France Report: Moules & Frites, Bag Disaster, and Burgandy Barging
 

This will be my first trip report, and a long one, I'm afraid. I've been to Europe many times since I first started reading this board, but this trip to France was very special and worth the effort, I hope. It was also very problematic, and I hope it will entertain and amuse. I have a terrible memory for hotel and restaurant names, but I will try to give you the gist of what we experienced, the good, the bad and the ugly.

The idea for this trip was hatched at a raucous dinner in our Portland, Oregon home in the fall of 2004. Two of my husbands dearest friends were in town for a few days, and they announced (after much wine) that they had always dreamed of taking a barge trip in France. Naturally, we said "so have we!" From such alcohol-induced enthusiasm, a plot was hatched. Normally, no one ever follows through on these grandiose ideas, but being the Type A accountant that I am, I began doing research, with lots of help from fellow Fodorites, I might add. And once I was convinced that all 4 of us were were on board to really pull this off, I dug into the project like someone who has too much time on her hands, which I do. We settle on a week in October, 2005, and that became the only steadfast variable, given that J, a university professor of actor, had only that one window of time available in her impossible schedule. W, her wonderful DH, became my VP of Planning, helping me with decisions via email and phone calls. They are both very easy going (read slightly nutty and distracted), unlike me, the Control Freak.

Now my DH, called D in this report, had bigger ideas than a mere week on a barge. I mean, it you're going to all the expense and trouble to get over the Pond, you might as well go ahead and spend 3 times as much, right? We turned this into a 3 week extravaganza: a week in Paris, another week visiting friends in Normandy, driving through Brittany and the Loire valley, culminating in the "Barge Week". The barge planning was made a little easier because I have a cousin in Seattle who has done 4-5 of these trips in France with her husband and her sister, and is hot shy about giving us tons of advice. These same 3 relatives, who will henceforth be called "The Cousins", will play significant roles later in the story. But I don't want to get ahead of myself: no, this report will be written in consequetive order with no artistic flashbacks or flashforwards!

Anyway, I spent countless hours trying to find a barge company which had English brochures as well as the style of boat we wanted: the quaint pinichettes that really look like barges, with cute colors and sleek lines. I ended up going with Crown Blue, the Cousins' British owned company of choice. Everything was in English, but the barges all look like fiberglass yachts. Oh well... We found a boat style that suited us: 2 berths, 2 heads, good-sized salon and kitchen, outside deck at the front and on top of the boat, an umbrella table for all those wine and cheese and sunset moments. The only problem was then trying to coordinate that boat with the dates, on a canal or river that didn't have too many locks, that was a one-way trip as opposed to a loop, and that was in our price range. After endless phone calls, I found the only cruise that fit all these criteria: the Nivernais Canal in Burgandy. We would pick up the boat in the tiny town of Chatel Censoir, cruise for 7 days downstream (an important circumstance), and drop it off in Migennes, another small town. J&W would fly to paris, take a train to Chatel Censoir where we would all meet up. They would make their own travel arrangements, but I took charge of all the barge details. They paid me half of everything and it was all going swimmingly. Ha!

A couple of weeks before D and I were scheduled to leave, W emailed to say that he and J had gotten a little mixed up on the dates. It turns out that they were not flying together, but utilizing their individual frequent flyer miles on different airlines. Somehow, they had both made the same mistake: they were booked on flights that left Paris a day too early! We were locked into dropping off the barge on a Saturday morning, taking a train to Paris and flying home on Sunday. But they were both now booked on Saturday flights. Oops! This meant that they had to get off the boat a day early (in Auxerre?) and that D and I would have to pilot the boat by ourselves on the last day. Now this may not sound like such a big deal, but this cruise was bare-boat, meaning there is no crew but the 4 of us. One person has to operate and steer the boat while 2 people handle the ropes to tie up the boat at the locks. And there were 10 locks between Auxerre and Migennes! It is possible for 2 people to do it, but not easy. I was astounded and furious. How could they be so stupid? After several sarcastic emails, W offered to try and change their reservations. Then came the final email: it turns out that J had planned all alng to leave the boat a day early! She didn't want to be too jetlagged on her first day back at the university. Now I was over-the-top steamed. Was this a terrible omen that she was going to be a selfish diva (shades of Barb's report) on this trip? My wonderfully kind DH, the forgiving and practical kind of person, told me to get over it, not ruin the friendship, etc. etc. I finally agreed with him because what else could I do? I didn't want to spoil the trip, but I also wasn't going to let anyone walk all over me. I would be on diva-alert, just in case, by golly!

But now you have to sit through the rest of this distressingly long trip report to get to the Barge Week where you will read how it all turned out. Sorry!

Oh good, another travel soap opera to follow online. I'm loving it! Please continue as soon as possible.

>now you have to sit through the rest of this distressingly long trip report to get to the Barge Week where you will read how it all turned out. <

Oh, you are a real tease. :)

((I))

Ordinarily I would read the Paris part of the report (picking up nuggests of new info) and just skim the barge part.

But now you have me hooked....please type fast! Can't wait to read your diva-on-a-barge report.

I am hooked also. Hopefully (for me) you have previously typed the report and will merely have to cut and paste it into Fodors for our amusement. Looking forward to the next installment.

And - Precisely WHEN might we expect the next installment??? ((o)) :-"

I'm following the saga too. I hope to do a barge trip in northern Burgundy (Nevernais canal) in May. I've read about several hotel barges that might be good: the Horizon II (French Country Waterways), Le Art de Vivre, the Luciole, Le Reine Pedauque. The Belle Epoque is already chartered/unavailable. Has anyone taken one of these barges? Any feedback would be helpful. We want a barge holding 8-16 people with wonderful food and wines and good shore excursions.
Thanks,
Robbie

When we went on a barge trip, I chose the barge company by the itinerary offered; I was looking for as many "old stones" as possible. But cost was also an issue, and Rives de France seemed to have the best combination of what I was looking for. When planning such a trip, it might be best to have the fixed barge dates in the middle of the European trip rather than at one end or the other. That is what we did, meeting in Dijon the night before getting the barge. My wife and I first went to St. Petersburg, others went to a wedding in Hungary, still others came from Italy, and we all went in similarly different directions at the end of the barge week.

These trip reports on Fodor's are getting better and better, LOL.

Now dabodin, rule number one! We don't handle waiting for the next segment very well ;;) so continue please!! Merci!!

WE're WAit-t-t-ting!!!

Oh boy, another entertaining trip report!

And from a Portlander no less :D

Gee whiz, I'm only gone a couple of hours and people are already ragging me for the next installment. I love it! The Paris installment will be next, maybe tonight or tomorrow.

By the way, did anyone notice that Miss Type A Control Freak had a lot of typos in her first bit? I used the Edit feature twice to fix them, but when I posted the report, it reverted back to the old error-ridden version. Do you have to Refresh first, or is there something I'm missing?

I was enjoying the story so much, I did not notice the typos.
I copy mine from email rather than Word so there are not funny ?? marks where there should be letters, etc.

Go ahead, take a break, see ya back here later :)

Great! I really need some entertainment, and this one sounds good.
Just don't get distracted and forget about us - waiting!

Be sure to post the continuation to this thread so we can all follow it in one piece!

PARIS, PART I - GARGOYLES & SEGWAYS

OK, now I can finally get to the actual trip. We flew on Continental (tickets obsessively purchased 9 months in advance. I'm a Worry Wort as well as an uptight Control Freak). We changed planes in Newark; both flights were uneventful. However, I was not prepared for CDG despite warnings on this board. We'd planned on taking the AirFrance bus to Gare de Lyon and walking about 15 minutes to the apartment. However, it took us almost an hour to find the spot from where the bus departs. Lugging luggage up and down stairs while jetlagged is not fun. Finally we find the spot! But wait! There's a little sign that says they've moved the spot somewhere else. I'm close to meltdown but my calmer DH just shrugged and we found the new spot within 10 minutes. Turns out it was just outside the door of the terminal where we started. And did I mention how hot I was? We had perfect weather for six straight days in Paris, sunny and 70-75 degrees. But I had on my coat, lugging luggage.

At Gare de Lyon, my usually good inner navigational system was not working, and we got lost , immediately. Luckily, as we stopped in the middle of the sidewalk peering straight up at the building to find out what street we were on, a very attractive gentlement took pity on us: Are you lost? Yes, we were, but he got us going in the right direction.

This was only the first of many examples of how polite and kind people were to us in Paris and everywhere else we went in France. We didn't run into a single rude person until Barge Week, and no, it was not J, the Maybe Diva. A little background needed here: I had been to France only once before, 23 years ago with my mom on a Globus If This Is Tuesday type of bus tour. We were in Paris for 1.5 days in which it rained constantly, the waiters were rude and we were not impressed. This time, D and I were determined to love every minute of our trip. We even took 5 months of Berlitz French lessons, at which he did really well and I, sadly, did not. D is an actor so is naturally good at mimicry and is fearless when it comes to actually speaking. I just wanted to pick up enough to not look like a fool when ordering food or asking for directions. I think I did amazingly well, considering how bad I am at learning languages. But I'm so glad we made the attempt, because I think it broke the ice with French people when we always spoke to them in their own language first and didn't assume they speak English.

OK, back to the important stuff. We stayed at the Rue du Mornay apartment near the Bastille. It was recommended on this site and lived up to every comment and picture on its website. It's on the top floor of an 8 story building, with life, thank goodness. It has 2 terraces, believe it or not! One has an incredible panoramic rooftop view over the Marais with Sacre Coeur in the background.

The cleaning person let us in, gave us keys and let us dump our bags there. While he finished up, we explored the wonderful open air market near the Bastille (open Sundays and Thursdays) and found a great little grocery store nearby where we later picked up some food and the many supplies that were missing from the apartment: garbage bags, soap for the washing machine, light bulbs for the burned out ones in the bathroom, paper towels since there were no napkins, etc. That's my only complaint about the place, otherwise, it was a great value and a very central, quiet location.

We've reserved apartments on our last few trips to Europe and will never go back to hotels if we can help it. It's great to be able to eat a few meals in, especially breakfast. Croissants every morning do not sit well with my digestive system, enough said! We had Special K, bananas and reduced fat milk every day and my plumbing worked just fine, thank you very much.

That first night, we had a little feast of bread, cheese, salami and wine on our Sacre Coeur terrace. In fact, the first photo D took was a picture of the nicely composed still life, with view.

Once again, I'm unable to get the editing feature to work. That should be, apartment with "lift", not "life"!

I'm too tired to finish tonight, so will continue with the gargoyles and Segways tomorrow. Bon soir!

Can't wait, I'm hooked

Great report, anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Loving your report( & Barbs' too!) even though it's bringing back memories of a trip from hell!
Why do we always find out that the person you decide to go on holiday with, isn't the one that actually came with you?!!

dabodin,

Loving your trip report, with the exception that the thought of Special K, and low fat milk for breakfast (or any other meal) in Paris makes my teeth hurt.

:-)

PARIS, PART I - continued

I've decided not to give a blow by blow of our week in Paris. For one thing, I didn't keep any notes (I didn't think I would do a trip report), I have a terrible memory, and we did all the usual things and went to the usual places. Scores of you have written brilliant Paris reports, and I don't want to bore you with our walk around the Arc de Triomphe. I'll just give you the highlights and a few of our favorite things. One note: thanks again to Fodorites, I bought a great pedometer prior to the trip, and got a kick out of seeing how much we walked while in Paris. Our first day, we logged 10 miles, and after that, averaged 6 to 7 miles a day.

Restaurants: It's time for a confession. If you're looking for an Ira-style catalog of incredible meals, forget it! We love to eat and I'm something of a gourmet cook, but money was a factor on this trip. We could not afford to eat 60+ Euro meals, and that's not really our style, anyway. We wanted authentic French food, but tended to go to small places where the fixe pris was 15-20 Euros. You can't get great food for that, but you can eat decently.

There were 3 restaurants that were pretty good, all in our Bastille area. Chez Paul, Le Petit Keller (where I had yummy duck and figs) and Cafe de la Poste (probably not the exact name). We had the best wine at the latter, a Cotes de Provence, but otherwise we just had the vin de pays, and it was usually drinkable.

Favorite tour: the Tower tour at Notre Dame. It was worth the 444 steps to the top in order to be within spitting distance of the gargoyles. D got some fabulous pictures of the gnarly little guys and the view from up there was fantastic.

Favorite museum: Musee D'Orsay. By the time I got to the Van Gogh room, I was pretty much overwhelmed with the quality and sheer numbers of masterpieces. I was underwhelmed with the bathroom situation, however. If you've been there, you know what I mean. We did have a very nice lunch in the cafe, though.

Favorite shop: Shakespeare & Co. bookstore. There's a backstory: D was recently involved in a series of readings of a new play about Sylvia Beach, Hemingway and Joyce that took place in the bookstore. So it was really cool to be there, even though it's not in the same location anymore. I bought a very expensive paperback book there.

Favorite experience: the evening Segway tour, which I learned about on this board, of course. I cringed at the cost ($95 each) but it was worth every penny. There were 7 people in our group, plus the guide, and unbelievably, one of the couples was from Portland! The other couple was Japanese and the 7th person was a middle-aged guy from Texas. The Japanese man was hilarious: right out of central casting for a martial arts villian, big and burly, grunting whenever something amused him. The Texan kept us entertained with stories and his amazing energy. Unfortunately, the Tower Tour with its 444 steps (888 if you count coming down) had been experienced earlier that day, so my feet were already a bit sore. Now I had to stand on this contraption for 4.5 hours! By about 10:30 PM, my feet were screaming and I was still suffering from jetlag, and it was tough staying awake. And I have to tell you, the whole thing is a bit dangerous (it would never be allowed in the States). There were many times when it would have been easy to topple into the river or fall down a set of stairs. You have to cross busy intersections that aren't well lit. We had a few mishaps: D ran into a curb and fell over, scraping his forearms, and I ran over a pedestrian's foot! She wasn't limping when I left, after profusely apologizing, so I guess I didn't break her foot. Another woman lost control of her Segway and had to chase it down a ramp. But the funniest thing about the whole evening was the look on sophisticated Parisians' faces when we approached them. We had helmets on our heads, and reflective, oddly shaped vests over our clothes, and we were riding these wierd looking contraptions. I'm sure we looked like a group of manic road construction workers from outer space! However, it was a blast and I highly recommend it. Fun, fun, fun.

Another strange coincidence connected with the Segway tour: the next day, we were in the Musee D'Orsay and ran into the Texan. Not 5 minutes later, the Japanese couple walked by, and 5 minutes after that, the other Portland couple also appeared! It was incredible that we all ended up there at the same time and on the same floor. Kind of spooky.

OK, I have to go work now. Coming up next: The Cousins Arrive.

ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh...
More please!!!
((S))((*))

Hi dab,

>We wanted authentic French food, but tended to go to small places where the fixe pris was 15-20 Euros.<

Please, don't neglect to tell us about those.

((I))

oooohhh goodie! I am loving it so far, I REALLY want to do a barge trip!

Ira: Maybe you missed them in the next paragraph? Chez Paul, Le Petite Keller and Cafe de la Poste. I believe they each had several fixe pris choices, as most restaurants do. We usually went with the cheapest or next to cheapest. Our meals at the first two places each cost about $65, with wine.

PARIS, PART II: The Cousins and Our First Moules Sighting

OK, backstory on the Cousins. About a month before we were to leave for France, the married cousin (I'll call her Teddy, because she is obsessed with Teddy Bears and takes her favorite on every trip), emailed us to say that they were going to Paris at about the same time that we were going to be there. The unmarried cousin (I'll call her LA because that's where she lives) has been a flight attendent for over 30 years and is still going strong as she pushes 60! She has a male flight attendent friend who is half-French and has an apartment in the Latin Quarter which he lets her use whenever he is not there himself. She usually takes Teddy and Teddy's husband (who I'll call TH for obvious reasons), both of whom are retired and travel all over the place and will do so at the drop of a hat. They frequently all go together to Paris and stay in this apartment and have in fact, done most of its decorating and furnishing because the owner is a typical bachelor who can't be bothered.

I was thrilled about this new development because they are my favorite cousins and we always have a lot of fun together. We all have our eccentricities and I wouldn't want to TRAVEL with them, but our stays in Paris would only overlap for 3 days, so it would be perfect!

I knew when they were arriving, and we had plans to walk to their apartment for aperitifs. Then we would all walk to their favorite restaurant for dinner. They did mention casually that there was not an elevator in their building, but I'm not sure they mentioned that they were on the 6th floor! I have to say, it was a very picturesque, curving stairway, but I can't imagine taking your luggage up that many steps, and transversing them several times each day. I again congratulated myself on having found a place with a lift.

We had a swell reunion, with lots of red wine and nibbles. The apartment is really cute, with a strange layout and cramped quarters, but since they didn't have to pay anything to stay there, it was an incredible place. Plus their kitchen window looked right out at Notre Dame! I loved their neighborhood, and felt ours was a little too quiet by comparison. They were more central, and had tons of shops and restaurants nearby, while our location was a little more sparse on the amenities.

Then they led us to the restaurant I'd been hearing about for several years. To get there, we had to walk upward through the Latin Quarter, which D and I hadn't really explored yet. How fun and lively it is! After about a 10 minute walk, we turned onto a great little street called Rue de Pot de Feu (not sure if that's exactly right). It was wall to wall with restaurants and absolutely popping with energy. We went to the last restaurant on the right, and there it was: Pot de Terre. LA and TH had raved about this place because for 14 Euros you get their all-time favorite French meal: moules de mariniere (2 E supplement), duck confit and creme brulee for dessert. It was about 7:30, just getting dark, a warm and perfect night. We sat outside at their "favorite table" and it really was a magical night. All the waiters knew them and there was lots of teasing and kidding around. And the meal did really live up to its billing. The mussels were brought out in large enamel pots, kind of like pasta cookers. You use the lid to discard the shells. The duck confit was served with roasted potatoes, made as only the French can do, and the creme brulee was perfect. For the price, it's a very good deal.

The next day, D and I were scheduled to do Montmartre and the Pere-Lachaise Cemetary. We took the subway to the base of the hill and had great fun walking up to Sacre Coeur. We stopped for coffee at the cafe where Amelie was filmed, and I must say, it's kind of a dump. The bathroom there was the worst one I encountered on our trip. They must not have made anything from the movie!

From Sacre Coeur, we walked through Parc du Bellevelle and on to the cemetary. I think we clocked the most miles that day of any. It was way, way too much to do in one day, and we had to beg off from meeting the Cousins that night for dinner. We loved the cemetary, though, and were deeply moved by the Holocaust memorials. We also particularly loved the prone statue of a young man shot by Napolean III, supposedly in the position, lying on his back, in which his body was discovered. Infertile women, hoping for a cure, have rubbed his private parts to a shiny copper color. We also were quite taken with Oscar Wilde's tomb, and D got a great picture of me adding my lipstick kiss to the granite.

On the next day, our last in Paris, the Cousins took us to one of their favorite flea/antique markets, can't remember the name, sorry. It had really great stuff, from paintings to kitchen gadgets. Afterwards, D and I cooled our aching feet at a Starbucks, just for a change. That night we braved the 6 flights of stairs to have dinner at the Cousins' apartment. TH had brought along his laptop, and we checked our email. They served us roasted chicken (from a market), glazed carrots, a salade lardon, and some kind of wonderful cake for dessert. They pride themselves on finding great wine bargains, and every bottle we drank with them cost under 6 euros, I kid you not. And it was pretty good! (I'm sure Ira and the other gourmets are rolling their eyes at our pitiful cheapskatedness.) My entire family likes a bargain; it must be in our genes.

Next up: LAND OF MOULES ET FRITES

Good so far - but hanging in for the barge!!!!!!!!!!!

Your storytelling is so compelling, I briefly abandoned my obsessive quest for barge infomation. Do write on.
Robbie

I am laughing so hard at the thought of the faces of those seeing the Construction Workers from Outer Space coming at them :D

I cannot wait to hear about the Moules & Frites!

I am really enjoying reading this report.
Looking at my Michelin map of Paris, Parc de Belleville seems miles away from Sacre Coeur in the 20e! Did you really walk all that way? You have my admiration!

Thanks dabodin. I'm enjoying the read and looking forward to the barge installment.

dabodin, you're a damn good writer for an accountant. enjoying your serial.

dumb question (i'm new to this website): what's a DH? some kind of husband - darling?? devoted??

i think i've seen DW on these pages too, for the other (not to say better) half, i presume.

dh - dear husband
dw - dear wife

more please, I love it!

Hi dab,

>(I'm sure Ira and the other gourmets are rolling their eyes at our pitiful cheapskatedness.) <

Not at all. Good food at low prices is not to be sneered at. Thanks for the mention of "Pot de Terre".

I believe that your street was Rue du Pot de Fer.

((I))

Wonderful!!!
MORE!!
Please ?????

Thanks for the wonderful trip report! I'm really enjoying it!!!

I'm lovin' it!
Glad the apartment on Rue Mornay worked out. It is, as you note, not in the midst of lots of shops, but that is one of the things we liked. There are bakery/brasserie places just a few steps away, and even grocery stores are within an easy walk, but you don't have to contend with crowds and noise. The terraces are just great, and it was all topped off by having an elevator/lift. Nice, too, to be able to work out arrangements with an owner in the US before traveling.

Tod: You're right, I think we did take a subway between Sacre Coeur and Parc du Belleville. Even then, we walked many, many miles that day. My DH is one of those people who doesn't let being tired and having sore feet spoil the pleasure of a 10 mile "stroll".

Next segment coming up this afternoon. Thanks for all kind words (I stole that from Ira).

My mouth is watering! can't wait to hear about the moules et frites-and aren't those pots they are served in just the cutest?