We are now in the North West of France, travelling south towards our final destination, the boat yard in Migennes where Anja spends the winter. En route we are filling in gaps from previous trips in this area. We also made the long trip to Auxerre to renew our visas for 2015.

We have as usual come across various curiosities or funny events.

Monkeys hanging from a rope
The first was in Lille where we stayed at our favourite mooring, in a closed off arm behind the Vauban Citadel. Here there is a huge park which dates back several hundred years, and the free zoo. The park has a wonderful children's playground so the area is very popular during school holidays. The runners, cyclists and walkers are plentiful, as are the gazers, who sit on park benches and just look. In the mornings, the monkeys are very happy and make plenty of noise.

One evening one of the park- bench fellows approached us to ask for a bed for the night. He was sure we must be a travelling B & B (Bed and Breakfast or Chambre d'Hote). He seemed very disappointed when we had to knock back his request. He said he had always wanted to sleep on a peniche.

As we left Lille we came across a curiosity which is still puzzling us. There is a large prison just outside town, two or three stories high, surrounded by the usual high fences and guard towers at the corners- but there was graffiti on the roof! How? who, when, why? We are still scratching our heads. Did someone risk his/her life to put it there?

A monument to the pigeons of Lille- WW1Our trip to Auxerre took all day, from 6am to 9pm, travelling on eight trains. We could have taken less time but the first and last trains needed to be booked so we decided to be generous with our limits. It gave plenty of time to read books, observe the passing scene, have a relaxed lunch and not be stressed. Perhaps because we were not rushed we noticed for the first time that the two main stations we travelled through, Gare Du Nord and Paris Bercy, both have baby grand pianos in the waiting area with invitations to pianists, professional or amateur, to sit down and play for their own enjoyment and that of other passengers. Somebody had taken up the offer at Gare du Nord.

Our final special moment was at Auxerre where we found a cafe for lunch, away from the centre and well- priced. We ordered from the menu of the day, one fish, one meat dish and both came with the biggest range of vegetables we have ever seen. We had potato, sweet potato (purple skinned) kumera, beans, zucchini, hot beetroot, carrots, red and green capsicum, tomato, cauliflower, mushrooms. We had already had tomato and lettuce with our entree, so came away from that lunch with our full day's, maybe week's quota, of veges.

The best result of the day was an uneventful visit to the Prefecture which we hope will result in visas renewed for 2015.

Best Regards,

Penny and David

A beautiful moon rises over the Canal