The Barge

To Paris 27 Sept

We left Lekeitio about eleven and headed north up the coast line on a twisty-turny narrow road along the mountains above the rocky coastline. A beautiful day for travel with stunning scenery. We passed through one small town that was jammed into a very narrow valley on a small river. There was NO parking. Every possible place to put a car was taken, up to a kilometer either direction even out of town. Cars double parked to run into a business and traffic backed up both ways. The streets where so small and had such tight turns I had to stop just to let some motorcycles come around the curve.  We stopped in San Sebastian for lunch. We dodged some major road backup ups, we assume because of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, and found our way down to parking on the beach. A beautiful day for a walk around the city, which is fairly large with the look of Paris with all buildings four story and of the Haussmann type design. Not a lot of restaurants to chose from in the area we walked, so we settled into a pincho bar on the sidewalk. It was packed. The bar area where the pinchos were located was maybe four feet wide. I probably could have pushed my way through picking what I want but they offered a paella as the lunch special and we both chose that. Vicki with a large and me with a small and some pincho chicken wings. In thirty minutes the place was empty and I could gone pincho shopping, but it was to late. It was all good.

Back on the road we headed for Hendaye just across the border in France. There are no border checks normally, except today. The French had set up a check point on the bridge and had traffic backed up. It was not a long delay and they waved us through. Our hotel, selected for location, is Hotel de Gare or Train station Hotel. It was straight out of the past and reminded us of our old days of travel and of all the scenes in old black and white movies’.

We dropped the bags and then headed back across the border to turn in the car. It went well, I thought, and we caught a cab back to the other side. I had no sooner ordered a beer and a got a email from Hertz saying I had damaged their car and would be billed $169. That pissed me off and I jumped into a car and headed back across the bridge to the airport. The Hertz agent said I would not be charged. It is something to do with the new system which, originally I liked and now I do not. Neither did the agent. In the future there will be a close inspection and if I can I will demand paper to mark all scratches on the car.

The evening was spent in the room drinking a bottle of wine we had drug around for several days, cheese, and BBQ Firtos. Ahh, the good life.

Next day we bordered the TVG at nine and hit the road at nine twenty one. My concern on the TVG is luggage storage, though I have always found a place. This was a originating train so there was plenty of room to stow the bags.

The train arrived at the Montparnasse Station. This is our favorite part of Paris and used to stay here exclusively. First in hotels and then in apartments. The apartment we used seemed to disappear and we never found another to our liking and we really like the service we get from Cobblestone Paris and their apartments. But tonight we regress in our history and are staying in Montparnasse at one of our original hotels, Hotel Les Baines. It is a one star hotel. Star not an indication of good or bad, but given by the government based on such as amenities, size of room , etc.  It is right in the middle of everything and less than $100. That is hard to find in Paris. It has an elevator to get our luggage and one person to the fifth floor, sixth in America as in most of the world the ground floor is "0". That does not get you to the room. The elevator was added hundreds of years after the building was built so it was shoe horned in. Once the elevator arrives near your floor you have to walk down five steps and then up seven to get to your floor.  The room is not nearly as small as we remember or we got a bigger room. Some rooms you have to set on the bed if there are two people moving around as you can not pass each other the room is so small.

Luggage stowed we were off. It is great walking an old familiar neighborhood, almost like being home. After walking for awhile we found a great table at the L'Horizon. This is the intersection of five roads and is great for people watching. At the table next to us were Canadian diplomats based in Paris and we had a pleasant conversation with them. They had just transferred from Dakar. 

Drink leisurely consumed we continued the walk to La Grande Ecpicerie de Paris. This is a grand grocery store that also has furniture to clothing. But, food and wine is it's main point. It is fascinating and expensive. And packed with shoppers. It is interesting to see how it changes with the times. In the past the butcher shop had dead animals lying in the counter, but not any more. It is still a fine butchershop, with high end aged steaks hanging behind glass just waiting for to ask for one to be cut.

The fish department is the same with seventy dollar a pound king crab and prawns bigger than your hand waitting for you to take home. The wine store now has a complete floor. The biggest change for the times is prepared food. There is lots of it and all high end. There also lots of tables all around the store to set and enjoy your purchases.

We continued our walk back to the hotel neighborhood around the Edgar Quinet metro station. The weather is great so the public is out and about and it is fun to watch, so we took a outside table at Le Montaigne to enjoy the show and have another glass of wine. A few tables next to us were the perfect American tourist. Saul and Ethel from New York. Her, a grumpy bitch for having to be with Saul, and he trying to make the best of trip. They had ordered steaks and French "medium" is bloody and so her's was not right and she sent it back. To the waiters credit it came back quickly and cooked a lot. They had overheard us or others talking about "happy hour" the same in French or English, so after listening for awhile but trying to ignore them, I took mercy on Ethel and showed her the happy hour list on the menu, though that was not easy as she was not listening. However, when they were done, that did add tip to the bill. Something that is rarely done and not required. A small tip on the table is the norm.

From there we were off to dinner. Expecting a week of fine four course french meals on the barge we chose asian food for dinner. Since our last wandering this area, quite, have moved into the neighborhood. We found one that had Bo Bun, a Vietnamese noodle dish that Vicki likes a lot and me too. That done we were off for another walk. We headed to on of our favorites spots, a sidewalk churros shop. Churros are donuts just they are a long string type think rolled in sugar. Sadly  the minimum available was six. So we walked around looking at all the growed sidewalk cafes with lots of young people until they were consumed and then we headed home.

The red carpet at  the San Sebastian Film Festival

The required protest

The contestants

The winner

Lunch at over 180 mph

The speed of the train hit as high as 297 kmh while I was looking

The room

No place in the room for these so I am consuming them,

The nasty email from Hertz. We shall see if the agents saying
there will be no charge is true or not.

          Sunday morning it was raining so I chose to have my coffee in the hotel. Not such a good idea.
The coffee was not good. When Vicki got up we went out for a proper coffee at the corner cafe and she had two. There are no free refills at the cafe's. On the Blvd. Edward Quinet on Saturday they have a food market and on Sunday's they have a art market. The rain had let up so we strolled through the art market, short on exhibitors probably do to the rain. Mistake. I came away with a piece of art. Now what the hell am I going to do with it for the next three weeks. From there we caught an UBer across town to the Hotel Mansart where the crew of the Barge Luciole were to pick us up at two fifteen. Having a couple of hours to kill we walked around, past the Ritz, through the Tuileries and back. This was the end of fashion week in Paris a very, very big deal. We knew when some one famous walked past as all the young girls in front of us would swoon. They were still doing some model photo shots and a lot of tourist were doing their own photo shots, imagining a moment of fame. Back at the Mansart we met Alex and his wife Heidi, crew of the barge, and some of the other passengers. We boarded the new Mercedes sixteen passenger bus and traveled two hours to Auxerre where the Luciole was moored waitting for us. Introduced to the crew and all twelve passengers, settled into our rooms, they served a four course excellent dinner at seven thirty. That was enough for one day.                 

our favorite corner

guess which painting I bought

a real model

the tulleries

on the bus

capt pierre welcoming us aboard with glass of sparkly

The rest of the week, all six days on the Luciole, were the same, eat absolutely fantastic food, motor down the canal, get in the bus and go visit a winery or old stuff, walk the toe path as we motored. The weather for the most part was excellent with a few periods of rain. The people aboard were all great. It was a mix of Brits and Americans. There were four women onboard that were 80 years of age. They were amazing. One would walk four to six kilometers at breakneck speed almost every day. They all travel the world regularly. The oldest member was Ron and he was over 90 from Chicago. Vicki was the second youngest.

The meals were prepared by Nik, a Scotsman. He had worked for years in high end restaurants and was loving cooking on the barge. He prepared magnificent meals with unbelievable sauces. I cannot praise his talents enough. The meals, which he designed and prepared, were all Michelin star level. Amazing.

The cabin crew were fantastic as well. Heidi, married to our van driver/tour guide Alex, and Michele.

They were always there to serve you no matter what. Taking care of your individual needs while serving the whole boat. How they do it, seven days a week, for six months,with only one week off, and still be smiling is incredible.

The deck crew were professional. Capt Pierre has been piloting boats on the canals for over twenty nine years. James, a freshly graduated student of law. They both were always ready with a kind word and a helping hand.

This will be told by pictures. I may come back at a later date and update the biographies of those on board.

sunrise in Auxerre

leaving Auxerre

This is the canal we traveled on. Many of the others were closed due to low water.

Capt. Pierre

Chris passionately describing his wines.

vineyards as far as you can see

The caves at the winery were so big we drove the bus into them

The house with saint Nick in this port town was a whorehouse in it's day

you always see these

Alex giving the tour

I often tell people that I have friends in Europe with doors older than our country.
This door was built even before our country was found!

This is the dinner table every night

This picture was hanging in the hallway.  It was the first barge Vicki went on in the 80's. We discovered it is the same barge we are on now. It was sold shortly after Vicki was on it to it's present owners.

there was a narrow walkway outside along the boat. The crew had to use it to get to their quarters in the front of the boat.
Michele was giving us her  "bag lady" look.

The Americans sampling that wonderful (??????) British treat of Marmite.
 Kindly furnished by Heidi, standing in the back ground, from her personal stock

While the others went off to tour OS, Sheila, Vicki and I stayed onboard. We asked Nik to just give
us some ham and cheese sandwiches. His DNA would not allow that.
Michele served us smoked salmon with cream cheese on baguette with fresh salad and a charcuterie platter complimented
with a great white wine. All the wine and liquor you wanted were provided on the barge. They did run
out of beer one day.

there were some very low bridges

entering one of many locks

there is no room to spare

one of the many beautiful wonders we drifted by

the toe path. we really enjoyed walking along. Depending on the distance to the next lock, sometimes we strolled and some times it was a forced march.

Nik preparing the meat for dinner

Every night you had a started, a main, a cheese course, and dessert. I can not even begin to describe the food. But every night
the Capt would describe the two wines, always a white and a red, and the two cheeses. This is our last night so we brought out the coat and tie.  Heidi standing to his side to be prepared to start cutting the cheese.

On every cruise you seem to bond with one or two couples. Mike and Lynn were the ones on this one, mainly because they are theatre people and thus are late night people. So they and Vicki would stay up late visiting and drinking while I slept.
Mike was the founder of the Mikron Theatre Company in 1972 and still active today. The company is based on a small 72 foot English narrow boat and for 7 months a year they travel the canals of England giving performances in pubs and town halls along the canal. They are now retired and living in Brittany. With Brexit we do not know what there future holds. Just like we don't know about ours. So we all avoided those subjects pretty much.

More on the chef. Often at home we look for a excellent restaurant that is consistent and has great inventive foods. There are none. Nik's would meet and exceed that criteria, and do it every day. I can not say enough. This is added as Vicki shared a copy of the weeks menu. None of us saw it until we left so we had no idea what to expect. He would come out and very shyly describe each meal and then duck back into his office.