Hanging out in Dijon

Spring in France

I planted my flower and herb garden.  Three cherry tomato plants as well

I needed a centerpiece for my outdoor table.  Tom chose the pretty purple flowers  I think my granddaughters would approve.  The flower theme this year is pink, purple and white.

The French loves their dogs.  That they forget to clean up after them is a different story.  We spent two weeks tied up at the marina in Dijon.  We enjoy it there.  There was the hustle and bustle aboard the hotel barges as they prepared for their first charters of the season.  Sanding, painting, refinishing, cleaning and bringing the supplies on board.  We saw plenty of sunburnt young men doing all the outside maintenance. 

Three hotel barges waiting for their guests

An example of the half timbered buildings around Dijon

But I digress.  We were tied up in front of a series of apartment buildings.  While I’m not positive, it appears that one building is for the elderly while another may be for couples and young families.  In other words, there was quite a mix of people and animals. We always saw the same people walking their dogs.  There was a good-looking dwarf with a beagle, and a badly bent over, beautifully dressed wheelchair lady with poodle.  Then there were the young and old with mostly well-behaved dogs of all sizes that came out to walk and romp on the lawns.  The only time it’s quiet is midday.  Everyone disappears.  Lunch is a sacred time in France.  It’s a time for families to be together.  Even the birds quiet down.  Later, people bring their left over baguettes to feed the many birds that live in this marina.  With the baguettes come the bickering and fighting over the bread.  Children squeal in delight and fear over the aggressiveness of the geese and swans.  The island in the middle of the marina seems to be a wildlife refuge.  The ruckus coming from that island is deafening at times.  I’m guessing that the momma birds are all sitting on their nests, and if any other animal (bird) comes near the screaming begins.

Multiple generations hang out in the park by our boat every day

Every day we pass this monument when we walk into Dijon.  We must never forget.

 It’s springtime.  The lawns are covered with tiny yellow and white flowers.  The dandelions are springing to life and taking off.  They tickle my nose and eyes.  They soar and tumble and fly into my boat to land on the carpets and corners of the rooms.  It’s awful for allergy suffers such as myself.  According to the news the pollen is the highest since 1993.  Alerts are posted for May and especially June.  I hope I have enough antihistamines to get me through the next two months.

Flowers blooming all over the lawns

Dandelions ready to take off with the slightest breeze

We saw plenty of Muskrats swimming around the marina

With such a spectacular (and unusual) spring Tom and I have been going for long walks.  I insist on getting in my 10,000 steps whenever possible.  We’ve had weather from the high 80’s with sunshine to the low 60’s with rain.  We foolishly started one late morning and went for a beautiful walk along the Burgundy Canal.  It was 87 F and I started fading.  Before we turned around we checked Trip Advisor and saw that there was a nice restaurant just ¼ mile further.  We continued walking and found a beautiful restaurant and had a delicious meal.  Once we were rested, refreshed and refueled the walk back wasn’t bad at all.

Restaurant p'tit repere du gout

My lunch of eggs in a delicious (and unusual) wine sauce.   

It’s interesting to note that many children from a young age are wearing sunglasses.  It’s good to see that the parents are protecting their children’s eyes from the UV rays that can cause so much damage. 

One of our walks

We never tire of our walks along the canals

With such spectacular spring weather we have been taking many of our meals up on deck.  The French being ever so polite all wish us a “bon apetite” as they walk by.  It’s charming.

Tom with a Rustic baguette and dessert

Sometimes we can't wait until we return to Rabelo before nibbling on the baguette 

We discovered that a boulangerie in Dijon carried my favorite baguette which is Rustic. It’s a 1.7 mile walk from our boat to the boulangerie and back.  That’s 3700 steps which goes towards my 10,000 daily steps.  You should understand that there are two boulangerie with perfectly decent baguettes within a 2-3 minute walk from the boat.  But noooo, I want my Rustic baguette.  Tom humored me and every day we did our morning trek into Dijon for my special baguette (and evening pastry while we’re at it).

My favorite boulangerie in Dijon 

We celebrated Philippe's birthday while in Dijon

We had to leave Dijon and return to St Jean de Losne.  We saw our favorite lock keeper.  It was nice catching up with him.

Our favorite lock keeper Jean-Marc 

The French haven’t given up their cigarettes or the nasty habit of tossing butts on the ground.  There are 30 billion cigarette butts thrown on the ground a year.  It takes 15 years for them to deteriorate.  The government is attempting to create an anti-waste plan.  At the same time they are trying to convince the tobacco manufacturers to launch a recycle program and participate financially in the collection of these butts. 350 tonnes of megots (butts) are collected in Paris alone each year.

Our fleet loaded up and ready for the journey back to St Jean de Losne 

Mustard fields and spectacular clouds along the Burgundy Canal

An artist is carving totem poles which will line the Burgundy Canal

We see wood piles regularly along the canal.

A Lock House

Another Lock House along the Burgundy Canal.  

Some lock house owners decorate the area around the locks

Arriving back in Saint Jean de Losne we found this momma goose faithfully tending her eggs.  She is constantly turning and moving her eggs to keep them warm.  She doesn't leave her nest any more.  

A new season begins: From Thousand Oaks to Miami to Barcelona and then to France

Spring!  It’s migration time.  Birds migrate.  Butterflies migrate.  And the Millers migrated to France. 

Regent Seven Seas Explorer

We did things differently this year.  Instead of flying to France, we flew to Miami and boarded the Regent Seven Seas Explorer for a transatlantic crossing.  Fourteen days that we thought would be spent relaxing, reading, sleeping, eating, and enjoying the ships entertainment.  I’m not sure what happened.  Were we really on the ship for two weeks?  Time flew by.  We met such wonderful people on board that we skipped most of the entertainment.  We found our new friends to be much more fun and the evenings flew by.  We did sleep.  We went to the gym.  And we certainly ate well!  Miami to Barcelona was so wonderful we will be doing a crossing again. 

We took four cooking classes while making the crossing.

We know how much I enjoy cooking

Tom is becoming quite the chief

Our new friends Debbie and Dave.  We shared many drinks and meals together.

Sightseeing with our new friends Lyn and Ron

Celebrating Debbie's birthday in Barcelona

We left our cocoon on the Explorer and spent four nights in Barcelona.  We flew to Lyon where captain Philippe was waiting to escort us to Rabelo.  We were only slightly impacted by the French strikes.  We were home!  To make things even better, Philippe had scrubbed the boat from top to bottom and end to end.  Rabelo looked and smelled clean and beautiful.  He had flowers in the dining room and an orchid in the living room.  There was food and champagne in the refrigerator, and a basket of fruit in the kitchen.  We couldn’t have asked for a nicer homecoming.  Thank you Philippe!

The new airport in Lyon, France is beautiful

The sculpture adds to the drama of the new building 

This is season seven and you would think packing would be easier.  I keep a detailed list of things that I want to bring from the US to France.  Tom keeps asking why we need all this stuff?  Doesn’t France have everything we need?  It’s just that we become accustomed to a certain quality (Costco has the French beat when it comes to microfiber towels, plastic wrap and aluminum foil).  Plus I haven’t figured out where to buy everything we need.  My special hair and nail products, those wonderful Costco surgical gloves that I use for everything, special oil paints, dental floss, kitchen and cooking items, and the list goes on.  Four suitcases at 50 pounds each plus two carry-ons.  Let's not forget the clothes!  Going on a two week cruise meant dressing up more than we normally do on Rabelo.  Plus we were in Hawaii for our son’s wedding  in January so my summer clothes had came home with me. Luggage wise we were maxed out.

Robbie and Katrina after exchanging vows at their wedding in Hawaii

We decided to do things differently this time and spend 19 months in France.  Three seasons of clothing came back to France with me.  Sure I leave a few things on Rabelo, but certainly not my favorite clothes.  I need to have those with me.  I don’t understand how people can travel for a month (or more) with just a carry-on.  My carry-on has my medication and electronics.  That pretty much fills up the suitcase.

Proof that we are back on Rabelo.  A beautiful spring day so we had champagne and a few appetizers to celebrate.  Life is good.

Before leaving Saint Jean des Losne we had to put our car on deck.

The crane lifts our car by the tires and swings it up and onto our deck.

Once over the boat the car is gently lowered onto the deck.

Going under our first bridge.

Our first trip to the market raised a few eyebrows.  French normally buy food for only a few days.  They like things fresh.  I spent E280 that first day.  After leaving the market we needed a baguette.  It was Monday and all the boulangerie were closed!  Horrors.  It was back to the market to get a baguette and desert.  The same teller recognized me and we all had a good laugh.  Day two was more of the same.  Another market searching for items market one didn’t have.  After that we pulled up the lines, cruised to the end of the marina, put our car on deck and off we went.  Two days to get to Dijon.  The cruise was reasonably uneventful.  The wind was strong enough to blow us off course a few times and Tom wasn’t able to put Rabelo into some of the locks as smoothly as he would normally do. 

Our Moto that we barely use.  But it's cute.

Typical scene of a french fisherman by the canal

Dijon is such a civilized town.  I love being here.  We are watching many hotel barges doing their last minute preparations before their cruising season begins.  We are greeting owners and crew members we’ve met from previous seasons.  Now that they understand that while we may look like a hotel barge, we are a private home and no competition to any of them.  That means they are very helpful.

Here are some of the hotel barges in Dijon are preparing for the season.

Being in Dijon means more marketing.  The Asian market was an important stop because they carry items we can’t find anywhere else.  Now it’s time for serious provisioning for the season.  But first, on Friday was a trip to the beautiful Dijon covered market.  Wouldn’t you know it, we bumped into Alex Miles our chief and friend.  The one person we know in this city and there he is at our favorite cheese stand.

Tom and our chief friend Alex at the beautiful covered market in Dijon

This is what we saw in a Dijon town square

We took my latest painting to our framer in Dijon.  She remembered us, as she is our go-to framer here.  When she saw my painting she asked if she could display it in her window once it’s framed and post it on Instagram.  I’m flattered.