September 6
This morning started with a trip to the tourist office to check my emails and flight home options. There are no business class seats available on AA for the next ten days but USAir has a fare special for a round trip Paris-PA-Paris for $470 at the end of next week – couldn’t get into the reservations though so will have to go back and try again. I stopped at the news stand and bought my favorite French magazine and a British tabloid newspaper that has a short story about the death of Steve Irwin – I thought there would be more coverage; perhaps that will come later. Such a sad story – I loved his tv shows.
When I got back to the boat we had coffee and then Dave went over to the boatyard to find out when he could have the work done on the boat. Just as I was about to leave to go to the book swap with Jeannie, Allison and George tied alongside to say good-bye and give us a book that he had written – how very nice of them! I have gotten rather fond of them, he is so laid back and funny and she has relaxed and has been very nice.
At the book swap, I took a few of Dave’s books and traded them for a bunch more – at least my supply of books is intact for awhile! I even found some old Laurence Saunders and the Drifters for Lizzi. I finally caught up with Dave and we had lunch at the Admiral. I saw a painting there, they have a bunch of them for sale in the restaurant by what I assume to be local artists, that I think I shall buy. It is called “Tristesse” and is of a young boy staring out a window. It is rather sad but speaks to me on several levels. After lunch we went to the hardware store and bought the lace that John wants for all his windows – 24 meters – for 50E.
We came back to the boat and I put the second coat of marigold paint on the bathroom wall and started to paint the edges in the green, which turned out to be rather too blue. I will have to find a different color for the second coat – it is a pretty color but does not go with the other colors in there – too bad.
We went over to Rick and Jean’s boat for drinks. They showed us a journal they keep that is a bound book which he writes in every day with notes of the day, names of people and their boats, and accompanying photos – it is a very nice log. They told fascinating stories about their travels and life in Russia. They took covert photos of boats with Jeannie hiding in the ladies room on a tourist boat that was going past the boat they wanted to photograph. She said she was trained for a year before they went to Russia – has the makings of a good spy novel.
We tried to go out for dinner afterwards but it was too late so we fixed dinner on the boat.
September 7
We left the public quay before 9 to avoid the VNF chasing us off, and went to fuel the boat before entering the canal where the boat will stay for the winter. It is such beautiful weather that it seems a shame not to take the boat down the river for a few days to explore before she is committed to the mooring in the work yard. But I guess the good news is that my job is over once she is tied up this morning and I can go back to the US and concentrate on my own homes. I don’t need to worry about making the curtains that I have wanted to get done as no one will be able to see in the aft stateroom windows and Dave can just continue to put his t-shirts over the portholes to block out the light if he so desires. I want to get the painting in the aft head finished so I am hoping if I go in town this morning that they will be able to get me a new color by tomorrow. Dave seems to be looking forward to this mooring as he will be right where anything can be fixed if necessary but just the thought of it gives me claustrophobia. I will worry about him climbing over three boats to get to his in the dark, or rain or ice but his philosophy seems to be that if he breaks a leg then he was meant to break a leg and that this mooring chose him so it is meant to be. I see it as a lack of advance planning – he has known for four years that he wanted the boat to stay here for winters and he never made a reservation. However since he is happy about this – it is fine, and not my problem. The added bonus is that we are tied to a boat owned by a single lady from Lyon who comes here on weekends. However, Jean-Luc says she is not attractive but as we know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and if all else fails – any port in a storm. Helene is no beauty but that didn’t seem to matter to the Captain. I just hate to pay for a round trip airline ticket and find that I’ve been replaced by the Lady from Lyon!
After we got the boat secured, we walked into town and ordered the new paint color and went to the Amiral for brunch. I asked the owner about the painting and he told me it is done by a woman who went to art school in Dijon. I told him I would like to buy it and he told me to come back after lunch. We went back to the boat for a bit and then around 2:15 walked to the grocery store to buy a bottle of wine to take to Dave and Marty’s this evening for cocktails; Dave went back to the boat and I went to pay for my painting. As I was doing so, the owner thought I was leaving St. Jean and was saying good-bye when I told him Dave was staying for the winter and I would be coming back and forth. He was very pleased with this news and told me to tell Dave if he needed “Everything, everything, everything” that he would be happy to get him whatever he wanted. I came back to the boat and we read, I painted and we went to Dave and Marty’s boat for cocktails from 6:30 until after 8; at which time we came back to the boat and played some more gin (I’m now ahead 11,110 points) and decided against dinner and went to bed early to read. Dave fell asleep after about 15 minutes and I had a hunger for cookies so I took my book into the main cabin and read while putting a huge dent in the cookie box.
After I turned off my light and gave one more look at my painting – willing a name for the boy to come to me during the night – I realized his name was Auguste.
September 8
In the morning I went to the tourist office while Dave listened to the local radio station. I was able to book a flight on USAir next Friday, the 15th. It will be in coach but it is at least a direct flight. Dave joined me at the tourist office to check his emails and we went to L’Amiral for bacon and eggs for breakfast – it was great. Dave picked up my paint for me and we came back to the boat after breakfast and I put the new color on the wall – it isn’t perfect but it is better.
Jeannie and Rick met us at “L’Amiral for drinks and told more stories of their travels – one about trying to buy a camel at the camel market in Pakistan; they didn’t actually want to buy it but thought it would be funny to have it delivered to his CO of whom they weren’t very fond. After drinks Dave and I want to a new restaurant for dinner and it was excellent – I had a wonderful salad with walnuts and goat cheese toasted on slices of baguette and duck in a cassis sauce, Dave had fish stew and a filet of pork. There was a darling little apricot poodle in the restaurant who sat with us while we ate – we were the only people there. After dinner I noticed a little brown and black kitten on a chair behind me who was peeking out under the tablecloth. We took the rest of our wine and the kitten into the bar and sat there for a bit – the kitten just sat in my lap. We made a reservation to go back tomorrow night with the “gang” for dinner. We went back to the boat and I fell asleep immediately.
September 9
This morning we got up and headed for the local market in town – it was only a few vendors with clothing, not even a fruit and vegetable stand. The only thing I wanted other than fresh fruit and veggies was a bag that I had seen in Pontallier-sur-Saone that I wished I had gotten for Ryan but there was nothing there like it. We walked across the river to Losne and checked out the grocery store on that side – it has an incredible selection of wine – we bought two bottles. We stopped by the dock and agreed to meet Jeannie and Rick, and Judy and Eric at L’Amiral for drinks at 6:30 and then go to last night’s restaurant for dinner around 7.
Dave stopped at L’Amiral for coffee – I went to the book swap and got a few more books for the library then met Dave at L’Amiral where I had a drink of Mirabelle syrup and water – it was delicious.
George and Allison called after we got back to the boat to see if we wanted to have lunch today but we didn’t so they agreed to meet us this evening as well, along with Dave and Marty. Should be a fun evening.
Tom, from the boat Het Avontuur, which is parked a few boats down the canal from us, stopped by for a visit and invited us for cocktails at 6 – hic! I spent the afternoon painting and doing laundry. Dave cleaned the kitchen and read.
At 6 we headed a few boats over to the cocktail party hosted by Tom and Laurel where we met so many people we forgot most of their names, and we could only stay for about a half hour – Rick and Jeannie arrived and we left to met the rest of the group at L’Amiral – Judy and Eric, Dave and Marty, and George and Allison. We had a drink there and headed to the restaurant for dinner. The people at the restaurant were glad to see us and had our table set and ready to go – Rick and Jeannie (and Bosun) were already there. Fortunately our dinners were all as good as last night and everyone was pleased – we all had first courses and dinners and some had the fixed price meals which included dessert, a few people had coffee and wine was abundant and the bill came to 46E per couple! Rick told more stories – one about an enlisted man on his ship who made the error of coming aboard with an earring – Rick said he ripped the earring right out of his ear and tossed it overboard. We were all there until 11:30 – George and Allison stayed after we left. The chef came out to say hello and thank you to everyone, and it was a great evening, all in all. We found our way back to the boat by flashlight and passed out.