I know I said that I had been ultra-busy in my previous post, but I did manage to get a weekend away in Paris with my better half a couple of weeks back. Boy, what we would not give to have one of those Dutch Barges you see moored alongside the Seine. Something modest you will understand, maybe about 30m or so long, with a roof garden. No need to go all the way by having one with a small crane installed for lifting the car on and off as we would probably do away with the car. Cruising the mainland European waterways in one, without fear of being rolled over by the wash from one of those whopping cargo vessels that share these waterways, certainly appeals.
Unfortunately I only had my crappy little phone camera with me so I could not get any decent photographs of any of the tasty craft on show whilst we were whizzing up and down the river on the ‘Bateau Bus’. However, if the mooring fees are hiked up anything like the prices we were paying in the restaurants, bars and bistros, we would not be spending much time moored in Paris, that’s a fact. The prices have gone through the roof since we were there a few years ago.
I reckoned to Stelle that it was the French attempting some payback for Waterloo as we were whisked along the river. She put me right by pointing out the portals on this bridge that we passed near Notre Dame - suggesting to me that the French are quite sporting with us really, because they have included a ‘N’ for ‘Nelson’. I agreed, so the high prices must be attributable to the struggling French economy.