Petite Seine & Yonne. 27 July 2023 The last day

As we were moored in Paris it wasn’t too far to get back to the Gare du Nord so there was no need for an early breakfast,. While we were eating breakfast, Derek from Great Rail Journeys and our coach was parked by the boat. Cases were left in the corridor for the crew to take up and load on the coach.
It may not have been far to the station but it wasn’t fast through Paris traffic

Things didn’t improve when we arrived at the station as the local police wouldn’t let the driver drop us off by the front of the station insisting he turned left, so he did and then immediately stopped to let us all off, so we just had to cross the road to get to the station, the police even stopped the traffic so we could pass. Up the escalator and through the French then British passport control, surprisingly it even read my passport, I normally have to have it checked manually. It’s nice to see that after all these years they are finally going to add more seating to the waiting area! How long has it been open without enough seating for a full train of passengers?
Back at London we hopped on the underground to Victoria and had rather an expensive meal before walking to the Coach station where our coach was waiting.to bring us back to Norwich, but that wasn’t straightforward as it took an hour and three quarters to cross London.

The next posting will be from Harnser.

Petite Seine & Yonne. 26 July 2023 Paris

So today was the second change of plan and this morning the boat stayed put and we visited the village of Barbizon known as the painters village home of the Barbizon School. We visited Auberge Ganne which was once the Inn where most of the visiting painters stayed. For some reason they had a habit of drawing on the walls and painting the furniture. The building is now a museum and several of their wall drawings are still visible.

In the village itself lots of the paintings have been reproduced as mosaic tiles mounted on the walls of buildings

It was a pleasant little village, at some point they had converted a large barn into a church with  a shrine outside by the road but hidden away from the traffic.

After we had had a good wander round we stopped for coffee at a pavement café in the shade,I am not sure where you would pay for any flowers you bought from this barrow just left on the pavement, maybe if you pick something up Madam would come rushing out. Our coach was parked up opposite this statue of a pole dancer, not sure why its there.

Then it was back to the ship for cocktails, yes we got a different one every day and then a late lunch. The boat was away as soon as we were onboard as they wanted to catch the lock before the éclusier was off for lunch. From here we cruised to our final destination in Paris passing some very well known land marks, but first there waere still some rural parts to pass through then the outskirts of Paris past a cement works,

where the aggregate is delivered by water. We then had to wait while this pusher tug left the lock and crossed out bows, I am not sure how well the skipper could see. This was another large lock with a similar one on the other river bank and a bridge across. You can see our loungers on the top deck and the Captains wheel house.

Looking back you can now see how wide the river is with the weir between the two locks

Now for our the trip through Paris, passed the Chinese quarter and then on to all major landmarks.

 

      

This is the entrance to the Arsenal, the canal Saint-Martin

This is the entrance to our final mooring of the trip past the statue of Liberty

Once moored up it was time to get ready for the gala dinner, this is not on the grand scale of the cruise ships but the dinner is a bit more extravagant with a couple of extra courses, The crew wear their best uniforms and some of the dishes are served by the Captain and sailor so it goes on a bit longer than normal and of course, desert is Baked Alaska even if you couldn’t actually see the flames.

This ended our cruise, time to pack the bags, fill in the questionnaire and sort out the tip for the crew, then off to bed for the night.

 

The very last day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Petite Seine & Yonne. 25 July 2023 Evry

Last night we were moored under a bridge and when we got up this morning a couple of fishermen had set up at our bow, between us and the three Peter Nichols barges moored further down the quay, one even had his line over our mooring line.

As you can see the river is like a mill pond and another hot day in the offering.We had chatted to two of the barge owners last night, both Brits, one lives aboard and the other only  comes over for 6 months a year. They were heading off to a gathering at Auxerre. A bit like when we are boating at home, they were away before we were. We had our bows right under this bridge overnight

We were on the move a little after 9 am. heading down stream getting closer to Paris and this being a Sunday a little way down stream the sailing club was out in force, our speed was now dead slow with the yachts weaving about ready to start a race. I think they would have been happy with a little bit more wind,I don’t think they could have got out of our way if they had wanted to, they are going to be long races.

With the weather being so nice Diana and I spent a bit of time on the loungers on the top deck, ideal for lying on but not the best thing to look around from and you soon get a kink in the neck. As we lay there we were visited by some Dragonflies looking for somewhere nice to land so they picked on us.

Again we were going through locks with sloping sides, a bit like the old turf locks in the UK but these are hard edged. This one had posts to moor against to keep you from grounding as the water level fell, but even so there were a few scrape marks on the off side

On our way down stream we passed a few rather desirable properties with well kept gardens running right down to the river bank, bit like the Thames, but with sunshine.

We moored before lunch at Evry and after lunch had a change of plan, we would be visiting Vaux-le-Vicomte another Château and doing the village of Barbizon in the morning.

It turned out to be a very good day to visit the Château as there was a special event on and lots of people were dressed in period clothes. Clothes could be hired at the Château and there were people doing the makeup as well, as the temperature was well into the 30s they must have been boiling. We found the building very interesting with a guided tour of the first floor with the larger rooms

and then our own thing on the second floor where the rooms are smaller.

We invested an extra €5 each, last of the big spenders to climb up inside the dome which has a balcony at the top. You can just see some people up there.

The timber work inside the dome is something else and the staircase in the upper section is not spiral but winds to the right and then to the left.

The views from the top are also very impressive looking down over the gardens.

In the garden there are some ponds with fountains in them, they also have Carp in them and today toy sailing yachts were being hired out to the kids, these were then being followed by the fish and no, I didn’t hire one

The Château also has a large collection of carriages, two of which are quite unusual, a Sedan Chair that is supported by two horses and a waggon designed specifically to move the large pot plants around the estate.

We didn’t photograph all the others but its a large collection in fine condition.

Unfortunately the lighting in the cartridge shed was very poor so these photos don’t show them at their best. 5pm and we headed back to the boat for our evening meal,  it was a glorious evening and we were moored just above the double locks. There is a footbridge crossing the tail of the locks and the weir so after dinner we went for bit of a walk, crossing the river and walking along the other side for a bit. The sun just drifted away down the river.

 

To see day Six click here