechtenstein. We arrived in the Dolomites to a small valley called the Val di Funes. It is a little off the beaten path and as a result as Americans we were definitely odd man out. The majority - perhaps even all - the guests at the hotel where we stayed were German. It was one of the first times we did Half Board with a Hotel and this turned into a nice experience as we did not have to think about breakfast or dinner just hiking. Lunch each day was available in one of the many Refugios in the mountains. As you will see in the photos lunch one day came with music by the "Blues Brothers." We would really recommend if you have the chance to go to the Dolomites - do so!

We went onto Switzerland after 3 days. We have apologized to our children for spending their entire inheritance in Switzerland. A wonderful country and so beautiful but also so expensive. We drove over at least 6 passes to get there as we were determined to SEE the mountains. We stayed for 2 nights in a small town outside of Interlaken - Winderswill. Our intention was to ride the train and cog railway to Klein Scheidegg just below the Junfrau and hike from there. Unfortunately it was raining so it provided another eating opportunity and a small amount of hiking. While we were there the Switzerland national wrestling championship was taking place in Interlaken. The participants are local farmers and the event is over a weekend. The grand prize for this event is a huge Bull. As outsiders we found this a hoot to watch but realized this is a national sport and great fun for the Swiss.
We are now back in St Leger sur Dheune. A great experience and lovely biking. Yesterday we rode through the vineyards, on a Voie Romaine, visited several tiny villages, saw chateaux, spent the evening with some French friends ( all speaking French - exhausting) and today it is back to painting and cleaning and doing laundry. Lest you think this is all fun and games.
We are planning on leaving for the USA September 28th. We have several buyers "humming " around the boat but no commitments yet. We shall see.
We are back home on Oldtimer and prepping for our return to the USA. We are planning on leaving the 28th of September.

2011-07-11T15:54:00.131+02:00

"The time has come," the Walrus said to talk of many things:
of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings,why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings."

We have decided that it is time for us to move on to another adventure. We have put our lovely ship "Oldtimer" up for sale. When we started this adventure it was for a year or two and now find we have been living this lovely life in France for 6 years. Time has flown. Please if you are interested or even just curious or know someone who is interested or just curious go to our link :

http://www.apolloduck.net/205461

As you will see the barge is quite wonderful and very liveable. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to make a rendevous to see "Oldtimer."

Eric and Sudi Berg bergbarge@gmail.com

2011-07-11T15:25:00.005+02:00

France is a country in which religion has deep roots. The country was founded and built around monasteries, churches, chapels, basilicas and many monuments with religious orientation. Each village has a church - some in excellent condition cared for by the towns people and some which are barely standing and are severly neglected. Although the primary religion is Catholic the Catholic Church in Rome no longer supports most of the churches. The number of priests has diminished so much that Mass is said usually in only one of the churches of the region. Often a priest may travel during a month from church to church. Each church and chapel is unique and quite lovely.

We met our friends Mary and Jim in Anzy le Duc for lunch . This really tiny village has a very lovely church and monastery as well as a wonderful place for lunch. We rode our bikes from Artaix and met Mary and Jim who drove from Paray la Monial. A delicious lunch.

The Church at Semur en Brionais.

The old door of a Church at Semur en Brionais.

On the way home from our bike ride to Anzy le Duc we discovered this small chapel set in the woods. It was called the Chapel of Notre Dame. It is obviously well cared for by someone and they have trustingly left it open for all visitors to enter. Another very wonderful French tradition.

The Chapel of Notre Dame.

We have seen so many beautiful churches. Often it is the smallest structure which is the most beautiful and elegant. Many of the churches date back to 900AD. They have sometimes been added on to and repaired numerous times but are still standing. When we are riding through the countryside it is often the Church spire which lets us know we are nearing the next village.

Arriving back in Roanne

2011-07-10T22:13:00.006+02:00

Incredible sunsets in France. Worth the trip . This is in the Port of Roanne directly across from our mooring.

Spring is the time for the arrival of many new and adorable ducks in the Port.

Ater coming back from the States it is good to be in our own home. There is cleaning, planting, touching up, new carpet, oil changes and many opportunities to put all our skills to work. All is ready on June 12th as we finally leave Port for destinations unknown.

THE REST OF THE WINTER

2011-06-08T15:46:00.009+02:00

A Day in Denver. Who would have thought that this might be Mother's Day. That was our 40 something year old son hanging from the "Bull" sculpture outside the Denver Art Museum and our delightful and delicious grandaughter Emily encouraging Thom. Emily was just about to graduate from High School in a couple of weeks. A seriously fun fun day. Oh then there was the motel we were staying in........Just never mind.

The day before we managed a wonderful hike to the "cabins" on the ranch in Minturn. These are cabins that were built in the 1800s and are about at 9000 ft altitude. The dogs - all 4 of them - agreed to be photographed.

The Roaring Fork river in Aspen. Fabulous fishing and quite beautiful.

The view from the deck of our rental house in Aspen. To also be the same place we will live next year. Look carefully this is so beautiful. We can see all 4 ski areas from there. What more could you wish for.

There were herds and herds of Elk everywhere this spring. What a treat. Incredible animals.

February in Aspen - so wonderful.

2011-02-17T19:15:00.004+01:00

We are still thrilled and excited to be in the mountains of Colorado. That is despite bone chilling -25 degrees last week and several weeks ago. It went from the -25 one week to +45 the next. Only in Colorado could that happen. Today we have snow , snow, snow. It started this morning and we already have about 6 inches of new "freshies" ( the local word for powder).
We have had visits this month from Heather and Kent a couple we met in France who live in Washington DC area and are spending the winter in Beaver Creek near Vail , Colorado as well as Tracy and Thom and their two dogs Bear and Petey. Unfortunately Tracy fell while we were skiing a double black diamond on Highlands Ski Area and tore her ACL. She was a trooper and used her good leg to traverse and side slip down to the road - as luck would have it a Ski Patroller arrived just as we got to the road. She then road down the mountain in a sled.
Life is Good - we are skiing about 4-5 days a week , hiking, swimming, running and doing all those annoying other real life things like cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, shopping for food, getting haircuts, grooming our needy dog who is distressed by all the avalanche control (bombing) that goes on on a snowy day.

Colorado At Last !!!!!!!

2011-02-03T23:40:00.004+01:00

We are in seventh heaven - blue skies, sunshine, great skiing, glorious mountains, clean clear air, and so much to do and so little time.

We have been lucky enough to visit with friends, have friends come visit ( Tricia and Tom), visit with family and have family come visit. Aspen is an incredible and beautiful place and that encourages visits. Lucky us.

Okay so it was -20 degrees farenheit for 2 days but that was only 2 days. We are back in the sun and there will be powder skiing this week. The snow in Colorado is so dry that it is light and fluffy. Often called Lux Flakes. Beautiful crystalized snow that sparkles.

The skies of France

2010-11-23T17:17:00.009+01:00

Sometimes the photos I take simply drive the BLOG. There is no real story with this BLOG - just an obsession with the sky and clouds of France. Partially this is due to the openess of the geography so that we see the sunsets from the barge. The light in Europe is different - soft and often with a slight haze so that it is diffused. This of course leads to my poor attitude during the winter when this haziness becomes an overall grey because the sun is so weak. The latitude is very far north so the summer days are long - till 10:00pm and conversely the winters are really really short with the days ending at 5:00pm.

So enjoy the photos. You can click on this address http://jalbum.net/a/822455/ or you can click on the Jalbum widget on the right side of the page.

Sancerre Vendage

2010-11-22T18:09:00.008+01:00

On the right side of the BLOG is a place labeled "Jalbums". Just click on the space and it will take you to a wonderful site that does justice to the photos. I am still working with it and will have more photos of the vendange. As you click through be sure to see all the photos by clicking on the arrow on the right of the photos at the top.
The vendange is the French word for grape picking and the beginning of the process of making wine. It is a special time. When we arrived in Sancerre this fall it was about a week before the beginning of the vendange. The grape vines were resting and doing the best they could to be the best grapes ever. There were no workers, no trucks/vans - nothing was happening . There was stillness, a serenity in the vineyard that was just magical.
The second week we were there the vendange started on a monday and the energy level changed dramatically. People were working in the fields both by hand and machine. The smell of the crushed grapes perfumed the air in the village. Life was good!
Some of the photos I took were early in the morning before the sun came up. At the base of the village of Sancerre is the Loire Lateral Canal and the River Loire. In the fall the cool nights produce heavy fog over the areas of water. As the sun rises this becomes an unusual sight. Tulah and I were running through the vineyards and as we turned around at the top we were able to see this fabulous vision.
It is our favorite place to be in the fall. So very special.

Two days of life in France.

2010-08-10T19:11:00.057+02:00

Ancient cross hidden in a hedgerow next to the road where we were biking.

The gate to the chateau in the following picture

Of course - Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party".

A rare picture of the two of us - taken courtesy of Olivier.

"Monsieur Renoir" getting ready for the grand luncheon.

A photo of the back of our barge this summer. The flowers were trailing in the water and the Rooster has been repainted and is crowing.

We have just had two great days - riding our bikes and visiting with friends. We have been lucky enough to ride our bikes each day we have been in St. Leger sur Dheune - now going onto our 4th week being moored in the Port. Fortunately we have a great friend in Philippe who is the captain du port and he has not only not thrown us out but has taken us on a "field trip" to Savigny les Beaune with his "amazing" wife Michelle. Another story for another time. We have ridden just about all of the Cote d'Or/Bourgogne and have discovered many wonderful, secret places. Our biking is really just a version of "slow biking" perhaps doing 20 - 60K per day. This has also been a good summer to go very slowly with our barge. We are loving the connection with the country and the people that we miss when we move more frequently.

Yesterday we decided to leave for a ride after lunch - we were in search of sand paper so that Eric could continue his painting career. We needed to ride 15k on the path along the canal to Chagny to get to a Brico ( equivalent to a Home Depot). We decided that on the way home we would go a different way through a lovely small valley called the Chassey valley. This valley has about 3 tiny tiny villages in it and stretches for only about 10k or so. It has white cliffs on one side and vineyards on the other. The first village is Remigny which is an old 15th -17th century village with lovely old homes. Afterward we came to the village of Chassey le Camp. We turned in here - lucky for us as we found a farm with vegetables and fruit for sale. We stopped and the farmer who was engaging and great fun picked lettuce for us and tomatoes as well as zuchini and eggplant. We resisted the potatoes, leeks and carrots until next time. We can order raspberries and strawberries but we will need to call the farmer the day before we want them as he picks them fresh. After we filled our bike paniers we continued onto where there is a large Auberge ( the auberge was actually bigger than the whole village) and a road sign to a neolithic site in the next very small tiny village. We decided to lock up our bikes and hike to the top of the mountain behind the village where there is indeed an archeological site where people lived dating back to 1000 years BC. Amazing amazing amazing.

As we rode on we passed up several wineries - one in particular which was a large chateau and looked really interesting. We went on to Chamilly and there was a sign directing us toward a place called Amarantha where they make bread. Amarantha was hidden behind another old building and we could see inside that it had an old wood burning oven in which they cook the bread. As this was Monday they were closed and they would be open on Tuesday through Saturday from 5:00pm to 7:00pm - as the only time they sell their bread. An interesting change in France from the normal Boulangerie where they start selling bread at 6:30 am. We will have to return to taste this bread which has to be wonderful. A true artisanal bread. We then rode up to the ridge which was about 2k where we discovered a very old cross hidden in the hedge row.
The ride down the other side to the canal was spectacular and we returned home to our barge in St. Leger.

Tuesday was another unusual and special day in France. We are lucky enough to have some great friends Mary and Jim who have arrived in St Leger with their barge this week. They have a number of visiting guests during the summer and Tuesday the guests were Olivier and Veronique and their two children from Villerest which is a village near our home port of Roanne. At about 11:00am we went, altogether, to a wine tasting in Mercurey. This was a special place - okay so all the wineries are special in this region. The wine was great and although we bought a few bottles we think the Olivier and Veronique bought several hundred for their restaurant Chateau Champlong. We then returned to Mary and Jim's boat - Festina Tarde - for lunch prepared by Jim and Olivier. What fun and delightful. It was truly reminiscent of Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party". Starting with Champagne and foie gras. The foie gras was home made by the Olivier and served spread on bread with ground course salt on top. The main course was Cote de Boeuf ( prime rib cut of Charolais beef ) cooked on the barbeque and served with girolle mushrooms. We all decided to skip the cheese course in favor of vanilla ice cream with fresh blueberries (delicious). There was a beautiful magnum bottle of red wine that was rich and smooth. All followed by naps as by this time it was 5:00pm. The French seem to do this quite often and it is amazing that they are not all dead by 30 years old. So wonderful and so much cholesterol- so it must be the red wine???????
We have had many magical days like these - we are so lucky.

Swans swans swans......

2010-08-01T16:05:00.036+02:00

We seem to see a lot of swans mostly on the rivers . They are such beautiful birds with an elegant shape and gracefullness. Their feathers form a thick an beautiful protection from the water. As you can see by their necks they spend a great deal of time with their heads underwater feeding. This action unfortunately discolors their feathers.

The swans are aggressive birds and often demanding. They know what a boat/barge is and will come up to our boat "begging" for food handouts - then start hissing and pecking toward us if we move toward them. Tulah in her inimitable style will bark endlessly at them and is furious when we feed them and not her. They then start hissing at her which only makes her more furious so we all retreat and call a halt to the proceedings for the time being.

Swans make the most wonderful sound when they are airborne. They seem to only fly a few feet off the water but the "swish" sound of their huge wings is unique to them and you can tell by the sound when a swan has taken flight. We were in a mooring in Verdun sur Doubs and heard them flying at night. Not sure what that was about and it seemed so very unusual.

Enjoy the photos.

Taking our barge to St Jean de Losne.

2010-07-13T17:55:00.043+02:00

The Alp Horn concert in St Jean de Losne

Fabulous sunset on the Saone River.

The Painter! No not Picaso but close. He is standing next to the working barge from hell.

Oldtimer in all her glory on the skids in the slipway.

We had only one "deadline to meet" this year and it was for June 1st on the slipway at Atelier Fluvial. When you own a barge it is necessary, approximately every 5 years, to take the ship out of the water to have the bottom cleaned, checked for thickness of the plating on the bottom and then have the bottom repainted with antifouling paint. Now if you talk to any one who has done this you will hear so many many stories both good and bad about this experience. In fact we were feeling a little left out as we did not have any boatyard stories to tell. The boat had been taken out and surveyed when we bought her but to be honest we did not have a clue as to what we were looking at - really not a clue. So we made our way to St Jean de Losne after we left Seurre on May 25th this year.

We arrived early - 5 days early - so we parked on the "steps" in the town of St Jean de Losne. The weather was good and we waited till we could go into the yard. We arrived at the yard at the designated time and day and were immediately put onto the "skids" that are on a cog rail and hauled out of the water. Such a strange sensation and the barge felt very strange being out of water. Tulah was totally dumbfounded by the whole thing. As is normal with the French there was no declaration of the pending schedule so after several requests for information we were told they would clean the bottom the next morning, then measure the thickness the next day, then paint the first coat the next day and the final and 2nd coat Friday morning - then we were to "rest" in the yard till Monday when they would put us back in the water. What we had failed to remember was that the French are done with work at noon on Friday so there was no question we were to stay in the yard till Monday, suprise suprise. As it was this worked well for us - painting of the remainder of the bottom up to the "rub rail" with our great Dutch Blue color - courtesy of Eric happened over the weekend. So you want to know- what did we do about brushing our teeth and other personal hygiene issues - for us the answer was a local Auberge. Some people stay on their barge and use the bathrooms in the ship yard. My "princess" attitude dictated a bed and shower in the Auberge after spending each day getting filthy in the yard doing chores on Oldtimer. Dining out was a must for dinner and our favorite place was at the campground. Les Harlequins which is run by Claire and Jean-Michele was a delight and delicious. We have also decided that the Boulangerie Bazzali has the best croissant in France.

We only came away with one shipyard story - but now we have our very own story. The first day we were there we were brought out of the water and placed next to a 70 meter working barge. This barge is the work of a demented handy man - we think. The wheelhouse is an old truck cab. At any rate they decided after taking us out of the water to pressure wash this old barge. Yes you got it - we ended up covered in slime and muck and anything else that came off the bottom of this other barge. It was pretty disgusting. We then spent from 5:30pm, when they finally finished spraying, until 8:00pm washing and scrubbing Oldtimer. A huge mess.

We left the yard on time the following Monday, very pleased with Atelier Fluvial and moved Oldtimer back onto the "steps" in town. At lunch time that day a rental boat moored onto us and out came an Alp Horn which was such a treat. A lovely Swiss concert.

After a few days we left and went to the Bourgogne Canal through only 2 locks to a very quiet mooring . After about 2 days (without services at this particular mooring) we discovered that we really are in need of new batteries - so back to St Jean de Losne we went. We arrived to find a carnival on the Quai and everyone gearing up for a big weekend of partying. So we moored up the Saone under the trees while we decided what to do about our batteries.

A few days later we decided to move on to Seurre again. We left the morning of the blessing of the ships. It was to be a busy day in St Jean and we were ready for some peace and quiet. The wind was blowing a lot - perhaps 25-30k. We were excited to be on the Saone going with the current and with the wind at our rear. This would be a fast trip. In fact too fast. We arrived at the first and only lock that we needed to do that day and the green light was on for us to enter. What a treat. We moved up just as the eclusier changed the light and began shutting the doors. There was plenty of room in the ecluse for us - we have heard from others this is an elusier who often does this-shuts the doors in your face. All that was fine and doable except that we had anticipated getting into the lock, when we saw the green light, so we were quite close. The ecluses on the Saone and other rivers are quite large and as they fill or empty they create a great current/draw on the uphill side which we were on. So after a frantic few minutes that felt like a lifetime as we moved closer and closer to the ecluse with not enough power to back up and away because of the pull of the water we finally were able to get onto what is called a dolphin. A dolphin is just a large post in the water with some tie off points. We were only able to get one rope on and hang there to wait out the emptying and filling of the ecluse. Not an easy task and stressful to say the least. Finally the ecluse stopped draining and filling and we were able to enter. I think we were so done in by the stress that we did not have the energy , after mooring, to walk back to the ecluse and give our two cents worth to the eclusier. Probably better anyway.

Seurre was again a treat so we decided to stay for another week with the swans. Okay, I do have fun pictures of the swans - for another blog at another time.

On the "canals" again!

2010-05-29T18:23:00.010+02:00

We are back on the "road" again - actually the water. It is a wonderful feeling and quite different to be free of land and for us it is freedom of another kind as well. We leave our 10 year old Ford (fix or repair daily) parked in a garage during the summer. We are reliant on only our bicycles and our feet to get us to the store and on trips through the country side. It is quite suprising how different that feels. We quite like the idea of being self reliant. Riding our bikes also provides us with more contact with people and the countryside to say nothing of the much needed exercise. We also tend to see the world we are in through a microscope rather than just whizzing by it. One of these suprises was in Seurre on the river Saone. We happened to stop there because there was a large commercial - I mean large- ship comming toward us out of the ecluse we thought we wanted to enter and another large (double pusher charge) bearing down on us from behind. Needless to say these ships, which are longer than 100 meters and about 12 meters wide, have the right of way. The better part of valor and the only thing we could do was to pull over and let both of them pass us and each other. Fortunately there was a mooring just at that point - actually we knew it was there but could not see it from the place we were on the river. We were just hoping there was a space for us to moor - there was and we did!!!!!!! Well we ended up staying for 2 nights. The photo below is the 13th and 14th century church in the village of Seurre. We went to see it because of the barge that hangs inside. To our delight and suprise we met in the church a man named Rene Vila - 90 years old with very imparied vision but a large and generous spirit. He proceeded to tell us how the church, which is his passion, survived during WWII when all else around it was devastated by German bombs. He toured parts of the church with us and explained the different places - all from memory as he cannot see it now. Rene took from his plastic shopping bag a wooden flute and began to play the most astounding music. The Star Spangle Banner , the Canadian national anthem, Amazing Grace and on the harmonica he played Ave Maria. While I wept of course. Rene went on to explain that he was in Berlin at the end of WWII with what he described as his compatriats the Americans, Canadians and the English. What a gift to us.

These are old vines in the area of Pouligny-Montrachet. We spent the day riding

our bikes through the beautiful beautiful vineyards of the Cote d'Or.

John and Jack's birthdays aboard Deja Vu in Melay.

A welcome home party for Karen and Barry

John - Eric - Jack - Nigel

My - how did all that white hair come to be??????

Sitting on the fence waiting to leave for a wine tasting event. One of our favorite parts of boating has become the friends and people we have met. As you can see we are all of a "certain age" and barges large and small are the common denominator.

We have traveled from Roanne to St Jean de Losne on the Roanne - Digoin Canal, the Centre Canal and the Saone River. All of 240 kilometers and 73 ecluses in an astounding 30 days. We did spend one week on the Slipway getting the bottom of the boat cleaned and repainted. Even with that included this is slow , slow , slow. What a way of life. We tend to go very slowly as biking is our real goal but there are others that do extraordinary amounts of travel each year - 2000 to 3000 kilometers.

Rocky Mountain High and points west.........

2010-05-03T17:43:00.052+02:00

Moab Utah

I am having some trouble with the BLOG website from Google. So the photos in this posting are out of sequence and I was not able to move them around to make sense. So just endure! I am sorry.Sierra Nevada Mountains on the way to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, California.

Fairly entertaining door repair at Pete and Michele's home !!!!!!!The boys at work.

Lisa and Tom and Eric with the new Buddhist bell that has an extraordinary sound........

No place quite like it - Mendecino California - The county is the largest producer of "pot"!

This King Seal was on the beach in Cambria, California along with hundreds of others - March is the end of their winter "hibernation". Only the babies and older males were still there. The mothers had left some weeks before.

Oil wells in Nevada - some sight to see.

Las Vegas

Utah desert.

It is hard to imagine that the last BLOG we posted was in January 2010. By that time we were in Aspen having a wonderful time. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Aspen - so much so that we are returning next winter - same house for January , February and March.

In March we packed our skiis and boots and "Yak Trax" away in our storage and left for a trip through the Western USA. Our plan was to see family and friends for the entire month. We did just that. What a trip. We went from Aspen to Minturn to Green River,Utah to Las Vegas to Paso Robles to Carmel to San Jose to the coast of Northern California and Oregon to Seattle, to Bend Oregon, to Dublin ( San Francisco - again) to Southern California, Newport Beach/Costa Mesa to Bishop California, to Mammoth Lakes then across the desert of Nevada to Ely, to Moab Utah, to Grand Junction to Palisades ( a whole peach story to follow) and back to Minturn, Colorado. As you may or may not remember we started driving (around December 15th,2009) from Virginia after we bought a car. When we finally stored the car in Colorado on April 6th we had driven 10,000 miles.

We are now back in France - we arrived about 3 days before the volcano. We have a number of friends who were not so lucky but fortunately they were only delayed about a week. It is both good and not so good being back. We have to work hard again to talk and be understood- it was far too easy in the USA and we must say sometimes it was not a blessing understanding everything you heard. This is also true in France. We often just get the gist of something and that is just fine. After all the hiking, running, swimming and skiing in Aspen we have gained weight both traveling for the month in the car but also returning to France and the bread, cheese and wine. As the French say we are now on a "regime." We (that is the royal "we") are getting the boat ready to cruise. We hope to leave the Port of Roanne next week (May 10th or so) and we will return around the beginning of November. Sounds like a long way away - stay tuned for Postings from the canals. Hopefully I will be able to produce a more coherent BLOG by then. Not sure what the problem is with the photos. Any ideas???????

Beautiful Colorado

2010-01-05T20:50:00.031+01:00

We made it to Colorado in 4 days with our 2 night stop in St Louis to visit Tricia and Tom. The weather was cooperative and the drive was easy if not boring at times. We listened to "Stones into Schools" Greg Mortenson's new book ( "Three Cups of Tea"). Greg Mortenson is an incredibly dedicated human being - read his books - he has shown what a difference one individual's effort can create. Christmas was with our daughter Mandy and her two beautiful daughters Emily and Carly. It was a delicious and wonderful treat with a "brined Turkey." The best !

Then on to Vail and Minturn to stay with our son Thom and his wife Tracy. So sorry just pictures of their dogs - actually just Petey and Tulah on the Gore Creek Trail.

Then on to Aspen and a sunset looking toward Snowmass from Woody Creek.
The view up Maroon Creek from the top of Snowmass.
Our 1st day of skiing after 5 years with our good friends Bonnie and Phil.
This photo is of the Aspen Grove Cemetary. We are lucky enough to be renting a charming house with a spectacular view, just east of Aspen. The cemetary, dating back to the 1800's is just beautiful and runs up and through the middle of the neighborhood. We are so enjoying being here and back in the mountains. There is nothing like the clear, crisp, blue skies of Colorado.

The mountains of Colorado and the Canals of France are like apples and oranges. Both juicy, tasty, colorful and beautiful but so very, very different. We are so lucky , actually beyond lucky , to be able to experience both of these worlds and lifestyles. For us having this adventure in our lives is as necessary as breathing.

Life in the USA!

2010-01-05T20:21:00.010+01:00

We spent a month in Charlottesville living in a Residence Inn. We were grateful for the Athletic Club in town that provide us with an outlet. We left Virginia on December 16th for Colorado. Traveling the highways of American is an amazing experience.

The Truck stops on the Interstate.

A common sign - "meatloaf all you can eat."

A sign at a gas station selling hogs in Tennessee.

Eating ice cream ("concrete") in St Louis with Tricia and Tom on a cold winter day The confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Then there was Kansas... can you say flat?

Going to the USA !!!!!!

2009-12-09T01:57:00.006+01:00

After a lot of work draining, antifreezing, cleaning, shutting off, arranging, checking, closing, moving and on and on and on we were finally ready to leave our barge in Roanne on November 15th and drive to Paris to spend the night prior to our flight on November 16th to Dulles Airport in Washington DC. As usual we were amazed that everything went as planned. Tulah , although not raving about how fabulous the trip was, arrived in good form.

Our first stop in Charlottesville was - of course - Walmart for those things you don't bring with you like toothpaste, shampoo etc. The next day guess where we were again ?

This of course was followed by our first visit to the world famous "but not as good as the French coffee" Starbucks.

We are amazed at the shopping, traffic, number of good inexpensive restaurants, lack of good coffee and the number of people going no where to do nothing.

Then there was Thanksgiving with family which was a treat after all this time.

Not only did we have dinner with Eric's mother, sister, brother-in-law, nephew and his wife but we were lucky enough to meet Alice and Violet. Tulah was not as sure that they were so charming or possible great girlfriends.

We have been here - Charlottesville, Virginia - for almost a month. It has snowed twice! We have experienced Black Friday, spent enough to help the economy a bit, seen family, enjoyed American TV shows, eaten our share of hamburgers, read the newspaper Washington Post almost every day, found you can call family and friends who are on AT&T whenever you want and now we cannot wait to go West on Sunday the 13th of December.

The finish of this year's cruising!

2009-11-12T14:25:00.012+01:00

As we head for the end of the Nivernais and onto the Loire Lateral Canal we leave behind all the low low bridges. We will miss the quaintness of this wonderful small canal.

Our last stop on the Nivernais Canal is at Cercy la Tour on a full moon evening. What a treat and wonderful place to spend our last night on the Nivernais Canal.

The Fall mornings are often very foggy as the cold air mxes with the still warm water in the canal. As it does on an ocean coast , the fog burns off by noon and we have these glorious warm sunny days and cool nights.

This is a photo of our last bit of canal. We finished this day in our home Port of Roanne. We are glad to be home after 5 months of cruising and yet will miss the constantly enjoyable exploration of France with our great barge.

5 months of cruising - May 20th to October 13th, 2009

842 Kilometers

435 Ecluses ( really hard to imagine)

6 Tunnels ( the Pouilly on the Bourgogne we did 3 times )

Roanne/Digoin Canal, Centre Canal, Saone River, Bourgogne Canal, Yonne River, Nivernais Canal, Loire Lateral Canal

The Port of Roanne. Although this photo is probably too small - you might be able to see at the end of the Port a humongeous Circus. This view is from the ecluse that lets us out into the world. We are moored on the left side of the Port.

This winter for the first time ,in the 4 years we have lived in France, we are going to the United States to spend Thanksgiving with Eric's mother, sister, brother in law and nephew and his wife. We then go onto Colorado for Christmas with our kids. The spring will be with more of our kids. Then back to France in April 2010.

The Nivernais

2009-10-27T17:24:00.010+01:00

Well onto the Nivernais Canal. September brings with it cool nights and warm days and spiders.

It is just such a wonderful time to cruise. It was busy from Auxerre ,at the beginning of the Nivernais, but by the time we reached Mailly la Ville it was very quiet. Simply "impeccable"(spelled the same but imagine the French accent). Although we had cruised the Nivernais last summer we loved being there and this time we were doing it in reverse direction and in September rather than June, so an entirely different experience.

One day when we were staying in Mailly la Ville we went for a bike ride to a small town called Arcy sur Cure. We discovered next to the road an old Roman road that just went off into a farmer's field. It was a remarkable experience to be on top of a ridge riding on a road that the Romans had built many many years ago. Then as we neared Mailly la Ville on our return a block of stone caught our eye. We looked up the drive toward a building and discovered that there were many blocks of stone and sculptures. As we were gawking a gentleman appeared and invited us onto his property and into his "atellier". He was a sculpture and worked in stone, wood and clay. This was one of those experiences that just takes your breath away. We felt so lucky to have seen this place and then to be invited into look at what this man had created. His name was Yves Varanguin. He was just like all the French in that he had all the time in the world to spend with us and show us his work including a monument he was delivering the next day to the town of Cravant memoralizing the French from that town who died in WWI.

Yves in front of his Atelier - look carefully and you will see a stone sanglier

Some of Yves' work in clay

The fall gives us so many sights to see. The bridges on the Nivernais are very low and when we first did the canal we measured each bridge before we went through. Being the second year we now know that we fit through them all. Most of the bridges are old and made of stone.

At the summit of the Nivernais canal is a small and I mean small village called Baye(pronounced Baya). It is large water conservation area with a large body of water that feeds the canal. The water eventually goes to Paris. This canal was really built for that purpose to take water to Paris during the summer. It is beautiful as you can see from the photo below. It is tranquil and remote with the only Boulangerie (bread) 6 kilometers away. To get to Baye from Auxerre the last 9 kilometers is a stretch of 24 ecluses and three tunnels . We spent 3 nights here this year and loved every minute of it. There are many great bike rides.

Transmission fixes and friends

2009-10-20T10:20:00.017+02:00

With some sadness we have reached the end of the Bourgogne Canal. We began on the canal on July 10th and are at the end on September 7th. It is probably one of the nicest canals we have crusied and was a real treat for us. Very few hotel boats, no rental boats and lots of wonderful people.

Well we finally made it to Migennes. For most bargers it is notable for the train track which is directly across the Port. Migennes is a major train "thoroughfare" and many of the trains going to or from Dijon and Paris are coming through here. At moments you can hardly hear yourself think. But then there is the quai which is nice and low so that painting our boat hull is quite simple. There are friends that happen to be here as well -Laurel and Tom, it is quite close to Chablis, Joigny, Auxerre and most of all it is where Joe Parfitt, who will - keep your fingers crossed - fix our transmission, has his boat yard.

A view of the church as we left Saint Florentin just before Migennes

Cruising on the canals of France is often a lovely cosmic experience - a meeting of the universe in a far away place. We just spent 2 fun filled days with Laurel and Tom going to vide greniers, enjoying Bavette lunches, dinners together and touring Chablis and Joigny. We met some time ago and have not had time together until this past weekend. We had no idea they would be here so it was an extra special experience.

Gourmet dining al fresco in Bassou France

Then yesterday I ran into an English/Irish woman who looked so familiar. As it turns out she and her husband had invited us aboard their ship - 4 years ago - when we were in search of a boat to buy. Amazing and this is such a bonus when you are living in a foreign country. We have been so lucky to meet so many wonderful people and have such wonderful friends. We have friends who often call us every few weeks just to be sure all is well. Cruising provides a common experience. While here in Migennes our friends Mary and Jim drove over to visit for the day with their friends Janet and David. It so happened that in Migennes that day was a vide grenier and a Boudin Fete. Boudin is blood sausage and really for the strong of heart and stomach. They had a Boudin eating contest which was really difficult to watch.

Jim's hand and Mary with Janet and David

Eric's elbow has healed enough that he is off to paint today. The weather is fabulous fall weather very warm warm days and quite cool nights. The painting is coming along wonderfully from my perspective and probably it is just good from Eric's perspective. Today was quite hot and the paint was becoming sticky in a short period of time.

Another cosmic experience today. Joe's assistant Jeff arrived around 3:00pm today and by 5:30pm the gear box and reverse were fixed and put back together. In addition he will order the part that is needed to stop the small leak in the generator. We feel so lucky and amazed - what a great experience to have the work done when promised and done well. Yipee!!!!!!! Now a few days later the parts arrived for the generator and it also is fixed. We are so pleased to have these two problems fixed and be on our way to the Nivernais Canal.

"Oldtimer" on an old aquaduct with her old owners!

Continuing on the Bourgogne Canal ...........

2009-08-31T09:29:00.001+02:00

The Pouilly Tunnel

We have managed to go everywhere and no where within the last two weeks. We have gone through the Pouilly Tunnel 3 times, spent 4 days in Vandenesse, 4 days in Pouilly en Auxios, then 6 days in Vandenesse and now 1 day back in Pouilly en Auxios. We discovered after leaving Pont d'Ouche that our reverse was again not cooperating with us. A little nerve racking as there are so many ecluses on this canal. So when we arrived at Pouilly en Auxios for the first time we decided that it would be better to go back the way we came, with perhaps a stop in St Jean de Losne to look for resources to fix this issue, rather than continue on through the Bourgogne Canal and Nivernais Canal to the tune of 240 ecluses. So back through the Tunnel we went to Vandenesse to stay for a week or so. While there our friends Sally and Foster happened to call and suggested we call Joe Parfitt in Migennes. Well Joe knew exactly what the issue was and that he was available to come to us but if we could get to him that would be preferable. So Eric the magician fixed(too many details to explain all of the fix) the reverse again and we went back through the Pouilly Tunnel for our third time in 2 weeks . We luckily had 3 of the best eclusiers although we are sure they did wonder what we were doing. So now off to Migenne we go.

Les jolies eclusiers

This canal is just lovely with many many chateaux , churches and just beautiful bike rides. After leaving and saying a fond fairwell to the Jackie and Andy who own the lovely Tea Room in Vandenesse we were back in Pouilly en Auxois for a night. We then were off to Pont Royal. A nice and easy mooring. We had one huge day of 31 ecluses to make it to Pouillenay and the following day to Verenay les Laumes. Verney les Laumes is surrounded by some really interesting old and beautiful villages. There are archeological digs where they have discovered many Gallo - Roman ruins. There is the old village of Alise Ste. Reine and Flavigny sur Ozerain. Both of these villages have buildings, churches and other sites that date back to the 12th century and some ancient places dating back to the 8th century. Definitely worth spending the effort to go see. We had a delightful lunch in Falvigny. The restaurant is called The Grange and is food that is prepared with only local farm produce. Delicious.
Life along the canal meanders along. Eric recently fell in love with a hammock. So now there is a hammock on the boat. Our back deck contains 4 bikes, a barbeque grill, a satellite dish, Tulah's bike cart, a rowing machine, 3 containers of flowers, 3 chairs, a table and now a hammock. Oh yes and Tulah at times.
We are leaving Tanlay tomorrow for Tonnerre. Eric fell in love with a hammock but also fell on the boat and now has a significant infection in his elbow. He has to go back to the doctor in Auxerre to see how the elbow is doing. Slight complication . We are about 3 days from Migennes and need to be there by the 5th of September. So on we go!!!!

The elbow being examined and cleaned

On to the Saone River, St. Jean de Losne and the Bourgogne Canal

2009-08-05T14:51:00.024+02:00

The Saone River

Our trip from Verdun sur Doubs was unremarkable. The biggest change being that on the River there is the wide open vista that you do not have on the canals. In addition we were going upstream so the current has an effect - slow. Barges are very slow as is but going against the current , with our boat anyway, is really similar to being an "escargot".

We made it in good time , though, to St. Jean de Losne. We arrived right in the middle of a Dragon Boat Race. We carefully picked our way through the boats and moored as a double with a wonderfully generous and welcoming English couple. It is always amusing when you need to moor onto someone else's boat because the Port is full - the occupants are often missing or suddenly find they need to do something down below in their boat. So it is with great relief and gratitude when someone makes the effort to welcome you to tie up to their boat. This is a rare moment in time on the Saone in St Jean de Losne.We were actually, for a few hours ,alone on the Port steps.

Our time in St Jean de Losne was spent fetching parts and pieces for the boat. St Jean is the nautical center for the inland waterways of France and one of the few places you can find all those bits and pieces. We also arranged to have our boat hauled out next summer, on June 1st, so that the bottom can be checked. It is a normally scheduled event with barges every 5 years or so. While the boat is out of the water they pressure wash the bottom, check the thickness of the bottom, if all is well they recoat the bottom with anti-fouling paint and replace the annodes. St. Jean de Losne is also known for its great butcher so we had a chance to visit him.

Five days later, with a quick stop at the bunker boat for fuel, we moved onto the Bourgogne Canal. The distance to Dijon requires an overnight stop and just as well as the weeds and algae in this canal are monumental. The Eclusier stated it was a "catastrophe." After each ecluse we had to put the boat in reverse in order to clear the propeller of all the stuff wrapped around it. Then on to Dijon where we waited for my brother Peter and his wife Michele to arrive from California by way of Switzerland. Dijon is a small big city. Lots of old and beautiful buildings, squares with cafes and lots of tourists just like us. The Port in Dijon is mostly reserved for hotel boats but there is a lot of mooring for others. We enjoyed our stay and stocked up the boat with provisions as we have been told there is little available on the Bourggne.

The top picture is a Chapel on the inside of the Tourism Office Building in Dijon and the bottom picture is of the facade of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Dijon.

As we left Dijon we had one of those days on the canal. Another experience which is funnier now than then. Thank goodness Michele and Pete were with us to help see the humor in what was happening. The Eclusier , who was not very friendly to start with, decided after about 3 ecluses that a 20 meter boat needed to join us in the ecluses. The Eclusier was in a hurry to leave so as the 2 boats, which when stern to bow filled the entire Ecluse with no room to spare ,entered the ecluse he opened the sluices/paddles and the water was rushing into the ecluse, the back doors were not yet even closed and the 20 meter boat only had one line on a bollard and our lines were not yet in the proper place to handle this ecluse with this other boat. So the result was total chaos, the 20 meter boat hit us(our stern) at least 2 times. As we later discovered the owner of the 20 meter boat did not know how to handle the boat's ropes in an ecluse. The Eclusier who was equally the problem told us if we didn't like having our boat rammed we could "continue tomorrow". So after a very long discussion with Eclusier, calling on all our skills at speaking French, we put the other boat in front for the next several ecluses (12 to be exact). That was not to be the end of a strange day. As we rounded a corner after another few ecluses there on the left side was parked a large hotel boat ( they cannot moor directly on the bank because the canal is too shallow so they are out about 3 feet ) and directly across from him on the other side is another large peniche known as the Opera Peniche ( they go around giving comedic opera performances in the canal ports). We are about 4 meters wide and I can promise you there was not more than 6 inches between us and these two large barges. To add to the drama of this event they informed us that they hoped we were not too deep as they had strung an electric cable between the boats in the water. What were they thinking???? They suggested that we stop our engine as we passed them - now how do you pass without an engine providing forward momentum. So any way we passed safely thanks to Eric's fabulous captaining. At the end of these 12 ecluses with the 20 meter boat - the owner gave us a beautiful bottle of Mersault. Amazing how easy we are to please. As a caveat to all this ranting about the Ecluses and Eclusiers we have to say that with very few exceptions the Eclusiers are charming, helpful, polite and people we look forward to meeting during the summer.

We had a great three more days with Michele and Peter. Bike rides, vide greniers, castles, chateaux , good dinners and were able to keep up with The Tour de France on TV. Michele and Peter left us in Pont sur Ouche where we stayed for a few more days.

Pete and Michele taking shelter from the rain (bottom). Eric and Michel deciding which way to go ?(top) And then there is Tulah and her cart.

Chateau de Malain - near Pont de Pany

on the Bourgogne Canal .

This ancient chateau is being restored by

volunteers and archeologists.

Through the Vineyards

2009-07-15T10:23:00.018+02:00

Sunset on the Centre Canal in St Leger.

The two trees in the fore ground are 400 years old . This photo was taken in the courtyard of the vineyard Chateau Santenay.

Lush green vineyards along the southern end of Bourgogne, Burgundy, Cote D'Or - so many names for one region and so many wines. We spent several weeks on the Centre Canal and riding our bikes through the vineyards of the area. Such beautiful places and we felt so comfortable there that we decided we must have been vineyard owners in a previous life. The land is such a patchwork of visual textures - colors and smells. The buildings in the area are ancient and of beautiful stone that has often been white washed. Something that you could not reproduce. Just as the bread and wine are a result of earth, wind, water and love of the people of this area so are the buildings. Even the most rundown of buildings immediately sparks your imagination about how you might renovate it into something that would show its beauty. Then there is the wine......what can we say - just delicious.

Alas lest you think that all is alway easy with this canal cruising - the day we left St Leger sur Dheune we realized that the wind was a bit stronger than we thought. Wind and these relatively flat bottom barges do not go together. So we approached the first ecluse(lock) carefully - well we bumped and bounced into the ecluse only to discover that we also did not have reverse - an essential part of stopping. As we were shreiking ( me) and yelling (him) at each other the eclusier (lock keeper) stayed just long enough to be sure we were secure - these locks are semi automatic - then he scurried away - far away from this ranting couple. We decided to press on to a place we could stop for the night - the eclusier put in a guest appearance at the 4th ecluse - just to be sure we were still alive, I am sure. In my less than perfect French I explained to him how sorry we were for the commotion but we had discovered we did not have reverse, we cannot hear each other over the sound of the motor, we are both over 65 yo so hearing is an issue anyway and we have been married for 29 years - so who is listening anymore. He laughed and we moved on without further incident to moor for the night and fix our stopping problem.

The last ecluse on the Centre Canal as you enter the Saone River - 10.76 meters deep.

After the Centre Canal there is the Saone River on which we went for just a short stretch - 70 k or so -to St Jean de Losne. St Jean de Losne is where we started this adventure in 2005 as we were looking for a barge. Rather than do all 70 K upriver in one day we stopped in Verdun sur le Doubs on the way. Small old village with charming waterways throughout including the petite Doubs(river).

The sign literally reads - Light (meaning traffic light) - Bridge - Bad - last word on top line unreadable) - Bikers - see you in a bit - (last word unreadable). This gentleman explained to me - I think I understood - that he rides into town (Verdun sur le Doubs) each day for his coffee at the local bar and his sign cautions car drivers to pay attention .

Drinking coffee in France

2009-06-28T15:35:00.006+02:00

Coffee in France is delicious. The French , the Dutch and the Italians have mastered the art of coffee beyond anything in the USA, anything. But once again we ( Eric and I ) had a lot to learn. Our first clue should have been when we realized the 10 year old car we purchased - don't laugh it is a Ford Mondeo station wagon with duct tape on all but one corner of our bumpers- had no cup holders. By the time we bought the car , just last year, we were thoroughly indoctrinated into "coffee" French style.

You really have to search and search to find something such as coffee to go. Unless you are in Paris where there are Starbucks. The coffee to go phenomena of America just does not exist in France. The French go to the local bar, bistro, brasserie to have their coffee when not at home. It is a quick cup of coffee. Lingering does not often happen with coffee in France but in the bars there will be locals starting on their wine or Pernod in the morning. The coffee is a one shot expresso in a "petite" cup. If you want cream you ask for a "noisette." Adorable but not what American's who drink "big gulps" and "Ventes" expect. So you adjust and once you have made the mistake of drinking more than one of petite cafe at a sitting you start to slow down and enjoy this little slice of life. See there is that "slow down" thingy again.

The hardest thing for us to manage was to find a place where you could have a coffee and a pastry. There are a lot of tea rooms in the bigger cities and they are great, lucious pastry and great coffee. But in the country side it is impossible. So we started to do as the French do - you go to the Boulangerie ,buy your pastry and take it into the local bar to have your coffee. We have to admit one other vice that is going to make you laugh at us. We now have found that McDonalds has McCafes- you can get a great capuccino and a pain au raisin for very little money. But we have to admit that McDonalds, which is unfortunately everywhere in Europe, does not add to the French experience.

Coffee also is priced according to location. If you drink it at the bar standing up it is the lowest price. If you have it at a table it costs a bit more and if you have it outside at a table it maybe a bit more.

The other phenomena in France is coffee is the very last item at the very end of your meal. You may not have it with dessert. We have tried and tried and failed each time. Even if you are not having dessert and there is someone in your group having dessert - you may not have your coffee until they are done. This usually becomes a game at each meal that we eat in a restaurant and to our delight the French have never failed to do what we now expect - coffee after dessert. It is worth the wait.

Just try giving an Eclusier(lock keeper) and his wife a gift!

2009-06-21T10:02:00.007+02:00

We have made some ( read a "little ") progress on the canals. When we left Beaulon on the Loire Lateral Canal our next stop was Digoin on the Centre Canal. Digoin is notable for the spectacular aquaduct entry to town and for the Stork family that has nested on top of the Church each year.

We then went on to Paray le Monial which is quite a religious village with a Basilica and several churches and when we arrived a kinetic vehicle race and a wedding. The next village on our way was Genelard. Genelard is quite small but has some lovely bike rides. We rode to the Chateau Digoine 2 times because it is such a beautiful chateau.

We then moved on to the town of Motchanin which is at the top (301 meters altitude) of the Centre Canal. The water from Montchanin west to Digoin flows to the Loire River and into the Atlantic Ocean. The water east of Montchanin flows to the Saone River and then to the Mediteranean. We only stayed for the night before doing 19 kilometers with 19 ecluses in one day to get to St Leger sur Dhuene. While we were doing this distance we did not have to wait once for an ecluse to open. The Eclusier(lock keeper) made sure we had an easy trip and each ecluse was open when we arrived. It makes such a difference and we did the entire distance in about 5 hours when it could have been an 8 hour ordeal! So at the last ecluse (#19), the eclusier who we started with on Ecluse #1 at Montchanin, we discovered lived in the charming lock house. He and his wife were working outside in their yard as he was now onto his weekend. We gave him a small gift - a bottle of wine. And as is the norm with the French you cannot just give them a gift. They have to give you something back. Madame gave us some of her homemade Cherry Jam - delicious. Right now in France there are cherry trees everywhere along the canals loaded with ripe cherries. The French are more than just charming they are genuinely kind and very generous.

We are now in French heaven. St Leger sur Dheune is the southern portion of the Bourgogne/Cote D'Or/Burgandy region. Mercurey, Beaune, Givry, Santenay, Pommard, Merseault and on and on and on. Biking heaven!

Off we go..... Cruising 2009!!!!

2009-06-06T16:53:00.006+02:00

Well we finally left the Port of Roanne. Not easy - Eric needed to renew his passport and we had to wait for its return. Of course it was more complicated than that but the passport arrived Wednesday the 19th and we left on Thursday the 20th of May. So good to be out of Port. The noise. We stopped in Melay, on the Roanne/Digoin Canal, for 2 nights then on to Coulanges, on the Loire Lateral Canal, for one night and then Beaulon where we have been since the 23rd of May. Beaulon is a small village with a post office , great bakery, a fabulous Traiteur with the best moules we (Simon, May, a great couple from Roanne on the boat Joie de Vivre, Eric and I) have had - yes without a doubt!

The day we arrived in Beaulon there were 7 other boats - all but 2 were from Roanne. Of course there was a "happy hour" at 5:00pm each evening. After about 3 days some of the boats left and we were left to paint along with Simon and May. Work , work , work.......

During our last 2 days in Beaulon a family arrived - Dad, Mom, 3 young children, a dozen or so chickens, a goat, a pony, five dogs as well as one who was only 14 days old, a cage with 2 birds - and a Roulotte ( a customized wooden home/trailer usually drawn, in the old days, by a horse and now by a truck) with a whimsical sign on the side saying this was the Fortuna Major Circus. At first we thought it was gypsies but not so. They were a wonderful family who are living a very simple life. No electricity, the goat provides milk and cheese, the parents juggle and play music, the kids are charming and delightful.

By coming to Beaulon we have gone the opposite direction of where we want to go but only by about 30km. As we left Roanne we noticed that the Roanne/Digoin Canal which is about 55km long was quite low on water. We had been noticing that the Loire River is also quite low. We also found that there was a bit of debris that we were encountering as we went along. So we decided that perhaps going to the Centre, Bourgogne, Nivernais and then Loire Lateral might be a better choice than the other way around. We are aware that the Bourgogne and the Centre struggle during low water years. So with that said we have come to Beaulon to paint because it is quiet and a comfortable place to be. We found out this past Friday the 29th that the Canal Roanne/Digoin has closed due to a break in the canal wall. So an explanation for the low water in the canal as we left the week before. The sad and infuriating part is that there are still boats now stuck in Roanne for the summer as it is likely to take several months to repair the Canal - and this is the 2nd time in 3 years this has happened.

The Canal system was mostly built in the 1800s. This particular canal was built between 1830 and 1838. The canals are old but they also have problems with burrowing animals, tree roots and just saturated soil. So understandable that there will be problems. We sometimes encounter problems with the old locks ( "ecluse" in French) as they mechanically fail and occasionally we have awakened on a canal to find that a significant amount of water has drained out of that particular pound between 2 locks. But a complete break in the wall of a Canal is unusual and difficult to repair because of the remoteness of the location as well as the remainder of the Canal wall that must be refitted as well.

So we are now, after leaving Beaulon, going in the direction of the Centre Canal which is the southern Bourgogne region of France - lots of great wine.

Shopping in France

2009-05-30T18:38:00.000+02:00

Shopping in France is both a delight and puzzlement. There is a wide variety of shopping from Bricorama(Home Depot), to Carrefour (similar to a huge Safeway), to open air markets, to vide greniers(community garage sales), to Emaus ( a catholic charity)to all the other things you might need or want. The puzzlement though is often when and where do you go for what?

The usual decision you make about milk or socks or a nail or Ibiprofen or a tool in the USA is not the usual decision you make in France. Not all stores are created equal and not all stores carry the same thing from one day to the next.

The French are very adaptable to this style of shopping and shopping for the French is really a social process and community experience. They have used the markets as a social gathering places for centuries. Americans are much more goal oriented and often we have such a specific goal in mind that we (read "I") become easily frustrated. The idea in France is to see what is there then make a decision - do not go with a list!

As an example, when you go to the supermarket in France you need to know to bring a 1 Euro piece and shopping bags. I have been in Europe for 4 years and I can still only remember this maybe 2 out of 3 times. The 1 Euro piece is to get a shopping cart - the store wants to be sure you are going to bring it back and the bags are so that you can pack your own groceries and recyle the shopping bag , all really brilliant ideas. I have to tell you about my first week in France when we went to the market. We put in our 1 Euro piece and got a cart. The French shopping cart navigates sideways and this is without your help. It has taken several years for me to learn how to drive one of the French shopping carts. Anyway we entered the store and the first thing I did was go sideways into a shelf of red wine at the end of one of the aisles. So much for fitting in - several gallons of red wine were all over the floor. Eric now often goes a different way than I do in the store.

At any rate once you enter a market - Carrefour, Geant, Auchun, Lidyl,Simply- you are in for a life changing experience. Slow down your heart rate and your pace because you are going to come unglued otherwise. The French "meander" to do their shopping. It is a process, they meet friends, they want to look at the labels, the shopping cart is just an old friend hanging out with them often in the middle of the aisle, not unusual to find 6 friends chatting in the middle of somewhere and totally unaware that no one can go around them, the French have no radar so they are often unaware of your presence behind them, the space you are occupying is free space - they have a very different sense of personal space , if you are looking at the kiwis you will suddenly realize that you have a crowd of French looking with you. Children do not run amok in the stores nor do they yell and scream, Saturday afternoon ( after 3:00pm) is really the wrong time to try to shop as it is family shopping time and very crowded . Stores are mostly closed on Sunday.

Meat cuts are very different than the USA and the meat is very lean. The French love meat, variety meats, horse meat, body part meats(brains, stomach,head). They also love grenouille (frog's legs), eel, rabbit and ofcourse escargot. Butter (which the French do not eat with their bread) and baquettes are plentiful and delicious (hence the extra 10 lbs). There is a Boulanger/Patisserie on almost every corner and you can be overwhelemed by the variety of baguettes. I sometimes just ask the owner to tell me what baquette to buy. Almost all the markets have wonderful fish and the cheese department is to die for - there must be at least 100 different varieties of cheese just to start with (hence the other 10 pounds).

The fruits and vegetables that are available in the markets and open air markets are fabulous!!!!!!! Buying wine is extraordinary - a good bottle of wine can be bought for 4 Euro ($5.25) a great bottle of wine for 8 Euro ($10.50)and a truly fabulous bottle for 15 Euro($20.00).

So there you are in the supermarche - you have finally found that American peanut butter you have been craving , the baguette, toilet paper and all the other things you just cannot live without - now it is time to go to the check out stand. Patience! Sense of humor! Deep breathing! You can see a short line - don't get fooled as this is often the place where trouble lies. Sometimes there is someone at the front of the line who is buying for 3 different people so there are really 3 transactions that are going to take place. You will also find out that the French do not make a final decision about anything until it is packed and paid for or they will have just remembered something and believe me when I tell you everyone waits patiently while they go in search of the missing item.

At the check out stand the clerk greets the person " Bonjour Madame" and starts to scan the items. But you will have noticed prior to this that the customer has spent a great deal of time arranging the items on the conveyer belt often changing them around several times so that they are color matched or .......The customer then walks around to the other end of the conveyer belt to collect their items. There is protocol to all this. The next customer does not cross the line that takes them past a vertical scanner. You need to stay a descrete distance back from the person doing the current transaction -I know it flies in the face of their usual crowding of personal space. They have brought their own bags ( they didn't forget) and start to pack the items away - very carefully - one thing at a time - answering the cell phone - talking to the clerk - just having a nice time. Then when all is packed away often long minutes after everything has been scanned they then start looking for their payment method of choice; cash, debit card, check. In America you would not be caught dead without your choice of payment ready to go as the people behind you would be sighing and tapping their feet. In France you take your time, look through the whole purse, rearrange the furniture in the purse then you find it and start carefully writing the check. Finally the transaction is done - but now they must say goodbye and wish the clerk a nice day and she them and then finally pick up their bags. Only now the clerk is able to turn her attention to the next customer and will do so only when the other customer has completely left the check out stand with all bags in hand. So the process begins again - " Bonjour".

One day while I was standing in line a small older ( this is completely relative and a little like the pot calling the kettle black) woman was behind me with 2 items. I asked her if she would like to go ahead in my best French "Allez y , Madame"- I am a guest in this country and feel I should behave myself - at any rate on she went ahead of me. Then a nun (this is not a joke) came up with 2 bananas in her hand - well what would you do? so the nun went ahead. Then a young man came up with 2 beers and of all the people so far he was the only one that actually asked if he could go ahead - I couldn't say no, I am a guest in this country - so he went ahead. I then turned around wondering what or who was next and realized that the line behind me was becoming really really long by this time. I had totally failed to engratiate myself with this long line of French people.

Yes you can buy Foie Gras , crunchy baguettes, creme fraiche, petite haricot verte, fresh baby artichokes, luscious lettuce, fabulous chocolate and other assorted delights in the supermarkets. As you can see from the pictures above the outdoor markets are a visual delight and something the French do so very well. They are filled , year around, with wonderful produce and our personal favorite roast chicken. In our town there are 2 outdoor markets a week on Tuesday and Friday morning. In the surrounding area - no more that 15 minutes drive/bike ride - there are more outdoor markets than you can count. As we go along during the summer we are always checking to see when the outdoor markets are in each of the towns/villages were we moor.

As a practical matter if you come to France you will find - Ibiprofen at the Pharmacist, Lense cleaner at the Eye Glass store, vitamins at the Pharmacist, dog food at the nursery/garden store. There are no Targets and Walmarts. Just enjoy the way of life; no hurry, polite, traditional, warm, helpful !

Come to France !

2009-04-30T10:07:00.001+02:00

We are hoping this will inspire some of our friends and family to visit France this summer. We will be traveling on the Nivernais and Bourgogne Canals this summer - 2009. Below is a link to a map of the canals .

http://www.burgundytoday.com/burgundy-maps/canals-map.htm

When you look at the map on the very southern part you will see the Roanne/Digoin Canal. This is the canal that takes us to our winter mooring in Roanne each year. We will leave Roanne sometime during May - we think perhaps the end of May and start traveling north. We will go along the Loire Lateral Canal to the Nivernais Canal first . The Nivernais Canal is a lovely remote part of France. If you are coming for tranquility it is the best. We go so slowly through the country side that there is a lot of time for biking, hiking and exploring. Honestly we have become so lazy we are like the fair weather skier.

A normal - what ever that is - day is getting up around 7:00-8:00 - Sudi goes for a run with Tulah and Eric goes to the local bakery for a baquette and croissants. Perhaps we stay for another day and spend this day riding bikes. Sometimes we stay for a week to 10 days if we really like the village. If not we will get moving with the boat about 10:00- 10:30am - this is good for an hour or so of cruising as the locks all close during the lunch hour - yes this is France. After this pause (fruit , yogurt,left overs) we will go for another 2 or so hours to the next mooring. Sometimes we just wait and go after the lunch break and cruise for 3-4 hours in the afternoon. As you can see this lifetyle is fraught with schedules, deadlines, lists of things to do and places to be. So if you are coming for the "8 countries in 8 days trip" cruising is not a good choice. The evenings in the summer in France are long as darkness does not come until 10:00pm or so. Dinner is often around 9:00pm. We have a barbeque that we use almost every night with what ever the local market has in stock, salad, baguette, tart for dessert and ofcourse copious amounts of good and inexpensive red and white wine.

We would be excited to see you. The boat is small but there is a seperate bedroom for our guests. A double size bed. We share a bathroom which is fully equiped just like a normal bathroom. We have all the comforts of home just in minature. Eric calls it "advanced camping." We will endevour to meet you at the closest train station but we do not have a car during the summer and rely on our bicycles for transport. The weather - what can we say - not ours to control - June can be lovely or rainy, July is often quite hot and beautiful, August is hot in the beginning and cools toward the end but remember this is the traditional vacation time for Europeans , September is usually just lovely (we plan to be on the Centre Canal , the heart of Burgandy,by the end of September for the vendage) and October although short days and considerably cooler - often with fog in the mornings is really delightful and quiet.

Let us say a little more about August. Although this is vacation time for Europeans it does not effect us very much. It will also have little impact this year as the Bourgogne Canal (we think we will be there in August) is not heavily traveled as it has an enormous number of locks and is quite remote with few shopping opportunities.

So come and visit - it is an adventure. You can eat all the pastry you can stand, enjoy endless fresh fruit, laugh at our and your French, delight in the wonderful French people, see many extraordinary secret corners of France and relax to the point of no return.

Second installment of moving to Europe and finding a barge.

2009-03-31T18:20:00.006+02:00

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.

Paris in the winter

2009-01-15T22:43:00.029+01:00

The Louvre and the Seine at sunset.

We have just spent a month in Paris. What a delight and treat. We stayed in an apartment in the Bastille/Marais district(12th) and it had a fabulous shower, dishwasher, washer and a dryer. We did not have the heart to tell the owners that 20 minute showers were going to be the norm for us. Our boat has a small shower that I can stand up in but Eric has to stoop - because of limited water (1000 litres) we, like most barge owners, take "Navy" showers. Get wet , turn the water off, shiver while you soap up and shampoo, then rinse off quickly. So you can see that staying in a "grown up" apartment had particular appeal for us. Now how many people can say that the highlight of their trip to Paris was the shower. Each day was another Parisian experience. Museums, beautiful buildings, beautiful streets and neighborhoods and fun cafes. We spent time with friends who have boats moored in Paris and were able to see the Inauguration of President Obama on Emma and Don's big screen on their big and beautiful boat (picture above).

Paris is a most fantastic city with suprises and beautiful scenes around almost every corner. One of our favorites ( recommended by our friends Jerry and Suzanne Litner who have the boat La Lavande in the Arsenal Port in Paris) was the tour of the Opera Garnier building. The ceiling, which is in the slide show of photos, is by Marc Chagall and is fantastic. The building was the dream of Napolean III and was designed by M. Garnier.

Suzanne and Jerry took us with them each Friday night to the Louvre, which is open at night on Wednesday and Friday. After we each went our seperate ways and viewed our individual interests we would meet below the "Pyramid"and go to some wonderful restaurant that Suzanne and Jerry had discovered; Corsican, Japanese and Italian. A lovely tradition!

Our funniest and most wonderful evening was not in a fabulous Parisian restaurant but on "Eclaircie" a lovely barge owned by Nancy and Bill Koenig. We arrived at 5:00pm as Nancy had offered to do a tutorial for me on the computer to learn how to do this "Blog" and to work with Adobe Photo Shop 4.0. As Nancy toiled away with me , Bill took Eric skiing and snowboarding and ski jumping - in their salon - on Wii. As Nancy and I were working furiously you could hear the two of them howling with laughter. Bill fixed a delicious shrimp and pasta dinner , we drank some lovely wine and just enjoyed the feeling of being in Paris. As the evening wound down we discovered that "Tulah" (our Tibetan Terrier) had snuck off to sleep in their bed. Nancy and Bill did not blink an eye. Now how many people do you know who would invite you to their home , give you a turorial on the internet for about 3 hours, take you skiing, fix you dinner and let your dog sleep in their bed?

There were so many things we did not do so now we have the beginnings of a list for our return visit. The tour of the sewers of Paris, the hardware store in the basement of BHV, the off the beaten path neighborhoods, tickets to an Opera, riding the Batobus among others. We loved all of it but Paris is a city and when it was time to leave we and Tulah were ready to go home.

There are some things not to be missed in Paris:

Orangerie Museum

Jaquemart Museum

Opera Garnier - the tour is a must

Dome du Marais - restaurant

Rubens allegorical paintings for Marie de Medici - Musee du Louvre.

Then go see the Palais du Luxembourg begun in 1615 by Marie de Medici.

Organ concerts at St Suplice and Notre Dame each Sunday and free.

Pick a cafe any cafe and just sit and have coffee.

Take a touristy boat trip on the Seine after dark.

The Jewish Quarter, Rue de Rosier, Bazin Bakery,Place de Vosges and....

Such a wonderful city.

Sancerre, France

2008-10-02T12:58:00.042+02:00

Welcome to the first posting of our adventures with "Oldtimer" blog. Although we have 3 years of history with the ship and many adventures , we will begin with where we are now. The picture above is on the grounds of Fountainbleau which we were lucky enough to see in September. We moored "Oldtimer" in Moret sur Loing on the Loing Canal. From there it was a quick 40minute bike ride to Fountainbleau. A spectacular place to visit. This summer we began our travels on June 4th when we left our winter port of Roanne. We traveled up the Roanne/Digoin Canal , turned left onto the Loire Lateral Canal , right onto the Loire River to the Nivernais Canal, onto the Yonne River, the Seine River, then left to the Loing Canal, the Briare Canal and back onto the Loire Lateral Canal as we head back to Roanne for the winter. We are now in Sancerre the most beautiful and lovely wine country . The 2008 Vendage (grapes,leaves photo) has begun and the energy and smell of the harvesting of the grapes is quite wonderful. Today we rode about 30km - not far - to a wonderful valley filled with grape vines We went to St. Gemme and Sury en Vaux - quaint, charming and glorious villages right out of a picture book.

Life on "Oldtimer" is pretty calm this year. Our first couple of years on the canals and rivers certainly had moments of panic and anxiety as we learned to manage the barge. This year we even completed several rivers with ease -knock on wood. Rivers can often be more difficult as we have to contend with commercial barges, current, wind, barages(dams) and the few and far between mooring places. The upside of the rivers , particularly the Yonne River, is being able to visit such beautiful places as Auxerre, Joigny, Villeneuve and Sens. All of these places are old, old villages with some great architecture and beautiful churches. For two non religious types we have visited more churches than we can count.

A LITTLE HISTORY

Rather than recount our past 3 years all at once - we thought we would do a piece with each blog . Sometime in 2002 - we think - the mid life crisis hit - "What are you going to do with the rest of your life." Our next door neighbors sold their home and bought a huge mobile home. I said " Eric lets do that , think of the freedom." Eric said " I am not driving on the highways of America with a huge box for a home." About that time there was an article in a magazine about people who live on their boats in the USA. So we spent the next two years going to different harbors and boat shows - Miami, Salomens Island, Puget Sound to look at boats. We were looking for a trawler type of boat , particularly a Defever. In the meantime Eric was working to get the house in order to put on the market. He remodeled bathrooms and other assorted fixes. Then along came my 60th birthday. My kids - bless them- threw a huge suprise birthday party.The following week Eric, Thom(our oldest son) and I left for 10 days on a rental boat on the Canal du Midi in southern France. Well that and another magazine article about people living on boats on the canals of Europe and we were sold. We put the house on the market in June 2004 , it sold in March 2005 and closed in June 2005. We sold all our accumulated junk, put a few things in storage,then traveled to see friends and family by car(Montana, Michigan, Nova Scotia, Maine) and spent the month of September in Charlottesville ,Virginia where Eric's 92 year old (at the time)Mother lives. September 24th we flew to Paris with 6 bags and 2 dogs. We must have been nuts. Do you know that customs did not even look at us? To be continued.........