The 2024 Cruising Season Beckons

Our return flights to France are booked for Tuesday, April 9. It's unbelievable how fast our 6 months in Florida seems to have passed this year. Maybe it's because we had the December trip to European Christmas markets, but whatever the reason, it's a little hard to wrap our heads around a travel date that is rapidly approaching. We just have to get past a potential "glitch."

On March 7 I tripped during my dog-walking shift at Pet Pal Animal Shelter and managed to break a couple of bones in my left hand. They were enclosed, non-displaced fractures, so I have every hope that they will heal quickly and without complications, but I'll have a better idea next Friday (March 29th) at the 3-week mark when my current cast is removed, and the hand is x-rayed again.

In the best-case scenario, I will get a removable cast and hand exercises, and can complete my healing in France. I don't care to contemplate other possibilities at the moment, but will deal with them if next week's doctor visit indicates that I must.

In any case, when we get back to Auxerre we will have to do the usual spring stuff: de-winterize the water system, clean inside and outside, and restock the galley. Our departure date from the marina to begin cruising will depend on water conditions--Is there high water? Is the current too fast?--and the status of a couple of boat projects. The hope is that we will be underway by late April or early May; however, the only "schedule" that we have to keep (and even that has some flexibility) is an October 1 return to the U.S., so essentially, we have several months to cover the following route at a relaxed pace:

1.  Start in Auxerre (at upper left) and head north on the Yonne River

2.  Short out-and-back cruise on the Canal de Bourgogne

3.  Yonne River to confluence with the Seine River

4.  Short cruise east on the Petite Seine (not shown) to Nogent-sur-Seine; turn around

5.  West on the Seine to the Canal du Loing

6.  South on the Canal du Loing, Canal de Briare, Canal lateral a la Loire 

7.  East on the Canal du Centre to the Saone River at Chalon-sur-Saone

8.  South on the Saone River to Macon and (maybe) Lyon

9.  North on the Saone to an out-and-back cruise on the Seille River

10. North on the Saone to the Petite Saone, finishing at Auxonne (the endpoint being just to the right of Dijon on the map) 

So, no plans, only aspirations. As always, it will be interesting to see how those aspirations ultimately mesh with reality.

 

Epilogue: To Market, To Market

No, we are not putting C.A.R.I.B. III up for sale.

After we returned to Florida in October, one of our first orders of business was to renew our passports. Although three blank pages in each of our passports was probably technically sufficient for our 2024 French visa application, a comment had been made when we applied for our 2023 French visas that we might want to consider getting new passports to ensure that we had enough blank pages for our next visa application. We don't think it wise to test the limits of the French visa system, and having read the horror stories about the delays in U.S. passport application processing, we submitted our passport renewal applications just over a week after we were back in Florida. We paid for the expedited process, but were still amazed when we had our new passports in 3 weeks--much quicker than the 5-7 week estimate on the State Department website. 

We decided to celebrate by breaking in our new passports on a "theme" trip that we'd been considering for a while: Christmas Markets in Europe. So many cities and towns to choose from for our December 7-19 trip, but we finally decided upon:

Vienna--for a chance to meet up with our Austrian friend Kitty, who now lives in Bath, England, but would be visiting her Viennese hometown in December;

Munich--for a chance to see a German Xmas market, and an easy 4-hour train ride from Vienna;

Strasbourg--to see the self-styled "Christmas Capitol of France" that we'd heard good things about, and finally;

Paris--for a chance to see Paris from a very different perspective than what we're used to in boating season--and to see boating friends who are spending the winter in the city.

Four towns, and as it turned out, four very different travel and market experiences.

Vienna: Awesome to see Vienna again with Kitty; snow!; decked-out streets in the old center-city; a 343-step climb of the cathedral's south tower; evening crowds (and more crowds).

Munich: wet, then sunny; charming kiosks; a skating rink; Gluhwein uber alles!; crowds, but less than Vienna; building cranes everywhere.

Strasbourg: Marvelous--the complete package!; Alsatian architecture + Xmas decor = Magic; another cathedral tower to climb; crowds (and more crowds); heavy security; European parliament.

Paris: cold temps, warm hospitality; "homecoming"; Xmas market as carnival.

It was a terrific trip, if a bit cold for our tastes these days. Judging by the crowds, Christmas is definitely a second "high season" for European travel. The airfare was awesome--the hotel prices were not! And while we're glad that we did it, our curiosity has been satisfied and we've no need to repeat the experience.

It's hard to believe, but we're now at nearly the halfway point in our "Florida season," which means it's about time to start the visa application process. Yikes!