Buses...Trains...Boats...

Bonjour yet again!

At this moment, we are sitting quietly in our boat at the Porte de Bram. How we got here is quite the story!

Monday morning we were up very early (which was difficult as we were late to bed Sunday night, having had a great dinner at the Sargent Recruiter, on the Ile St. Louis) to get things cleaned up and ready to go on the next phase of our great adventure! Not too much cleaning, fortunately, as we had cleaned for Alain and Graciela’s visit on Friday night. But there was vacuuming and bathroom, and still we were out of the door by 6:30 a.m. for the bus – unfortunately, the 82 doesn’t start running until 7! Oh well!! Made it to Gare Montparnasse in about 15 minutes, and schlepped the incredible load (remember those Fedex-ed books?? 24 lbs. of them? Well, they had to go somewhere...) Met Brenda and Chris and only had a short wait for our TGV track to post. Took a little over 5 hours to get to Toulouse, where we were scheduled for a train change ... however... turns out, that even though I had asked, the train really wasn’t a train, it was, instead, a bus – which left from the bus depot right next to the train station! Mad scramble over there to the big luxury bus – and they accepted our train ticket, so no idea what was going on! So, big bus to the train station at Castelnaudary. We had been told that the boat basin was “very close”...right...especially if you’re schlepping suitcases, including a library! Chris and Brenda stayed with the luggage, and R and I went to look for Crown Blue Line. Found it; about ½ mile away. R started checking us in, and one of the employees, Pierre, took me back to the train station in his little van for Chris, Brenda and the loads of luggage. Our boat is lovely, but even though we had been upgraded to a larger (and much more posh) boat, there still wasn’t room for luggage! Are managing just, but not sure if we will ever find everything again! Pierre took us out on a familiarization cruise around the basin, and taught R and Chris how to run the boat. Incredibly warm and beautiful evening; loved floating around the boat basin. As it was now after 6, (and the locks close at 6) we decided to stay in the boat basin for the night. Pierre (my new best-friend!) drove us into town, which was wonderful, as we were able to catch the grocery store while it was still open! Bought water, cheese and cookies – most of the life’s essentials. It being Monday night not too much was open, but we did find the Maison du Cassoulet in Castelnaudary and ate there. Brenda and R had entrecote with wonderful home-made french friends, Chris had Cassoulet (which he says tastes like pork and beans...) and I had a great salad with feta and blue cheeses, tomatoes and radishes; just great! Brenda had chocolat fondant, Chris had creme brulee, R had the tarte au pomme, and I had glace au chocolat for dessert. We had the restaurant call a cab for us to take us back to the boat, which worked out well. We all pretty much hit the hay upon our return; early night, but we were all tired – mostly from schlepping luggage across the French landscape! The boat had finally begun to cool off (I think it was just being taken out for the first time of the new season, and had been closed up awhile...) but we slept with all doors and windows (or whatever you call them in nautical terms!) open. Very cool to wake up to, but we had great duvets to keep us warm if/when needed.

As part of my 10,000 steps, I took it upon myself to go in search of bread. Not wanting to find the obvious, for some reason I headed out of town rather than in to town ... more steps, perhaps? Finally turned back and headed to town...accosted a nice elderly (older than R, that is!) gentleman who had a baguette in his bag ... asked him where to find...he was very sweet; actually walked me back into town to the local boulangerie where I bought 2 pain au chocolat, 4 croissants and 2 baguettes. Lovely walk back; lots of steps. We had a nice breakfast, cheese, bread of various sorts and water; lovely!

About a quarter to 9, Pierre returned to take us through the first lock ... which actually turned out to be a set of FOUR locks all in a row! R drove, and Chris and I were crew – me in the front and Chris in the back. Got a good rhythm going, got through all the locks, and left Pierre to make his way back to the boat basin ... really will miss him! (Note: Okay ... here we were with the lovely little umbrella up keeping the top deck shaded – and now we start going under a bridge...well, at least we found out why the umbrella stand had a really large bend in it!! Just couldn’t get it out of its stand fast enough to save it from bending over!! Worried about it a bit (actually saw another boat do it after we did...) but R was able to pound the stand back into more-or-less the right shape, so now it works again! YEA!) After a few more locks, Chris took over the wheel, and actually ended up handling the boat the rest of the day. In total, we did 18 locks – and let me tell you, it wasn’t nearly as easy as one is led to believe (if one is easily led...). There really needs to be a minimum of three people on board – one to drive, one for the front of the boat and one for the rear. I did a REALLY stupid thing, which was jump off the boat onto the shore, and really wrenched my right knee...That was all I needed! Am not sure when I can even remember 1) physically working this hard, 2) being this dirty, and 3) having this many bandaids and bruises! (As a side note, when I tried to take the top of boat off with my head this morning, I bet with Brenda that by the end of the trip, that I will have more bruises that she will...I am positive I’m ahead; I’ve even somehow got a bruised ankle, which is very rare indeed!) My knee really limited my mobility, and Brenda was a terrific sport and jumped in (without wrenching either knee!) for me. I took many, many Advil (thanks, Nicole!) and rested a bit, and went back out on the lines for more...We hadn’t planned any too well as far as groceries were concerned...when we did the barge trip down the Loing Canal with Angus several years ago, it seemed that there were many little towns right on the canal! Here, however, they are mostly much farther back from the road. So, pushed on through our locks until we hit Bram – Chris even had to do the last four locks with another boat in the lock as well! He did a GREAT job, as steering a 40 foot boat is NOT easy...despite what the brochures tell you! One thing that we hadn’t really thought about or expected – the Pyrenees! We could see the mountains, still snow covered, in the distance – made for a beautiful frame for photographs! Once at Bram, R and I both tried out our shower – and it works amazing well; lots of fun, although we were really dirty! Changed clothes and decided to go in for supplies – and here is a quandry – if you go in early enough to catch an open grocery store, NONE of the restaurants are yet open for dinner! Bram, as it turns out, is a mile from the port, and the walking (especially with my knee...) was difficult, and done on the side of the road – with cars zipping past us at high speed! (No path other than the road, either.) We found the grocery and stocked up again with more cheese, tangerines, and cold cuts, as well as garbage bags and dish detergent, which we needed (and now I’ll have lovelier hands, as it has aloe vera in it!). Found that it would be at least an hour until the restaurant opened, and opted to take the one-cab-in-town back to the boat basin, and eat in...lovely picnic supper of all sorts of goodies. Nice and cool evening now, and we are all (finally) at rest. My right shoulder feels like it has been pulled out of its socket (from hanging on the boat rope in the locks) but my knee isn’t too bad, so there is hope for tomorrow! I predict that it will be an early night for all (it’s SO nice going places with readers...) – I KNOW it will be for me! Not sure how I’ve managed to do all this typing, but I wanted to get things down before I started to forget!

More later!!
Love,
m