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Our Ship has Come In! (she said)

by Heather 11 May 2011

We are on our boat in France. We have dreamed of owning a boat for over a decade, but it’s hard to believe we own a power (not sail) boat in France (!). There have been so many plans and so much effort put into this dream, it feels surreal to finally be living it!

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We leave Falls Church on Monday afternoon with seven pieces of luggage; only two of them hold clothing. Air France allows a maximum bag weight of 23 kg so we check three bags, weighing from 21.5 kg to 22.2 kg. They are all under the weight limit due to Kent’s outstanding distribution of stuff – things like a solar panel, lumber and numerous tools – among the bags. Between these three bags and our carry-ons, we have over 200 lbs of stuff to transport from Dulles to St. Gilles, France.

We fly to the south of France, arriving around 9:30 am Tuesday morning. Leaving the airport in Montpellier, we struggle to load the 200 lbs of stuff on and off various forms of public transportation. We take a bus from the airport, change to the tram – which travels into the Montpellier historic district – and ride it to the train station. This is where we experience our only luggage-related mis-hap of the journey. As Kent maneuvers two of the ~ 50 lb bags down the stairs he looses control of one of the bags. It accelerates down the stairs straight toward a plate-glass window overlooking the train track at the bottom. In my head I clearly see the interior of a French jail while incredulous policemen ask us why we threw a bag through a window at the TGV (the French high-speed train). Miraculously, the bag bounces off the glass. Only when we drag the rest of our things down the remaining stairs do we notice the elevator. Ha! My mind flashes back to that imaginary French jail cell. It’s definitely better to be lucky than smart! We board the TGV and arrive in Nimes where we walk to the bus station and catch a bus for St. Gilles. In St Gilles, we unload and make the long walk (about 500 yards) to the marina.* Success!

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Kent starts unpacking the gear and immediately sets to work. He installs a back for the outdoor steering station seat and assembles two boxes for holding flowerpots that he made back back in Virginia. I assemble the first set of many shelves that we’ll put around the boat, unpack gear, and start making lists of all the things we need to purchase.

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As the sun drops and the temperature cools, we clean up and stroll around town. We visit the local wine cave where we taste the offerings and then fill a recycled water bottle (that’s 1.5 litres, not 750 mls like a normal wine bottle) with a tasty local merlot – for 1.10 euros a liter (that’s two bottles of wine for about $2.50 US). It has none of the cloying sensation of a 2-Buck Chuck or a Rex Goliath (which we both drink regularly) or a similar table wine in the US. This would be $10 per bottle back home. The proprietor tells us, “it’s table wine.” I suspect he worries that we are not impressed with the quality. But we are impressed – it’s a bargain!

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We also visit the green grocer who happens to have a chair at her cash register for her customers. St. Gilles is a small town, and the grocer’s customers sit down for a chat when they check out – she is laughing with two ladies when we arrive. We get some provisions (including several excellent cheeses) and then head to The Royal Kebab for dinner (fancy name, but not much more than a hole-in-the-wall). The kebabs are spectacular; we’ll be eating there again soon.

It is still light when we get back to our boat. We open our wine and take a short post-dinner cruise around the marina before tying up for the night and falling into a deep deep slumber on our boat.

*Why didn’t we just rent a car in Montpellier and drive the gear to the boat? The quoted fare for a car rental was 200 euros (about $275). Our trip cost 30 euros, plus we got to ride the TGV.

Categories
Boating, France, The Adventures of Kent and Heather

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11 Responses to “Our Ship has Come In! (she said)”

  1. Robin Newbold says:
    May 11, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    What a great story; thanks for the continuing reports on your adventures and best wishes for a very happy summer in France.

  2. Barbie says:
    May 11, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    I am so jealous- I can see it all- the TGV, struggling w/ the luggage, the market, the hole-in-the-wall restaurant, all the wine & all the cheese, the boat (love the flowerpot idea)… Have a wonderful adventure! Barbie

    • unexcusedabsences says:
      May 17, 2011 at 6:29 am

      Thanks!! Hope your French family enjoys DC!

  3. Justin Dent says:
    May 11, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Congratulations to both of you. The Beav was great but his is the stuff dreams are made of. Bonne chance!

    • unexcusedabsences says:
      May 17, 2011 at 6:28 am

      Merci!

  4. Dave Seminara says:
    May 12, 2011 at 12:27 am

    Congratulations, guys. We’re green w/ envy, but your blog is a nice consolation prize. Looking forward to living vicariously. Happy travels. And please post a photo of your new grocer!

    Dave

    • unexcusedabsences says:
      May 17, 2011 at 6:28 am

      I went back to that grocer two times, and each time people were standing chatting with her. I didn’t have the heart to ask folks to fake a photo for me ….

  5. mom says:
    May 12, 2011 at 2:36 am

    At least you won’t have to take all the luggage back to the States. So enjoy picturing you on your boat. Glad you arrived safely. You did save your euros.

  6. Uncle Don says:
    May 12, 2011 at 9:46 pm

    As I’ve said before, you guys have too much fun, well maybe except the almost broken window !

  7. unexcusedabsences says:
    May 17, 2011 at 6:43 am

    Elizabeth Taggart writes,
    I so loved reading the introduction to your dream summer in France. I really couldn’t be more jealous. I loved everything about the story. The bags, the public transportation, the fact that you have flower pots for the boat!!! Wonderful! Can’t wait for the next installment.

  8. Page Robertson says:
    May 26, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    I can’t believe that we saw you in Vias at the end of your 1st week and the end of our 2nd, headed home. You were so kind to let me bend your ear as Jerry says, and the Orange Cell, Domino for the laptop, and IPAD chip info will be so good next year. We have changed from the Lot, because it is a long train from CDG to Toulouse and 2 trains and a bus to Douelle. Taking your advice to Nivernais because with 2 grandgirls it is only 1& 1/2 hr to the boat. We took the TGV straight from CDG to Nimes, and then the bus to St. Gilles. Of course we each had only a carry on for 2 wk. We have learned to do with less and less, but even so we jettisoned some old clothes in order to bring home some DIVINE percale made in Vosges. I bought 39M x 225cm, weighing 12lb. from an old fabric vendor on the street in Agde for Euro 30. I will make sheets better than Charisma. No blog by me at 70…too busy running 2 companies and being a grandmother. Bon Journee!

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