Since leaving Sillery two weeks ago, we have been travelling well and have arrived in Sens, just 45km from Anja's winter home at Migennes.
We had a quick trip down the beautiful Marne River through the magnificient countryside of Champagne. The grapes were ready and the harvest beginning for the Champagne grapes. We stopped off in one of our favourite towns (Mareuil sur Ay) to buy some champagne, but alas we were too early and everyone was closed for tasting and sales until the afternoon.
The Marne River was quick because we were travelling with the current and the locks worked very well for us with only minimal delay. The weather continued to be magnificient with temperatures around 25-30deg and very little rain. Amazingly, our Geraniums and herbs have fully recovered. They had been looking quite sick after the relatively cool time in the Netherlands. Now, they are an excellent colour and flowering very well.
My (David's) back continued to heal quite well after the surgery to remove a lump. The cuts were quite deep and NursePenny has been changing the dressings each day. Within one day of the surgery, the pain was less than with the lump and now it is hardly noticeable. The Pathology results came back (thank you to the Collet family) and show that the most likely diagnosis for the lump is okay and that the nasty part was completely removed.
Our trip up the Seine was much better than last year when we got "stuck" because of repair work on lock gates when they discovered Asbestos in the gates, delaying the repairs by almost a month. The Seine this year was a pleasant and uneventful trip and we stayed at places where we had stayed before.
We continued to have problems with the parcel of spare parts from the USA. Every day, there was a different story. Sometimes two times per day. Because there was no external invoice on the box, I had to separately send the details. Also, the incoming Customs declaration was not specific enough (i.e. it did not say that the parts were for an alternator). So, this caused about 10 days delay. Then the Customs process itself took an additional two weeks. Finally the package was ready to be delivered! But again, problems. The Post Office delivery truck took it to the Post Office but it was 8 minutes before the Post Office opened. So, he took it away again saying that it could not be delivered. Then they decided that because it was an International parcel, they would not deliver it to a Post Office but also would not change the delivery address! What a nightmare. In the end, I travelled over 500Km return trip on six trains and a taxi and picked it up from an Industrial Area South of Reims. This took nine hours, but I had plenty of time to read my Kindle (eBook) in the beautiful park at Reims and also on the trains. Lugging the large parcel around was not much fun, particularly in Paris which was 30degC. I carried it through Gare de l'Est, Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon in Paris. In order to collect the parcel, we stopped in St Mammes which is a delightful small town at the confluence of the Loing and Seine rivers. We have been there several times before and we discovered a good walk in the woods that we had not previously known. The famous painter Sisley did many paintings in the vicinity and lived there for a while.
After the Seine, we have been coming up our final river, the Yonne. We know it very well and always enjoy the trip. There is very little traffic, perhaps one or two boats per day so the locks have always been ready for us.
Best Regards,
Dave and Penny