Having read the journal for the last couple of months I realise I was extremely hasty and not prone to giving much in the way of explanation or description. That was for a couple of reasons. During that period we were quite busy travelling and exploring and were aware that trying to update the website by mobile phone was difficult and expensive. I had also been asked to limit the size of the articles I submitted to my yacht club as I was in danger of taking it over through the sheer size of the articles. I am now in the port at St Jean de Losne and, as winter sets in, have no travelling planned and a reasonable chance to update the website by landline. I will therefore try to address the sins of the past.

To get back to Paris, I finished the last journal article with a list of the attractions we planned to visit but with no explanation of what they were and the reactions we had to them, so here is an update on that score before I launch into the following couple of months.

Just before reaching Pars we stooped at Meaux, a favourite place on the river leading into the great capital of France but a lovely town and port in its own right. While there we had two major highlights, the annual pageant that the town produces with 600 of its citizens taking part in 3000 costumes. It traces the history of the town from the 16^th century through to the period just after the Second World War. Set in the grounds of the cathedral it is as large and spectacular as these pageants get with more than a thousand seats full every night for months.

The other highlight was our visit to the Euro Disney park about 45 minutes bus ride from Meaux. This park, the first outside the USA took a while to catch on but is now packed, summer and winter. Rides like the very frightening Wild Mountain, the space travel Voyager and Shuttle trips and the rocket gun that shoots you into the sky, are all packed 10 hours a day, leading to queues of over an hour for each. Euro Disney has all the favourite attractions as well as Frontierland, Neverland, a miniature and nature world, Toad=s Hall and many more. It is a delight to see little children completely immersed in the magic of it all, especially those who have prevailed on their parents to outfit them in the costumes available for purchase - Snow White for girls and Ali Baba for the boys, plus many others of red Indian, cowboy, pirate and other modes.

So onto Paris and the lesser known places to visit that we had not taken in before. The Bois de Boulogne, Paris=s huge park in it=s centre, the catacombs with 6 million sets of bones from the 17^th century to the 19^th, Opera Garnier, the Place de la Guillotine, the Petite and Grande Palais and a lesser known restaurant - Refuge du Fondue where you climb over the tables to get to your seat and drink house red or white wine through teats from baby bottles.

The Bois de Boulogne has a mixed reputation, by day, especially on weekends , it is a tranquil oasis of nature in the centre of this huge city, offering a range of walks, lakes with boats to rent and row, a nature park where children can discover real animals and have their domestic purposes explained (many children have been found not to know where milk and eggs come from for example), There are puppet and other shows, horses for riding, cycle paths, cafes and restaurants and adventure playgrounds for adults and children alike. By night it changes character completely ! Here in the darkened streets the weird and wonderful ply their trade, offering every sort of sex and sexual perversion to be found on the planet. We visited by day only !

The catacombs are vast and spooky. Filled with the bones and skulls of 6 million Parisians who formerly occupied cemeteries in and around Paris, these remains were brought to the former coal and stone mines that thread their way under Paris. Wheeled in carts preceded by priests chanting the rites, they were exhumed by order of the government which was desperately trying to staunch the rising levels of plague and disease. Mining had been halted to stop buildings disappearing underground and finally the mines also were closed to further bodies as they are quite full ! You walk through these dank passages surrounded by huge piles, decorously arranged into fantastic patterns for what seems and is like miles, finally emerging some 6 kilometres from the start point and completely lost. Fortunately the locals know where you have been and how you are feeling and gently guide emerging tourists in the direction of the nearest Metro station.

Unfortunately the Petite and Grande Palais were (and probably still are) closed for extensive renovation. Built for the World Fair at the same time as the Tour Eiffel, these vast Belle Epoque structures are now huge exhibition and conference facilities. They are truly beautiful buildings, constructed some 200 years before the Conference centre in Perth ! (My home town in Western Australia where it took more than 20 years to get the government to even consider providing such an important piece of infrastructure.

The Opera Garnier is named after its architect and is a stunning, huge and very ornate opera theatre - which inspired the Phantom myth and musical. Tours are conducted through the halls, auditorium, back stage areas and fabulous boxes - which are furnished with sumptuous arm chairs and a bed - for the boring bits ! Unfortunately the season was not on so the theatre was >dark= so no performance could be visited - one day perhaps.

All too soon we had to untie Van Nelle from the quayside at the newly named Tour Eiffel Marina in the heart of Paris and begin our final voyage south to Auxerre, the Canal de Bourgogne and finally, St Jean de Losne where we would winter. But hey, it was still only the end of August. So far this year we had travelled over 2,000 kilometres and still had the best part of another 1,000 to go and two or three months to do it in. So off we set for Fontainbleu, lovely chateau so liked by Napoleon Bonaparte and his mistress Josephine.

Friday 2 Sept we arrived at the floating pontoons of the Soreau marina where the whole structure looked too spindly and insecure for us, but as we circled looking for alternatives a man appeared from one of the boats and waved us in. He turned out to be the captain and was insistent we stay on the outer edge of the pontoons with full amenities of water and electricity available at a reasonable rate. We inquired as to how to get to the chateau in the town some distance and were advised that a 15 minute walk would take us to the station from which we could get a bus right to the gates. We tidied up and set off up the long, hot hill. About a half an hour later we arrived at the station and waited the 20 minutes for the bus. Finally one arrived and as promised, set us down near the gates of the Fontainbleu chateau.

After paying the entry fee and collecting an English language audio guide we began the trek through this very impressive pile. Many rooms are furnished with Napoleon=s meubles (furniture) including his bed (and hers) his throne, chairs, tables, sideboards, silver, crystal, uniforms, paintings and more.

This was the place he liked to spend lots of time in both formal and informal manner. Formal meant being woken, washed and dressed by a retinue of courtiers and enduring complete days in ritual set down to ape the old days of royal courts. The informal days were spent sleeping in a camp bed in his office, spending the day at paperwork and with Josephine, walking or riding the park (huge and handsome) and eating , playing cards and entertaining the odd general or potentate. It was the residence in which he was found before surrendering to the English who had promised him reasonable terms after his defeat at Waterloo. They didn=t honour the promises and he was eventually poisoned at his island exile at St Helena - apparently by elements of the Bourbon (royal family) loyalists.

Napoleon III was also to be found here, especially before he was despatched by his erstwhile government. His wife exiled herself to Britain where her son joined a British regiment and was killed by Africans while serving in the Cape.

Having soaked up all the fabulous history we moved on, intending to stop at St Mammes, a favourite spot at the confluence of the Seine, the Loing and the Yonne rivers. Unfortunately the place was full of both commercials and private boats, filling all the suitable places on the quayside and at the substantial jetty marina. We continued on for a couple of hours upstream to reach Montereau in time for a stroll through this attractive market town.

We still had a number of guests to take in on our journey south and by now had arranged exact meeting times and places, so had to keep moving at a reasonable rate. Therefore, off with the lines and on to Sens, a large town providing administrative and commercial services to a wide area of business. Sens also has a number of attractions but we had been there several times in the last few years so continued our journey the next day to Migennes, and after a quick recce of the facilities for our return, headed down river to Auxerre where we planned to stay for a few days before meeting a foursome on Sunday 11 September.

I had wanted to get to Auxerre as it is close to Chablis and was interested to return there by scooter to buy some wine for our guests. The next day I swung the scooter off the deck and took off to visit the large winemaking firm of Regnard, from whom I had bought good Chablis before. It took about 30 minutes at the top speed of 65kmh on the scooter to reach the town and do a quick tour before arriving at the sales office of Regnard where a very pretty lass spent the next half hour or so providing me with samples of the range. I bought about 9 bottles which only just fitted into the carry box and under seat storage on the bike before heading back to Auxerre and the boat.

While in Auxerre we took the advice of the tourist office and with their map in hand completed the walking tour which takes you past all the notable relics, buildings, attractions and statues in about 3-4 hours. Time for a cup of tea or something stronger in one of the outdoor cafes before heading downhill to the boat to consider the view over the river to the marina on the far side. We had made friends with an English couple (Roger and Wendy) who had bought a 25m Luxemotor that year but had yet to actually go anywhere in it. They joined us for drinks and dinner a reciprocated with a delightful meal on their deck a day or two later. We waved at each other the next day as we motored quietly up to the lock in town just before 9.00am and just before a rush of other boats that would have delayed our trip back to Migennes.

On arrival at Migennes we took advantage of the electricity and water to get the boat up to scratch for the arrival of our Perth friends, Wayne and Pip Banks and Frank and Chris Lefaucheur who were to spend just 5 days with us on the way to Montbard. They were due the next day so we arranged to slip moorings in the morning in order to meet them a little way out of town in order to reduce the tedium of many locks in a very short distance at the beginning of the Canal de Bourgogne. The instructions all worked perfectly and their taxi brought them unerringly to us at Briennon from where we immediately set sail for Tonnerre and Tanlay, two towns with impressive chateaux. This was the basis of their days with us, move early or late to the next attraction, take the time to take it all in and then on again to the next.

So in their short stay, the team managed to see the best couple of Chateaux, the Abbaye at Fontenay, the Forge at Buffon, the Fosse Dionne and the wine area of Chablis, a fun and feature packed period. We also fitted in a restaurant, some lovely on-board dinners, lots of wine tasting and the opportunity for Frank and Wayne to get quite skilled at driving Van Nelle, including negotiating locks and bridges. Too soon their time was up and after our arrival at Montbard we walked in the rain to the station as they set off for parts foreign before returning to Western Australia.

We were now on our own for most of the rest of the season, except for a coupe who were to join us the next weekend for just two days and one night, so we headed off to revisit the very interesting Chateau Bussy Rabutin, and the Roman ruins and battleground of Alesia.

Bussy Rabutin was a noble and soldier in the court of Louis XIV who fell out of favour by writing a book about the sexual adventures of the King=s courtiers. Unfortunately one of the women took umbrage and suggested to Louis that he was one of the principal characters in this expose. Louis exiled Roger Rabutin to his estate which the poor chap then took some 27 years to decorate with lampoons of the courtiers. Eventually the king allowed him back to court, some 5 or so years before he died. His house in lovely grounds was open free the weekend we visited as it was the weekend of France=s >open house of history= when all public and notable private estates are open free to the population.

Not only Bussy Rabutin but also the Roman ruins, museum and battlefields of Alesia were also included and special events were taking place at then all including special guided tours and expositions of olde worlde food and crafts. We took in as much as we could, riding from site to site of the scooter and wandering the windswept hills where Julius Caesar=s 50,000 surrounded and eventually starved out the numerically superior 80,000 Gauls under Vercingoratex who was eventually taken to Rome and (mercifully) strangled. It was the first time a Gaul leader had united the tribes of Gaul and defeated the Romans many times before being trapped into a set piece confrontation.

After that weekend it was on to Pouillenay and Marigny, 30 locks in 15 km before going aground at Marigny as a result of the woefully low water levels in some of the biefs (area between locks), caused in part by low levels in the reservoirs and in balance by poor management by the VNF. The weather was changeable at this time and while we had our fair share of sunshine we also experienced the odd heavy frost. On to Semur - a medieval town on the canal side, redolent in historical feeling and half wooden houses, hundreds of years old.

Wednesday, September 21 brought beautiful weather as we headed off to Port Royal. At this time we were travelling more or less in company with another English couple, retired doctor Tony and his wife Anne on their newly built canal cruiser / barge replica - Feniks. Travelling in loose convoy is a sometimes pleasant way to enjoy some company while essentially doing your own thing. We had the odd drink and meal together, visiting the Routiere (Truckers café) at Port Royal for a surprisingly good but simple meal for 12 Euros each plus 8 E for the carafes of excellent house wine. The highlight of the café=s ambience was the way the shapely and somewhat provocative daughter of the large and fierce matriarch sparred with the other (male) customers. She gave better than she got !

This part of the Canal de Bourgogne is idyllic, the travelling was uninterrupted by other traffic, the weather kind and the scenery spectacular with villages appearing on nearby hillsides, leafy glades passed almost silently except for the odd plop of a large fish heaving itself out of the water, the drone of the engine and the myriad shades of green reflected from the trees and bankside foliage in the limpid waters of the canal. There were times that, knowing that it was our plan to sell Van Nelle and return to Australia at the end of this season, that I became quite reflective, even emotional about the circumstances I found myself in.

Slowly sliding softly through the waterways we wandered into Pouilly on our daughter in law=s birthday and celebrated it with a long phone call to chat about it and our grand daughter Elle, now 7 months old. Lisa and Sean are of course in Perth and we are naturally keen to get updates on the progress of this perfect little girl.

Vandenesse was our next stop for an overnight rest and a wander though the town, then through the 3.5km Pouilly Tunnel with help from our friends Tony and Anne on Feniks at both ends to assist us in demounting and resetting the roof of the wheelhouse. The tunnel=s low roof line and semicircular shape dictates that we have to reduce our boat=s height in order to pass through this long tunnel safely. From an overall height of 3.35m we ca reduce to 2.80m or even lower if absolutely necessary - by then removing the wheel and steering by tiller. We have a huge, caste iron tiller that fits neatly on the top of the rudder post and was no doubt used to navigate some of the low bridges in the Netherlands when Van Nelle was taking the tea, coffee and tobacco from Rotterdam to Amsterdam.

As we travelled towards our meeting place at La Bussierre in order to pick up Tony and Catherine, our next and last guests for the season, we passed the lovely view of Chateauneuf. This is a beautiful and very large Burgundian castle on the side of a hill just a few kilometres from the canal. Indeed there is a lovely place to stop near a lock from whence you can visit the town and the Chateau. There is unfortunately a rather steep and long hill to climb in order to get to the Chateau and the last couple of times we have passed here we have been content to send our guests off to visit while we handle the boat through a couple of locks to meet up with them further on. This time we had no guests but having seen the castle several times, admired it without stopping.

At La Bussierre, while waiting for our guests to arrive I wandered to the little pottery shop and made the acquisition of a rather rough but attractive coffee cup to offer to the leading hand aboard. Fairly soon our new arrivals alighted from the regional bus from Dijon and came aboard. Tony works for the UNHCR in Switzerland and his wife, Catherine, lives and works in Dijon. Not a very great way to spend a couple of years but it suits.

We were unable to get seats in the nearby Abbaye for dinner - a highlight of a visit to this town - so headed off in search of other adventures. At about this time we discovered that they had not told us they were vegetarians - that caused a bit of panic in the kitchen but the mistress chef rose to the occasion magnificently and all were satisfied, dietarily.

On to Fleury where Tony and Catherine were to leave us to get back to their respective careers and we were to head on down to Dijon, through the last of the hundreds of locks spread over such short distances. But first we had part of the day to explore the town and while walking, discovered a scout jamboree and a few new views that we had not discovered before. Pretty soon the bus arrived to transport our twosome away and we prepared to depart.

An uneventful but somewhat wearying trip from there to Dijon because of the locks, but they pass in good humour as we help the eclusiers to fill and empty their charges and move on to the next, Maureen often walking between the locks to speed the process.

We arrived in Dijon for a stop of 3 days and discovered to our delight, out friends Rolly and Val O=Driscoll in town -Yea. That meant there were some fun days ahead, especially since Tony and Anne also arrived shortly after us and our great friends form St Jean de Losne happened to be visiting Dijon so we had a crowd - and our accumulated mail from our >home port=.

One night we invited Tony and Anne, Rolly and Val to join us for dinner and had a great time telling tall stories of our waterborne lives until I discovered that some young rascals had untied both our boats and we wee adrift in the Dijon harbour. A bit of a surprise but no damage done and soon we were back in place, more securely tied. The perpetrators did not return, fortunately for their health but we spent a sleepless night as a result.

The rest of our time in the capital city of Burgundy passed uneventfully as we wandered and shopped - Maureen for baby clothes and me for a coupe of antique wine glasses and two old Tastevin, the silver >cups= used by sommeliers to taste wine newly opened. To replace the odd breakage I also had the opportunity to buy 2 antique glasses and a Tastevin at a favourite antique shop.

After our brief stay we headed off to the mid point between Dijon and St Jean - Longecourt - for the evening before setting off, just before the hotel boat following us, for the final stretch to St Jean de Losne.

All the space at the town jetty was taken so after a quick look up and down the river front we decided to head for the Ancien Ecluse, which was to be our winter home. This closed off section of the old canal is situated 4 kilometres form the town of St Jean and is a peaceful refuge from gawking tourists, townspeople, pecheurs, and others who habitually wander the canalsides of town ports.

It was now October and while we planned to do some more cruising - up the Petite Saone - it turned out that we had actually come to rest for the season. There was much work to be done to prepare Van Nelle for new owners so we knuckled down to the task of preparing and painting the whole ship - all 27 metres long, several metres high and 4.5 metres wide - in four different colours. But more of that later !

2005 JOURNAL