Paris - Seine - Canal du Loing - Canal de Briare
with Sandra, Graham, Tiffany and Chelsea
Paris in July
The weather is still cool and the topic of conversation with the French as well as visitors, it seems it is unusually cool all over Europe in contrast to the heat wave last year.
Before the family arrived we had some time to wander around Paris without any real timetable.
Arsenal is well placed to walk to the Lourve, etc or catch the Metro from the Bastille station.
It is great not having a timetable, we walked along the Seine to the Lourve stopping to look at the booksellers, whose green boxes offer an amazing assortment of old books, post cards, prints and odds and ends.
On the opposite side of the road we came across the plant nursery and pet shop area along the footpath. It is amazing to see as many plants, trees, shrubs that normally fit in a suburban garden nursery all displayed alongside the footpath. Once in among the trees it is hard to imagine the traffic is going along not more than 3 metres away.
The large pot on the far right and far left were for sale for 600 euros.
On our walk we came across the Paris, Hotel de Ville ( equivalent to Town Hall or Council Office) Completed in 1882 the facades are decorated with 378 sculpted works all around the building.
Of course on the way we came across typical Paris car parking.
On Saturday we went to the Palace of Versaille. In summer the fountains and music are played for 2 hours twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays called the Grand Eaux Musicales. We had a lovely afternoon wandering around to all the different areas with fountains.
On Sunday we went to the Paris markets.
Chelsea had the camera and was really interested in what was sold and how it was displayed. She also took a photo of the pork counter where they had trotters, cheeks, the tongue and a very large ear.
Sunday evening we all got dressed up for our night at the Moulin Rouge. What a great table we had centre stage and up on the front of the first level. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take cameras in otherwise you would be able to see Kevin and I doing a jive on the stage of the Moulin Rouge. It was the first time I have danced since I had my knee replacement.
Over the 5 days they were in Paris the others went off to all the usual sights, the Louvre, Eiffel Tour, Notre Dame. Kevin and I wandered through our favourite parks which have lovely green lawns which you are not allowed to walk on (there are signs forbidding it, also, often a person with a big loud whistle shaking a hand and saying get off!! ). The displays of very colourful flowers are also beautiful this time of the year. One day we passed a small patch of beach sand about 10x10 metres in a park with about 30 kids going mad making castles and digging tunnels. Around this time of the year sand is brought in to certain places along the Seine and the quays are turned into a beach with palm trees and sun lounges. I suppose it is the one time a year the local kids see sand.
Alongside the port were Boules courts so we had a bit of fun.
Arsenal is a unique place in Paris. Where else can you get a BYO apartment for 21.50 euros per night.
On the day we left, we took the boat down the Seine. What a great feeling with the roof back so we could see the sights we waited for the traffic lights on the river to turn green and off we went passed Ile St Louis, Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, under the bridges of Paris. The romantic Pont Alexandre 111 was shining in a little sunshine then on to the Eiffel Tour. How exciting it was.
Now we went on our next journey to give the kids the experience of life on the canals
Canal du Loing
49 kilometres and 18 locks
On our drive back up the Seine, the Edwards family experienced the big locks of the Seine and the commercial barges
before entering the Canal du Loing which closely follows the Loing River. Now we were back into normal size locks going up.
We had stopped the first night on the side of the Seine and then the next two nights alongside the canal. Of course our first walk in the morning is to get the baguette.
We very quickly progressed from 2 or 3 baguettes a day to 5 or 6.
Kevin was very careful with Tiffany and Chelsea and they wore lifejackets while out helping to lock. They were very good about it as they are both very good swimmers but it made us feel happier when they wore them.
They were very good at walking along the boat outside from front to back but not so their mother. Our only mishap was when Sandra held onto the flagpole and reached out and promptly fell into the canal along with the broken pole.
Unfortunately we didn't have the camera out as were very busy laughing and trying to get her back on the boat. She spent the next few days wondering what she might have caught while in the water. One good thing about it was that we have now bought an emergency ladder in case one of us falls in as we realised that one person was not enough to pull the other back into the boat.
Along the way Tiffany and Chelsea got into the cooking mood. We bought a cake mix which came in its own cardboard 'cake tin', and a brownie fudge mix also with a cardboard container for the oven.
Our next stop was Montargis. There was a beautiful display of flowers on the bridges as we went into the narrow channel into the old city.
Chelsea and I left the others on the boat to check out the deep lock into the port
Montargis is a very pretty town called the Little Venice of the Gatinais as it has many small canals with 16 bridges crossing them. We stayed here for two days with plenty to see.
It always seems such a contrast when you see the satellite dishes on buildings in a scene like this. We also decided that fish should definitely be off the menu when we visited the restaurant when we saw the lady in the background with the fishing rod. Look carefully.
The Edwards were getting very good at bonjours, au revoirs and merci. Sandra was very brave and successfully negotiated her way through getting a hair cut without her knowing French and the hairdresser not knowing any English.
Chelsea and Tiffany discovered the difficulty of buying a familiar item in a country where you don’t speak the language when they went to buy icecreams.
Sandra and Graham discovered the joys of France where drinks are a different price depending on whether you were sitting at the bar, sitting at a table in the bar or sitting on the terrace while we had drinks in the square.
We went to the market for fruit and vegetables which are always very fresh, then to the general market to hunt out clothes and jewellery.
Monday evening we went out for dinner and Sandra found a small family restaurant which had snails on the menu. The snails were presented in a cream sauce of Roquefort cheese and garlic on a special snail plate which has 12 indentations. Tiffany and Chelsea were very brave and tried one snail each and we shared the rest
Canal de Briare
54 kilometres 32 locks.
We are now in the Canal Briare so it is a busy time locking but not bad when there are 6 people to help. On the way we went through the lock that won the contest for the best floral display.
There were also magnificent displays of hydrangea along the way.
Sandra and Chelsea did a few kilometres on the bikes and at one time ran out of path and had to ride through long grass.
We stopped for a day at Rogny Les Sept Ecluses, a great port along a tree lined canal. It has a set of seven ancient locks which are now superseded by two deep locks. The captain of the port, Robert and Natalie Biteur run the boat chandlery, Boat Engineering Services and are very helpful.
Our next stop was Briar as we wanted to see the Pont de Briar before they left to go back home.
Chelsea stayed with us and helped with the locking while the others checked out the train timetable. It was raining quite heavily so she put on our rain gear and gamely went out to help.
Briar had a button and mosaic factory and the Church has very nice mosaic on the façade as well as the interior where the floor is entirely covered in mosaics as well as the alter.
The pont canal was built in 1890 to allow safe transport of barges to connect the Lateral Loire to the Loing then to the Seine to bring goods to Paris. The pont canal is a giant bathtub 662 metres long crossing high above the Loire River, the entry is straight from the canal onto the Pont and it is quite a sensation from the river below to see large hotel barges seemingly floating in the air across the river.
The Edwards left us here by train to Paris a flight to London and then to Singapore and Bali. They will be looking for sunshine and swimming in Bali before arriving back for winter in Australia.
