After 10,394 kilometers traveled at on bucolic canals and lazy rivers
After passing through 2,589 locks sometimes carressing the walls, but without ever hanging up our lines
After 3,360* dinners on our back deck, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, and always with a great view
After getting to know French wines and Champagnes the way a local would by "living" in those regions
After mooring in charming villages and beautiful cities long enough to get to know our way around their back streets
After years of riding bikes as our main and preferred form of transportation
After meeting the most interesting people from all over the world and making lasting friendships
After wresling the French language to the mat and declaring a tie
After living for the last five years right smack dab in the middle of Paris with delightful French neighbors who have become good friends
After twelve years of enjoying every day to its fullest on this side of the world, We have decided to tuck this chapter of our lives into our memories, and return to our home in San Francisco.
*Just a guesstimate
After 10,394 kilometers traveled on bucolic canals and lazy rivers
After passing through 2,589 locks, occasionally caressing the walls, but without ever hanging up our lines
After 3,360* dinners on our back deck, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, and always with a great view (*Just a guesstimate)
After getting to know French wines and Champagnes the way a local would by "living" in those regions
After mooring in charming villages and beautiful cities long enough to get to know our way around their back streets
After years of riding bikes as our main and preferred form of transportation
After meeting the most interesting people from all over the world and making lasting friendships
After wrestling the French language to the mat and declaring a tie
After living for the last six years right smack dab in the middle of Paris with delightful French neighbors
After twelve years of enjoying every day to its fullest on this side of the world,
we have decided to tuck this chapter of our lives into our memories, and return to our home in San Francisco
Over the years, we have made continual improvements to our barge, making it a very comfortable floating home. There are no projects that need to be done, and because we are moving back to our home in San Francisco, we will leave Éclaircie fully furnished and move-in ready for her new owners. We will only be taking our paintings, and a few personal items. You can see the full inventory below:
ECLAIRCIE:
Home Port: Port de l’Arsenal on the Canal Saint-Martin at the Bastille in Paris, France
REGISTRATION: BELGIAN
HULL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER: BR 37073 B
ENI (Unique European Vessel Identification Number): 06105285
Certificat Communautaire (European Certificate Number) - required for all boats over 20 meters: CA 773
15 months after we went into the boatyard in Belgium to have our EU safety survey, now required for all barges over 20 meters, we finally received our Certificat Communautaire in the mail.
If you stop by for a drink on our back deck, we will tell you the story about how our barge passed its official inspection with flying colors only to have a missing number on our Belgian papers cause a catch 22 that "ping-ponged" our paperwork from civil servants' desks in Belgium to fonctionnaires' desks in France for more than a year.
Our battle ended last week, so now you can picture us with big smiles on our faces as we stand in our kitchen and gaze down at our certificate in all of its stamped, bureaucratic beauty resting so comfortably on our kitchen counter.
Festival de l'Oh!
We have just returned to Paris after three very pleasant weeks on the Marne River. We spent some time in Meaux enjoying the easy pace and peace of a town that is much smaller than Paris, and then moved further out into the countryside to Poincy, where our mooring on the river was so calm that the only sounds we heard were birds singing and fish jumping. We read, rode our bikes, relaxed and in between the rain, we repainted everything except the hull. It was a lovely vacation, and for the last week we stayed in the very charming port at Neuilly-sur-Marne. Not only is our favorite guinguette, Chez Fifi, just steps from the port, but we were lucky enough to be there last weekend for their Festival de l'Oh! It rained and stormed for a good portion of the day, but that didn't keep people from having fun, and we loved watching people bouncing around on the water in plastic bubbles.
YCPB Barbecue
Our Yacht Club Paris Bastille barbecues just keep getting better. They are held once a month, and they draw a loyal crowd of regulars who live in the port, and an ever changing group of boaters who are either staying for six months during the winter or just passing through Paris for a week or two in the summer. The fact that our neighborhood is constantly changing means that there are always new neighbors to meet and new friendships to make. Last night a brass band called Les Gueules en Pente came to add a little spice to our barbecue.
Soirée Moules "Chips"
Thanks to Gilles, the vice-president of our yacht club, last night 62 people enjoyed a great dinner together. Gilles provided the idea for a Soirée Moules Chips (normally "Moules Frites", but cooking french fries was too complicated for our outdoor kitchen, so Gilles substituted potato chips). Arnaud, another Yacht Club Paris Bastille board member and his group provided the music. It was another magical port event. We felt like we were smack dab in the middle of a French film, and my little movie, taken on my iphone, only gives a hint of what a super event it was. Bravo Gilles. Bravo Arnaud
