Samois sur Seine, Sons, Yonne and Joigny

After a brief but pleasant stay in Paris we were off again.  We arrived in Samois sur Seine where we bumped into someone we had met 12 years ago when we had our previous barge.  It's always fun catching up.  Steve is an amazing cook and invited us aboard his beautiful barge for appetizers which turned into dinner.  It was a real treat.

A short walk from where we tied up in Samois sur Seine was a lovely restaurant.  It was warm so what better way to beat the heat than with a lovely Rose.

My first course of smoked salmon was delicious.

Tom showing off his new watch.  This is unusual in that he never buys himself things like this.

We tied up next to an Italian restaurant.  I could go up to the bow of Rabelo and check on the meals being served.

I'm still doing a lot of cooking on Rabelo.  This is my Langres Tart just out of the oven.

When we arrived in Muret sur Loing we bumped into our new friends Pete and Amanda on their boat Piglet.  The interesting thing about meeting and making new friends when cruising is that you develop a closeness much more quickly than when home.  They invited us to come over for dinner and we had a great evening with them, another cruising couple and our captain Kevin.  Good food, good friends and a great time was had by all.

Muret sur Loing is a charming town with water flowing everywhere.

It was dark when we left our friends on Piglet.  The Mayflies were out and they were everywhere!  They only live one day so the next morning there was a huge mess to clean up.  Dead bugs everywhere there had been light.

There are various ways to travel the canals of France

This was a new style of fishing for us.  We are accustomed to seeing the fishermen of France sitting along the sides of the canals.  

We cruised on to the town of Sens.  There we attended a violin concert in a church.  The violinists were great but they had to compete with a rock concert a few blocks away.  Unfortunately the rock concert won.

We discovered a new kind of lock while on the Yonne River.  The locks had sloping sides which made it difficult to stay in the center.  We can't understand why they didn't do straight sides like everywhere else we've been.

A new kind of lock with sloping sides.

There was no way to stay centered in these locks.

The charming town of Pont sur Yonne

In the town of Pont sur Yonne we tied to a Dig Dab.  Tying up was free.  Getting off the boat was challenging.

 Meeting local people always makes the visit more memorable.  While in Pont sur Yonne we saw a community garden with a gentleman working on his plot.  When we admired the vegetables he gifted us with two beautiful zucchini.

Sailing into the town of Joigny

It was warm enough that we went swimming in the river.

Narrow street!

Beautiful old timbered building with amazing wood carvings on the front.

 Tom decided to surprise me with a special treat.  We moved our boat across the river and tied up in front of the restaurant/hotel a la cote St Jacques.  After swimming in the river, we cleaned up and headed ashore for a two star michelin rated dinner.

Getting ready to go ashore for dinner

 Our meal was amazing and I will let the pictures do most of the talking.

Amuse-Bouche

Butter in France is delicious.  Here we had two different butters to try.

It was difficult trying to decide what cheeses to try.

My dessert

Tom's dessert