there are tons of cheap restaurants on rue du Pot de Fer, which runs to the west off rue Mouffetard. Some are not so good, I think, but there are some better than others. That one has a website so you can get visuals for this report:

http://www.lepotdeterre.com/

Now for those always asking about NY eve, it seems they are advertising their NY eve menu beginning 11/15 and are probably not too expensive.

excellent report! keep it coming. Just came back to read the next installment but its not here yet. Looking forward to it.

LAND OF MOULES ET FRITES

Ok, D and I are obsessed with mussels. We make them at home and order them as appetizers when we eat out. After seeing Moules et Frites advertized at several restaurants in the Latin Quarter, and eating them at the Pot de Terre, we were on a mission to eat as many as we could on this trip. After Paris, we took the train to Caen and spent 3 days driving through Normandy and Brittany, and knew we would have many opportunities to eat the classic combination of mussels and fries.

We had our first M&F at a restaurant near Omaha Beach with our friend Colette, at whose house we stayed for 2 nights in Caen. Her DH hates seafood and she hadn't eated mussels in many years. She's a petite, thin woman and she put away a gigantic portion of them, as did we.

Next, on our own in a rental car, we had them again for lunch at a seaside place somewhere on the Normandy coast. It was close to Point du Hoc, our favorite Dday site. It's the German artillery position that was taken out by Allies who scaled vertical cliffs, and is still pockmarked with huge shell holes and Gernan bunkers. We were also moved by the American cemetary.

Our first overnight stay after Caen was Mont St. Michel. We weren't intending on staying there, but it was late afternoon, and I noticed that the hotels were very reasonably priced. We thought it would be a wonderful experience to actually spend the night in that magical place and be there after most of the tourists left. And it was very special, once we figured how the parking works at the base of the mount.

Our revered guidebook, The Rough Guide, noted that tconsistently the worst food in France is guess where? Mont St. Michel! And the guide was right: we had a horrible meal, which I didn't think was possible anywhere in France. However, we picked the restaurant badly and I ordered the wrong thing, but still..... It was worth a bad meal for this experience, though.

Next, we explored Dinan and St. Malo in Brittany, both as a result of threads I read here. But we decided to go on to Concale, the famous oyster town (Napolean supposedly had Concale oysters shipped to him), where we found an OK hotel and had memorable drinks in a seaside bar as the sun went down, and an enjoyable meal in a warm, friendly bistro. This is the place where there was a very odd group of diners, about 8 of the strangest looking people I've ever seen. They looked straight out of a Fellini movie, and had either escaped from a mental hospital or were taking their evening break from the circus. It was good theater.

In between drinks and dinner, we found the oyster shacks that are right next to the quai in Concale. There were about 6 different women selling a variety of oysters, mainly sorted by size. D is an oyster fanatic, so he bought a dozen mediums from one of the ladies who shucked them in record time, slapped a half a lemon on the plastic plate, and told us to throw the shells into the sea. We sat on the retaining wall and he slurped up 11 and I ate one, since I am not an oyster fanatic.

One final word on our moules and frites orgy: towards the end of our stay in Brittany, I was actually starting to get tired of them, but D, as a final goodbye to this coastal area, ate them for both lunch and dinner in the same day. Even I was impressed.

Next: The Day of the Bag Debacle, and after that, Barge Week, at last!

Oysters (be still my heart) We'r due for another trip to Brittany one day. We went to Belon to try the famous oyster of France near their beds.

ttt

Oh dabodin, mussels, oysters and fries!
What more could one ask for except for a bottle of wine. I am so enjoying your report. As I have stated several times, I have not renewed travel magazines, Fodorites write better trip reports with more wonderful details and information plus the personal touch.

Hope to see more of your report when you are have the time..tomorrow I hope!

I am drooling! I could have mussels for lunch and dinner too :D They can keep the fries, I was not impressed with French fries (as fries cooked in France).

THE DAY OF THE BAG DISASTER

I'l try to keep this brief, even though it was the single worst day I've ever spent while on vacation.

We had a rental car, a really cool Alfa Romeo that we lucked into. We even figured out thow to put it into reverse gear BEFORE we needed to! Our goal for the next 2 days was to drive from Northern Brittany to Burgandy. We needed to drop off the car in Auxerre on Friday evening; it was now Thursday, so we had plenty of time.

Our route was through Rennes, Angers and Tours, using superhighways for only part of the time. We decided to spend the night in the tiny town of Langeais where there is a beautiful chateau smack dab in the middle of the village. We found a hotel, explored the chateau, and prepared to eat at the hotel's restaurant. After sitting for 15 minutes without any service next to a baby at the next table who was spitting up and banging the table, we decided to walk out. (It was very expensive, also, for such a small hamlet.) We ate elsewhere, but when we went down to breakfast the next morning, it was the same waitress who had NOT waited on us the night before. Kind of a sticky wicket, but we muddled through. No one in this hotel spoke any English, which was not a problem, at least, not yet.

Due to some really bad communication between us, D ended up putting only one of my two bags into the car's trunk. 5 hours later, after visiting the gorgeous chateaux of Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau and driving to with 45 minutes of Auxerre, I discovered that my black carry-on bag was not in the trunk, or in the car , or even under the hood. It was sitting by the staircase at the hotel in Langeais, a 3 hour drive away. Well, you can imagine the argument that was induced by these circumstances. There were only 3 items in this bag that had real value to me: all my medications, the high blood pressure pills, the migraine headache pills, and the hormones that usually keep me from becoming the raging lunatic that I was fast turning into.

We decided that we had to drive back and get the medications. There might have been other options, but our brains were not working well at this point. 3 hours later, after getting lost, we arrive at the hotel only to find that, true to the blase nature of the French, the owners had left town and shut up the hotel, on a Friday afternoon! Now I'm really losing it, so what do I do? I flag down a passing police car, go to the police station, wait around for half an hour. They call the hotel owner who is very sorry, but won't be returning to town until 2 days later, when we will hopefully be on our blissful barge trip. They take our address and promise to ship the bag, if indeed they had even found it. That little detail was never mentioned.

In a real panic, I run to the Pharmacie and manage to relate my plight to the sympathetic young women who work there. Miraculously, without a prescription, they are able to give me the French alternative to my BP pills and some kind of soy substitute for the hormone med. In my agitated state, I forgot all about the migraine medicine. I am now a true fan of the French pharmacy system!

Then we get back in the car and repeat the 3 hour drive that we have now done three times! Each segment costs $20 in tolls, not to mention the extra gas and the 6 unnecessary hours of driving. It was truly a nightmare.

When we were back to within an hour of Auxerrre, completely exhausted and emotionally spent, I begin to realize that this is not the good ole USA, with Motel 6's open day and night. We were in a very rural area, with tiny villages and it had been a long time since we had seen a hotel and it was getting dark. So, true to my Worry Wort gene, I began to fret that we would end up spending the night in the car. I told D that if we passed anything that remotely resembled a hotel, we were stopping and that was my final position.

Low and behold, at that exact moment, we see a neon (yes, NEON) sign that said "Motel". And there on the side of the road was the French equivalent of the Bates Motel, only the office was closed, naturally. As we turned away, I spotted what looked like an ATM machine next to the office door. It turned out be an automated registration machine. You put in your credit card, pick your room, and get a security code which opens the room door. I've never been so relieved in my life. D is also tired, but upset that we will have to forego dinner, but I'm a happy camper.

Next, AUXERRE AND THE BARGE

Dabodin, really enjoying your trip report : your bag disaster brought to mind my own close escape. In Dorset last spring to sell off the family house, I stayed the last week at a lovely little cottage in the village. Everyone else had returned to the US, and I had the max amount of heavy luggage, bringing home photos, letters, lots of memorabilia. I packed, lugged my bags into the car, said goodbye to our charming hostess, and headed out. I decided to swing by the family house to take photos and say a final farewell, and since it was a nice day, take a last walk over the hill to watch the lambs. All this took me a couple of hours, but no problem.

I was finally heading out of town when my cell phone rang. It was the cottage owner. She had gone into the cottage to change the beds, and discovered my overnight bag (meds inside), sitting on the bedroom floor. I was only 20 minutes away, so quickly headed back for it: what a relief! I could so easily have been almost in London, or she might not have known my cell number (I had used it once to call her when we arrived...) I guess I was distracted by all the things I had to remember, and didn't do my usual bag count. Won't make that mistake again (well, I hope not!)

Great report!!

Thanks,
Sally

SB: I've had many close calls, also. But I guess when your time is up, there's no rescue to be had. I've been back a month, now, and still cannot get the hotel owner to ship back the few items that I would like to have back: the meds, a sweater, and a scarf. The whole thing would cost $20-30 but she can't be bothered, I guess. Unfortunately, there is no way to ship something COD overseas. And I can't prepay the postage because I don't know the weight or the French rates. UPS would cost about $90, which is not worth it.

What a hotel! They close on weekends, never answer their phone, and won't go out of their way to mail something to a customer. Oh well, gripe session over! On to the next leg of my trip.

AUXERRE AND THE BARGE, PART I

On Saturday morning, we get up early and drive to Auxerre. Technically, we were supposed to drop the car off on Friday night, but I'm hoping that if we get there when the rental place opens, they will take pity on us and not charge us for an extra day. And they do! The only trouble now is that it is pouring outside, and we have about 6 blocks to walk, dragging the remaining luggage (at least my load is lighter) to the railway station, and then we have about a 4 hour wait for the train to Chatel Censoir. But we're in Auxerre, which is an incredible city, everything you want in the way of old half-timbered buildings, windy, hilly streets, cool shops, restaurants, cathedral, etc. We take turns with one of us waiting with the bags at the train station, and one exploring the town. We will be coming through here in a week on the barge, so we scope out the marina, too. We've had such perfect weather for 2 weeks, that it's kind of a bummer that the rain has come, but what can be done about it?

When the little, creaky and very old train comes into the station, as we start to walk towards the nearest car, who should climb down to greet us but J, our friend and fellow barge passenger! And I know instantly that this is no Diva! Of course, I already knew that, but I had to string you, the Gentle Reader, along a little bit.

We have a wonderful reunion with her and W, who have commandeered the first-class car, which is only first-class because it is the first car in the train lineup, as far as I can tell. It must be 50 years old, but who cares? There are 2 other couples who sit across the aisle from us who are also picking up a barge, but from somewhere else, thank goodness, because they are very nosy and eavesdrop on our conversation, interjecting unwanted advice and observations. At this point, nothing is said about the fact that J&W plan to desert us a day early. I don't want to ruin the party.

The train's conductor comes by not to ask for our tickets or demand to know why we're sitting in first-class, but to tell us that there's a problem with the train, and we will have to get off at the stop before Chatel Censoir. Not to worry, they will bus us directly to the marina. OK, that will probably be all right I say, but inside I'm wondering if this is a terrible omen of things to come.

Sure enough, we pile into a large bus with the other 4 sets of bargers (2 American groups, one German, and one French, which shocked me because the usual reaction from a French person is "Why would anyone want to do that?" They just don't get it.)

It's a very jolly group of people, which is good, because we are packed like sardines in there, with all our bags piled on top of seats and in the aisle. I guess there was no luggage compartment under the bus.

They take us to the Crown Blue marina (this operation is really owned by a subsidiary called the Connoisseur Line). Being the Type A that I am, I race ahead of the pack so that we will be first in line in getting our boat. Once we get on the boat, D remembers that he left his backpack on the bus! It takes all of my 56 years of experience in life to not smirk and say something sarcastic, but I hold my tongue. Luckily, these people are efficient and they get his bag back within an hour. D is a little sheepish, however, which is very satisfying.

Did I say omen of bad things a few paragraphs ago? The next thing that happens is still hard to fathom. We are told that there is a small grocery store in this tiny village, and J & I even walk over to check it out. However, we don't go in because we want to be present when the barge guy explains how to operate the boat. When he's done, we notice that there are a few supplies that are missing from the boat. For one thing, there is one garbage bag to last us an entire week. There is no dish soap or sponge, just 2 tea towels. There are no regular towels in the bathrooms, and no bath soap. No napkins but plenty of dishes, flatware and bad pots and pans. Well, a trip to the grocery store will remedy all that, plus we need to stock up on food, coffee and wine.

At about 1:00 PM, J & I return to the store only to find the owner getting onto his motorcycle and leaving his closed up shop! He's closing the store for the weekend in order to do inventory!!! We beg him with pitiful whining sounds, but he will not budge. He is French, and if you've decided to close your store (the only one in town) at the same time when 5-6 groups of tourists want to buy you out, then it is your right to do so.

We find a bakery, a butcher shop and a wine shop which miraculously has instant coffee and milk. We now have enough food so that we won't starve, but we still do not have the kitchen items we need. In fact, it will be 3 long days before we find a grocery store that is actually open when we need it to be. Until then, we wash our dishes with shampoo and tea towels. The instant coffee turns out to be very tasty, and we beg the barge people to give us some towels, which they do, but reluctantly. I guess they expect people who have traveled all the way from the U.S. and spent thousands of dollars on a barge trip to bring their own bathroom towels. And I don't remember reading anything in the small print, but there it is.

Next, WE ARE ON OUR WAY AT LAST

Ålthough it was 10 years ago, and individuals and attitudes change, the Rives de France people in St. Florentin drove a group of us to the nearest supermarché (on the other side of town) so that we could do our shopping. The fact that most river ports for barging are in small towns does present a problem when wanting to stock up. One solution is to insure that the chosen itinerary hits a larger town fairly soon in the trip.

Is anybody still reading this?

I'm loving it - always wondered what it would be like to "drive" a barge for a week. Can't wait to hear more.

Yes! Please continue! I'm not planning a trip to France or contemplating a barge trip, but I'm enjoying your report anyway.

Thanks.

Uh, yeaahhh! And indentifying with your DH, if I say so myself (for better or worse). Go on . . .

Yes, I'm enjoying every word...this is definitely something I'd love to do! Thanks for sharing...kr

LOL <i>We beg him with pitiful whining sounds, but he will not budge. He is French, and if you've decided to close your store (the only one in town) at the same time when 5-6 groups of tourists want to buy you out, then it is your right to do so.</i>
I can hear it and picture it! very funny..

Of course we are reading, keep writing!!! Don't dally now, we are waiting. Enjoying the report very much by the way.

reading every new installment and finding it very entertaining!

Dabodin: of course we're reading; it's YOU who's having trouble keeping up with your writing!

I was so relieved to find a new chapter tonight and now you've left us hanging again!

BARGE TRIP, PART II

Since everyone is still hanging in there with me, here goes with what may be the last segment?

One of the things you have to do before they let you loose on these expensive boats is take it out for a test run. Then you have to back it into the pier, kind of like parallel parking a
houseboat. J and I missd this part because we were still up in the town, begging the grocery store owner to have pity on us. The test run seemed to go all right, since the boat had not sunk when we returned. There was one restaurant open in the town, and we had a delightful meal there, probably the best one on the barge portion of the trip. Roast duck, fried potatoes, tender green beans, local red wine, and chocolate mousse for dessert. Yum. By the way, Chatel Censoir is a quaint little village and worth a visit.

The next morning is Sunday, and all of the barges are leaving at the same time. There's a traffic jam at the first lock, but we fall into the pattern that will define the next week: sleep in later than our fellow bargers, and be the last boat to leave. Actually, after the second day, we all spread out on the canal and only have rare sightings of each other, which is fine with us.

D and W have decided to be the co-captains. J and I will man the ropes (or is it woman the ropes?) and supply the captains with wine and cheese, when appropriate. Learning to steer the boxy boat proves to be quite difficult for there is a lag time between turning the wheel and the actual movement of the boat. So a lot of over-correcting is done for the first few days until they get the hang of it. The barge seems to weave down the canal as though steered by drunken sailors, which is not really the case! And then there was the problem with the reverse gear. It's not just a European car thing but also a boat thing. There are 2 steering positions, inside the cabin and up on top of the boat. It turns out that the gears in one position have to be a certain way before the gears in the other position will work correctly. D had to find this out the hard way when he entered a lock and could not get the boat to back up, thus ramming the lock gates and causing some consternation. There was also something wrong with the starter because quite often, the boat would simply not allow itself to be turned off. Even with the key taken out of the ignition, the engine would continue to idle. They finally learned how to jiggle and tweak the gears, knobs and buttons, but it continued to be a problem.

The only sunshine we were to see was on the first day. Our beautiful umbrella table on top of the boat had to sit forlorn and empty for much of the trip. And only one of the bikes was ever ridden, by J who had a close encounter with some goats, friendly ones however. Mostly it was just damp and cloudy, with gusty rain every once in a while. But the misty conditions really seemed to enhance the natural beauty of the scenery. Imagine yourself inside an Impressionist painting, say by Manet, and you get the picture. The trees were just beginning to turn color, but mostly it was a million shades of green, with constant sightings of blue herons, swans, ducks and horses. The Nivernais Canal runs parallel to the Yonne River, and every so often you'd find yourself on the river and then back on the canal. The only real difference was the river actually had rapids off to the side every once in a while, which was kind of scary.

Entering the locks becomes second nature after you've done a dozen or so. They appear about every 20-30 minutes. As the captain slows down and tries not to bump into the concrete sides, the 2 rope people jump off the boat and loop the ropes around pilons to keep the vessel firmly in place. Then, as the water rises or falls, you have to feed the rope out. When the water in the lock levels out and the gates open, out you go. As you can imagine, on rainy days, the ropes get wet and so do the rope people. In fact, since the water for the showers will only get hot when the engine has been running for a while, we couldn't take showers first thing in the morning, and certain people got pretty lazy about taking them at all. The shower situation was not helped by the fact that the towels never dried out in the 7 days we were out there. Damp and humid, all the time.

But it was such a blast, really! It's fun to have jobs to do instead of just sitting on the deck and having some employee bring you drinks when you snap your fingers. I guess a luxury barge cruise would be nice, but not our style, I'm afraid.

Our route took us from Chatel Censoir downstream to Migennes. One of the highlights included passing the Rochers du Saussois, sheer limestone cliffs that provide entertainment for rockclimbers. We spent a night at Vermenton, a small town which was supposed to have a SuperMarche, but was closed, of course, at 3:00 PM. We came back in the morning and finally got some of the groceries that we'd had to do without for days! We had beers at a pub there. Wine may be cheap in France, but beer is extremely expensive. This was hard on D, who is a beer drinker. He found a bier brun called Pelford, I think, that was quite tasty.

We were in the midst of the incredible wine surrounding Irancy, and we had a running joke to see how cheap we could go on a bottle and have it still be drinkable. 1.4 Euros was the lowest, and I swear it was pretty darn good. At Bailly, we were able to tie up the boat on a bank and walk up a hill to a wine coop housed in a gigantic former stone quarry. The tasting room was deep inside the quarry and quite an experience. We bought a few bottles including as gifts, some delicious Creme de Cassis, a specialty of the region.

It's 11:30 and I must to bed. I promise to finish up tomorrow.

Oh dabodin, although I have never been on a barge, or even in France I am so enjoying your trip report. We had a 28 foot boat that we kept in the Delta (N Ca) How I can relate to some of your comments. Ah, handling the ropes, jumping off the boat, tying up the boat, oh yes, fun times, LOL.

And the lack of showers. We went on a 26 foot sailboat up the inland passage from Canada once with two 12 year olds, two teens and we three adults. No shower on on the sailboat. We all had one shower the entire week, LOL. Still can't believe it to this day, but fun times. I can hardly wait for some more of your trip report, especially at the point where it is just you and your husband. No rush, but please, do if possible post tomorrow! Merci.

I am not what you would call a drinker but I do love the occassional creme de cassis. In fact tonight I have just made some cassis sorbet, using frozen blackcurrants and of course creme de cassis! Maybe you could try this if you like the flavour of blackcurrants!! Obviously after you have finished the report, would not want you to get sidetracked or anything!

Actually, Schnauzer, we didn't buy any creme de cassis for ourselves (stupid!), just as a gift for my mother. But the sorbet sounds wonderful!

Enjoying the trip report - When you mentioned the Creme de Cassis I went and looked at the lables on my two bottles.
First bottle says: Creme de Cassis De Bourgogne(double creme Cartron)- Joseph Cartron - Nuits Saint Georges France.
The other: Super Creme De Cassis - Bardinet - Bordeaux,France.
I love to marinate fresh sliced strawberries for an hour or two in Creme de Cassis then serve with vanilla icecream or creme fraiche.

My friends love it when I play the French hostess and offer them a Kir Royal before dinner!

BARGE TRIP, PART III

I promised to tell you the story of THE ONLY RUDE FRENCH PERSON WE MET. On the second day of our cruise, when we still didn't really know what we were doing, we saw a lock coming up pretty far in the distance. It looked as though there was a large boat in the lock, facing towards us. Instead of continuing forward to get a better handle on the situation, we held our barge back and waited for the other boat to come out of the lock. But it didn't move for the longest time. At this point, W jumped off the boat onto the towpath and walked towards the lock to investigate. Finally, we saw the locktender closing the gates, and realized that the boat was actually going downstream, same as us. As we entered the lock, the locktender,a woman, was standing by the gate and taking pains not to acknowledge us. If looks could kill!!! As we tied up, W said that she was furious with us. She had made the other boat wait so that we could go into the lock after them and save herself the work of having to open and close the lock twice. At that point, we had always been the only boat in a lock and didn't even realize that there could be multiple boats in a lock. Later in the trip, there were sometimes 4 boats together. Anyway, this particular locktender had yelled at W and really told him off, at least we think so because it was all in French, of course. To punish us, she made us wait in the lock for about 15 minutes before doing her thing.

A word about locktenders on this canal (I don't know about elsewhere in France): each lock has a cute little house where the locktenders once lived. Now the the locktenders are mostly professionals who work for the government and wear distinctive navy outfits. They have a very effective monitoring system which allows them to know when a boat is going to appear at a partcular lock, and dispatch a man in little white trucks. Sometimes, the same guy would follow us from lock to lock. None of the locks were do-it-yourself. Towards the end of the trip, we noticed the people on a barge ahead of us handing a tip to the locktender, which the first we knew about tipping them. Maybe that's why they weren't particularly friendly to us? There were a few non-government locktenders. The most interesting was a large, unkempt man who was the spitting image of Wallace Beery in an old pirate movie, beer belly and all, complete with skinny-man sidekick and trusty dog. They never stopped their animated conversation while they opened and closed the gates for us.

The Cousins had regaled us with stories of their barging days, buying wine and vegetables from the little old lady locktenders, and picking charming restaurants for each evening's feast. We never saw anything for sale at the locks, except some primitive looking ceramics at one place. And we were lucky to find any open restaurants at all on this trip. Maybe because it was late in the season (the first week in October)? Inevitably, when we did find a restaurant, it was closed. We had to become expert foragers, entering a village like marauding Vikings, sniffing out any shop that was open and buying more food than we needed. You just never knew when you'd have to go days without any. I found a chacuterie in one town and waited outside it, early in the morning, so I could pounce on the unsuspecting owner when she opened up. I ended up buying eggs, cheese, salami, ham, cookies, and deep dish pizza. I must have spent $50. At one point, her husband come into the shop from the back, and they exchanged significant looks, as in &quot;This American must be on a boat with a dozen people!&quot; In one town, we went back to one boulangerie 3 times in one day because we kept thinking of other things we needed, and nothing else was open that day. It was an adventure and not for the faint-hearted.

Now, I know you're wondering how the situtation with J&amp;W worked out, since they wanted to get off the barge a day early. We were making such good time on our cruise, that we decided to just arrive in Migennes a day early, they would grab the train to Paris and we would just relax and spend the last night onboard. We got along incredibly well with them- they were flexible, adaptable and had wonderful positive outlooks, which shamed me into trying to be the same way. Sharing hardships (no food, no dishsoap, no showers, damp towels) really made us bond even more.

Our last stop before the end was in Auxerre, and I can't begin to tell you what heaven this city is. For one thing, everything is open, all day long!
There are dozens of restaurants to choose from, streets to get lost on, incredible architecture to gaze at. After the deprivations we'd been forced to endure up to that point, we were like kids in a candy shop. Without a doubt, next to Paris, Auxerre is my favorite city in France, but then, context is everything....

Our stay in Migennes was uneventful; dropping off the barge was a breeze, thanks to a very nice, very amusing Brit who runs the Connosseur marina there. He let us check out the evening before we were due, and commiserated with us about the eccentricities of the French. I guess that's what makes them so fascinating, though: while they are blase about following rules, that also makes them more accomodating in other ways. the Gallic shrug says it all.

If you are planning to do a bare-boat barge trip yourself, I would strongly suggest going earlier in the season, depending on the area, of course. Early September would be perfect. Of course, when the weather is nicer there are going to be more boats competing for moorage space and backing up at the locks. But you are allowed to tie up anywhere along the shore because it's considered public land, so it's easy to get away from other boats, but sometimes the location may not be as convenient to the amenities. You also need to find out exactly what is provided and what is not provided. You do receive a detailed navigational guide, and lists of restaurants and shops, but the hours are not always accurate. Above all, you need to be resilient and have a sense of humor. I would highly recommend this as a unique way to see the gorgeous French countryside at a very slow pace. Even with all the little problems we faced, it was a fantastic experience.

We spent our last night in Paris, staying at the CDG Hilton. It was like returning from a camping trip and being plunked into a palace. We went back into the center of the city and spent the afternoon wandering around the Left Bank. We loved the Luxembourg Gardens. There was a fascinating photography exhibit lining an entire wall. We ended up back at Pot de Terre, duplicating the meal we'd had there with the Cousins, but not duplicating the fun and laughter we'd experienced there.

We never did make it up the Eiffel Tower: the lines were always too long. We didn't see half the things we wanted to see in Paris, but that's why you need to return, hopefully, many times.

Au revoir!!

Thank you for finishing the report. It was very entertaining and fun to read. Will you try this again, or was once enough?

I've always had a wish to do a barge trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about yours. The brochures make it sound like an idyllic adventure, but I figured there was more to it than the glossy photos! I'd still like to try it!

You are changing my long term vacation deployment master plan!!! I feel the need to go barging sooner than it had been scheduled :D

Lemon: Do you mean will I try the barge trip again or another trip report? Barge trip: yes, definitely. Trip report: it was such hard work, I'm not sure.

I'm glad my description of the barge trip has not totally dampened people's enthusiasm to try it. It was worth every penny and all the effort required.

dabodin,

Damn! Hit &quot;enter&quot; too soon. I just had to ask if you really ate &quot;Special K&quot; for breakfast on the boat?

One of the best parts of &quot;ditch crawling&quot;, in our opinion, is to have one early riser get up early, walk or bike into the nearest village, smell out (literally) the local bakery and load up with warm pastries for breakfast and crusty baggettes for lunch.

Yum!

:-)

Now that is funny, the message I thought I had posted accidentally simply disappeared.

No matter. I merely suggested that our experience was that late May or early June and the first week of September will find many more shops and restaurants open -- and not much more boat traffic. You can search my name on the Forum to see the trip report I filed in early October about our trip on the Saone River.

:-)

Thanks for a very nice report, dab.

((I))

Thanks, Ira.

Nukesate: Yes, I really did eat Special K. I was the self-designated early riser, and yes, I did buy croissants, pain de chocolate and baguettes, but if I eat them every morning, my plumbing goes on the fritz very rapidly. I need more fiber, if you know what I mean. Especially when I travel, for some reason.

Hi dabodin,
I have been sitting here freezing and wanting to grab a jersey but I couldn't leave the computer until I had read the whole report! As a 'downunder' resident (NZ not AUST) this is my first real foray onto the Europe site, and that was only because of an email from fodors. If all reports are as quirky as yours I won't need to travel - I will just read the reports and feel I have been on the journey with you.
Thank you for such an enjoyable report.
And now I am going to get warm!

dabodin: your excellent report is one of the reasons I only write snippets - yours was soooo good. Thanks.

Just signed up on Fodor's and dabodins report is the first that I read. Very enjoyable!!!

Dab: please continue reporting on tour travels. You may enjoy the travel and WE will enjoy the trip reports. thnx