Is it possible to keep having this much fun day after day?? Today, we had an early start when Elodie slipped and proceeded into the L'Oise River and headed upstream to the village of Auvers sur Oise. On arrival, Henry took us on a very interesting walking tour of the village, where Vincent van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life. He showed us scenes within the village that van Gogh painted, where he lived and where he is buried. Van Gogh painted around 80 pictures in these last 70 days of his life. Unknown to me was the fact that van Gogh shot himself and, although he didn't die straight away, succumbed to his injuries three days later. His considerable industry before he died made me wonder whether he planned his final days. ... read more

Oh what a delightful day (except for the odd hiccup for some). After a relaxing morning which included a lovely walk around the North Marais area (where Kerrie found some yummy baklava) we packed up and headed for the Elodie. Now this should have been a simple 20min Uber ride and it was for some. For Mike and Kerrie it was somewhat different as they got a renegade Uber driver who took them for an (un)guided tour of the outer suburbs of Paris. Two and a half hours later, they arrived at Elodie and were remarkably calm considering the experience they had just endured!!! We met the rest of the Elodie team, now consisting of: Mike & Jenny, Mike & Kerrie, Brian & Jenny, Pru & Ian, Jonathan & Maureen, Tim and Ingrid, Warwick and Kathy, ... read more

This blog is being written under some duress!! We are exhausted!! But what a great day. At 10.00am this morning we met with two other tourists and two AirBnB guides for a bike tour of the Marais and canal area. This lasted about 4 hours and was an absolute treat. The French (actually Venezuelan, but who cares) guides showed us some special places around the Marais district that most people would not normally find and we then headed up the St Martin's canal (built at the time of Napoleon) to the Bassin de la Vilette, which just happens to be where we will board the Elodie on Sunday. The tour was great in that it introduced us to the Paris share-bike system, which is really easy to use. For a very small fee you can access ... read more

A sad farewell to our Dutch hosts and the wonderful city of Amsterdam. A 300km/h train trip to Paris and a rendezvous with our dear friends, Mike and Kerrie Lang. All went smoothly with our travel, the train trip was very comfortable, passing through Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels and on to Gare du Nord in Paris. We arrived at our AirBnB in Boulevard Beaumarchais just after 3.00pm to be met by Mike and Kerrie, wine, cheese and crusty bread. A perfect start to out Paris sojourn!! We all went for a walk along the Seine and around the Notre Dame Cathedral (a remarkable structure) to work up an appetite for dinner. Paris is markedly different from Amsterdam and we need to make a mental adjustment to accommodate the hustle and bustle of the Parisians. M&K had a ... read more

Another glorious day. Weather perfect, early start, off to the markets, amazing designer labels for very reasonable prices (authentic, trust me!!). Found a corner shop with the most incredible cheese and bakery selection - cholesterol nightmare!! Went to the Maritime Museum. In my opinion (and whilst admitting I might be biased), an absolute must see. Impressive building which used to be the Admiralty Arsenal. The whole place a reminder of what great seafarers the Dutch have been for many centuries. They were streets ahead of every other nation in map making. On display was a set of nine volumes of maps covering the whole globe, produced in 1595 - priceless!!. A feature item was the, now unused, Royal Barge - ornate to the extreme. Jenny suffered museum overload and bailed out after an hour or two ... read more