L'Avenir - cruising Europe's inland waterways

Leaving Paris we cruised south on the Seine. After a day the suburbs are behind, the river widens and forest rises from the banks. A bit of a millionaires row this judging by the mansions. There was quite a lot of commercial traffic on this stretch so you really have to tag along with one (or two or five) in order to pass through the enormous locks. The keepers generally won't work the lock until a commercial barge wants to pass through. At the final lock of this stretch we caught up with Graham and Iris, two  Australians we had met a few weeks ago on the River Marne. They have been cruising in France for years and are a mine of information. 'Follow us,' they said. 'We know a lovely place to moor.' And they did. Moret is a lovely medieval, fortified town. Alfred Sisley, the impressionist painter, some of whose work I saw in the Musee d' Orsay lived and painted here and Napoleon slept here a night on his return to Paris from Elba. I know because there's...

Every day thousands of tourists cruise along the Seine through Paris on one of the many, huge trip boats; the largest 'bateaux mouches' carry up tp 1400 passengers! Private boats are few and far between so for the two of us to be able to go on our own L'Avenir was a fantastic experience - a definite highlight of our summer. We had been hoping for a sunny day but after several days of the wettest August weather that France has seen in years we were grateful that the rain held off for the hour and a half it took to do the round trip from the port Arsenal up around the Statue of Liberty (yes, there is one) and back. I would have liked to have taken longer but the trip boats travel at speed and it would take a brave or foolhardy person to delay them. Having had a few days of walking around the sights we were by now very familiar with all the landmarks but this time, instead of trekking back and forth across the many bridges we were sailing beneath. Many bridges had excited pe...

 Sorbonne Our first visit to Paris, unbelievably. I'm not sure why we've never come before. There always seemed to be other more exotic sounding destinations. Paris was one of those places whose landmarks I was so used to from films and photographs that I felt I'd seen it all already and it would lack the surprise element I enjoy when travelling. How wrong can you be? There's good reason why you can barely move for tourists here - it is quite lovely. The River Marne which we had been following since just past Reims, joins the Seine outside Paris. The major difference straight away being the change in lock size - suddenly they were enormous and we shared the first couple with a commercial barge for the first time since Belgium. Our mooring is in the Port de Plaisance of the Arsenal which is a great location; one lock off the river, 20 minutes walk along whose banks takes you to Notre Dame Cathedral and only a couple of minutesmore to the metro station at the Place de B...

For the first time in many years we have resorted to entering this esteemed food establishment. Fancy coming to France and eating at Mcdonalds! The French Fries are ok though but they just call them Frites. So why are we in here??? The things one does for an internet connection! We have found it really difficult to get online here. There are plenty of pay for hotspots but pay through the nose would be more appropriate. In order to get anything like a reasonable rate you need to have a contract and for that you need a french bank account and for that you need a french address and so it goes on.... This is NOT Macca's! We have had a few really good meals in France so far and the prices are quite reasonable particularly if you go for the Plat du Jour or the set menu. The brochette above was at a restaurant in a tiny village beside the River Marne. Cooked on the wood fire you can see in the background. Delicious!

How many bottles of bubbly does it take to travel from Reims to Chateau Thierry? Well, quite a few if you travel as slowly as we do. We have spent the best part of 2 weeks drifting along the River Marne. The area is most famous for 2 things and it would be difficult to think of 2 more diametrically opposed; the Battle of the Marne during WW1 and champagne. The hills are covered with orderly rows of vines producing grapes for a drink which can't fail to lift your spirits and then on the outskirts of the towns and villages you might find more orderly rows but this time it will be crosses marking the graves of thousands upon thousands of soldiers killed in that horrific slaughter. So many and so young. And then there are all those without any name or age - just one word, 'inconnu', unknown. Heartbreaking. The magnificent war memorial, chapel and museum in the grounds of the chateau at Dormans. The beautifully maintained American War Memorial near Chateau Thierry. ...

L'Avenue de Champagne Epernay Champagne maison where we did a tour Vineyard in Champagne The 'caves' beneath Epernay. There are hundreds of kilometres of tunnels containing millions of bottles of champagne. Sante! (haven't worked out how to do the acute accent over the 'e')