A Warm Welcome
We had an uneventful flight from Sydney, via Singapore, to Paris. As usual, service on Singapore Airlines was excellent and the flights were on time. I (David) needed quantities of ice to keep my glaucoma medication cold and this was cheerfully supplied.
At Charles de Gaulle, the Immigratrion official was surprisingly friendly in his welcome and very impressed that we were able to have summer in Australia and then a further summer in France.
We spent 24hrs in Paris and were able to visit the Luxumbourg Gardens as well as the Maritime Museum. Two more Parisian places to tick off our long term list. Then we were on the train to Joigny where we picked up a rental car and also chose new fabric for the boat cushions. These are being made for us by a lady in the village of Charbuy where we normally stay at the start of each cruising season.
On the front door of the Mairie where we went to pick up our new titres de sejour (temporary residence permits), there was a large welcome sign with our name on it, an Australian flag and a big yellow smiley. Thank you Corinne!
At les Chouettes, where we stayed for a night, we were also warmly welcomed by our wonderful hosts Chantelle and Christian who also provided us with a beautiful dinner and their own sign on the door welcoming us.
Anja was in good condirion. We found that the temperature inside had gone down to -9degC during winter but no mould or other problems. We have solar ventilators which circulate air throughout the boat for most of the winter.
We caught a train to Dijon and then an Italian Train overnight to Venice. We had chosen one with sleeping facilities and booked well ahead. However, it was an "interesting" experience. First, the door to the carriage would not work, so we ascended the adjoining carriage and went between. Then, we could not get into the sleeping compartment. Finally it opened. A French couple had started in there from Paris and been asleep when we arrived at a little before 11pm. They made room for us and showed us how to work the beds. The small compartment was equipped with six bunks- three on each side. It was quite squashed with four of us so just as well there were not six people in there! This was supposed to be "First Class" but we would definitely give it that label. Then the conductoir arrived- just as we were falling asleep- and requested our passports for the night! No interest in our tickets.
At 5am there was a banging on the door. It was the conductor with the passports of the French couple. They got off at Milan at about 6am.
So, not a very good night's sleep for anyone.
nThe conductor came about 0830 and tried to give us a number of passports but they were not ours. She kept pushing two more passports at us until finally she was lucky and the proferred passports actually belonged to us! In Venice, we have also had to show our passports several times for a number of reasons. Never have our passports been so looked at and totally different from France.
Anway, here we are now in a comfortable Venitian apartment. The vaporetto is not too far away and we are making excellent use of it (as well as our feet) to get around.
Best Regards,
Dave and Penny