Week 5
Friday 17 August 2007
After brekkie, took bikes and went exploring. Found a small town called Avon, twinned with Melksham in the UK. We continued on to Fontainebleau, where we found the most enormous renaissance chateau built in the 12th century. It had huge gardens, with a carp lake and we were most impressed. There were even peacocks roaming all over the place. Apparently the chateau was used as a German headquarters in World War II. Bought a chicken for 2 euros and roasted it on the Cobb BBQ. It tasted soooo good! Found an Internet café and started sending off some job applications for the ski season. Stayed quite late, then had to cycle back in the dark. There were a few street lights but along the river, it was pitch black!
Saturday 18 August 2007
Went to find some water to fill the jerry cans down by the river barges. We followed a hose that looked promising but after about half a mile (one very long hose) it disappeared into the ground! Cycled into Fontainebleau to continue with the job applications. This is keeping us fit as there is a huge hill to cycle up. We are going to have to return to the UK to attend interviews, DOH!
Sunday 19 August 2007
More rain during the night and through the day. Completed some job application forms on the boat and read for a while. When the rain stopped a very strange man come down to the boat. He was talking in French but we couldn’t understand. However through a few key words and gestures, we got the idea of what he was asking. Do fish eat slugs? He continued to throw a bucket load of slugs into the river, one at a time…waiting to see if any fish would surface for a feast. We think he was waiting for a very long time!
Monday 20 August 2007
Weather brighter today. Went to the port de plaisance (marina) along the river to see how much it would cost to leave the boat there whilst we traveled home. 10 euros for the first night and 5 euros per night after that. Price included electricity too! A bit cheaper than Salterns Marina in Poole that charges £45 a night! Booked flights home from Paris to Southampton with Flybe.
Tuesday 21 August 2007
Cycled into Fontainebleau to buy train tickets to Paris. Back to the Internet café to check how our job applications are coming along. Christine went to the hairdressers to see if she could get some work done on her luscious locks. She managed to get the guy in the Internet café to help her with a few key words in French, so the hairdresser would have some idea of what she wanted. Took some photos before she sat in the hairdressers seat, just in case it all went horribly wrong! Back at the boat a local fisherman caught a huge bream in the river. He offered it us for dinner as we were guests in his village (how kind!). How could we refuse, even though we had just eaten. The local kids helped us to cut up the fish and we cooked it up on the BBQ. The wonderful aroma of the fish cooking attracted another visitor to the boat. We are still not sure exactly what it was but it looked like a cross between an otter and a giant rat!
Wednesday 22 August 2007
More rain! When there was a break in the weather we took the boat to the port de plaisance, ready for our trip back home. The only trouble was there was no longer any protection offered from the island against the wash from the 1000 ton barges. After a quick use of their facilities, toilets and showers, we decided to move the boat back to Samois and leave it on the river bank! We asked the restaurant owner if he could keep an eye on the boat for us whilst we returned home. No probleme monsieur!
Thursday 23 August 2007
Happy birthday Leigh! After waking at 4.30am, walked with our bags for an hour to the train station in Fontainebleau. Caught the train to Paris at 6am, transferred to the tube, transferred to a train and arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to fly home!
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