Nicols Boat Charter Sireuil
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45°36’20.8692″N, 0°1’30.6804″E

Today was the big day.  We picked up our boat from the Nicols Charter company depot in the village of Sireuil on the Charente River.

Our first task for the day before leaving Angouleme was to go to a nearby grocery store and pick up provisions for our journey.

The boat has a well equipped galley so we plan to have a mixture of preparing meals on board & eating at local restaurants & cafes along the way.

After picking up all of the items on our shopping list we hired a taxi for our 25 minute journey from Angouleme to Sireuil.

We started planning this trip many months ago & it was exciting to finally see our boat.

Our boat is a Nicols 1000 Sedan. It’s about 34 feet long with a spacious dining & galley area on the main level & 3 sleeping cabins & 2 bathrooms below deck. It’s pretty compact but comfortable.

The Nicols staff were very efficient at checking us in. They gave us a tour & tutorial of the systems on the boat and then took us & 2 other charter boats to the first lock.

Our route on the Charente River takes us from Sireuil to Saint Savinien, a distance of about 98 kilometers & a total of 15 locks that we have to operate ourselves. We have to return the boat to Sireuil in 7 days so we aren’t sure how far we will get before we have to turn around.

We have decided that we will take our time & stop at interesting places along the way. If we only go 30 or 40 kilometers before we have to turn around that will be fine. The map below shows the first segment of our journey.

It was almost 4:00pm when we left the Nicols depot. We made it through 2 locks & arrived at the 3rd lock at 6:00pm. This looked like a good place to stop & spend the night.

Ecluse de Mosnac (Mosnac Lock – the 3rd lock on our route)
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45°37’36.5484″N, 0°1’21.3204″W

Catherine & Valerie prepared a great meal of pasta & salad supported by some excellent local wines.

After dinner David & I cleaned up the dishes while Catherine & Valerie laid out plans for the next day.

Tomorrow we will pass through 3 locks to get to our next destination, the village of ….

Cheers!

Hotel Mercure Angouleme
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45°38’58.4376″N, 0°9’27.9864″E

After a good rest in our hotel (photo above) we were ready to go out and explore Angouleme. We started our morning by walking across the street to the public market.

The market building was built in 1888. It’s design was inspired by buildings in Paris of the same era. It’s not all that attractive on the outside but the interior is very interesting & it’s easy to imagine what it must have been like when it was first built.

Many of the vendors were still setting up their stalls & the prepared food breakfast choices were limited so we opted to find a nearby cafe instead.

After enjoying our “traditional” coffee, baguette & croissant we went for a brief walk in the neighborhood.

Just up the street from the market is the Hotel de Ville (city hall).

This building is very imposing, as it is located on one of the highest points in the city. The oldest part of it was built at the end of the Roman Empire & various parts of the castle were added to it over the following centuries. The City purchased the castle in 1869 & converted into their main office building.

Some of the streets surrounding the castle spread out like spokes on a wheel  & as you look up each street you can see the castle. It’s a great landmark to help you stay oriented.

Even though it was still pretty early on a Sunday morning there were still a few other tourists exploring the city.

Angouleme is well known for its building murals & we enjoyed several of various sizes.

I liked the restaurant window mural below. We had dinner there this evening.

And also the full wall mural on a building just around the corner from our hotel.

While we were exploring the area we often saw a familiar couple enjoying the same sights.

It’s nice to see that graffiti “artists” are leaving these little masterpieces alone.

We wrapped up the evening by taking a  stroll around the neighborhood and enjoyed a view of the city from the market plaza.

Our ages are starting to show a bit because while we were getting ready to call it a day many of the locals were just coming out for dinner!

Oh well, tomorrow we pick up our boat.

Cheers!

Hotel Regyn’s
Pl. des Abbesses, 75018 Paris
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48°53’4.7832″N, 2°20’17.0520″E

We were up a bit earlier this morning & off to a local cafe for a light breakfast before taking the subway to the Montparnasse train station for our trip to Angouleme.

About the only thing we didn’t ride the last few days was the carousel beside our hotel. Perhaps the next time we come to Paris….

We arrived at the train station well in advance of the scheduled departure time.

Montparnasse Train Station
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48°50’27.1176″N, 2°19’11.8452″E

This place is like an airport with many trains per day going in a variety of directions, lots of people & an amazing amount of amenities for travellers. This is the 4th busiest train station in France & reportedly handles about 56 million passengers a year!

We boarded our train at 12:00 noon for a 12:40 departure time.

There was a pretty big crowd boarding it but the process was quick and not much stress.

The train left the station right on time & before long we were speeding through the countryside. Occasionally we got a glimpse of cars travelling on a nearby freeway & the train zipped past them like they were parked!

I got out my phone & turned on my GPS car navigation system. Once it got connected to some satellites it started giving me all kinds of warning signals. They were so loud I had to turn the sound off on the phone because other passengers were starting to stare!

Apparently my GPS was VERY concerned that I was doing 296 kilometers per hour in an 80 km/h speed zone!

The train was so quiet & smooth that you would never think we were going that fast. I also suspect that the train may have exceeded 300 km/h at times because there were times when we could feel it accelerating even more. 

We arrived in Angouleme around 2:30. It is famous for its cartoon artists & for many murals on buildings throughout the city. The fellow in the picture below was installed on the roof of the train station. He kind of reminds me of the Fonze from Happy Days.

Google maps informed us that our hotel was only about 750 meters from the train station so we decided to walk there. Unfortunately Google forgot to tell us that the entire walk was uphill!

We eventually made it to the Hotel Mercure & were very pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. Our rooms are more than double the size of the rooms we had in Paris & everything is chic & modern inside a very old looking building on the outside.

Tomorrow we will explore Angouleme & also start gathering some provisions for our week on the boat.

Cheers!

Today we did a lot of walking… a mini “power tour” of some of the famous highlights of Paris!

But first, let me wish a very Happy Birthday to my son Steve!  A special day for sure!  Years ago poor Steve would occasionally have to start his school year on his birthday – no fun at all – but he was always a good sport about it.

And now back to today’s adventures!

After a nice breakfast at a cafe in Montmartre we took a subway ride to our first stop for the day – the Arc de Triomphe!

Arc de Triomphe
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48°52’25.9752″N, 2°17’42.0216″E

I got this photo while standing on a little island in the middle of a crosswalk in front of the Arc. Traffic circling the Arc is crazy!  I think the best way to travel on this road is in a taxi or on a city bus!

We decided to walk to all of our planned destinations for the day. Access through some areas was still a bit restricted due to the Para Olympics but fortunately we just had to take some short detours.

These types of detours were very pleasant escapes from the busy traffic streets.

We walked down the Champs Elysses towards our next stop – the Petit Palais art gallery & museum. Another Scottish bargain as there was no admission fee! 

On our way there we walked past the fanciest construction site I have ever seen – a new Louis Vuitton store. The construction site is hidden behind this “wall” that looks like a treasure chest!

Petite Palais
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48°51’58.3200″N, 2°18’52.3764″E

This museum has many famous paintings & sculptures & a beautiful inner courtyard & garden.

The art gallery was not very busy so it was easy to be able stand and study a painting or a sculpture without worrying too much about blocking someone else’s view.

On our way to the Place de la Concorde we got a pretty good view of the Olympic Flame.

Most of the Place de la Concorde was still fenced off and crews were dismantling all of the temporary stadium seating so we kept on walking to our next destination – the Louvre.

On our way to the Louvre and just past the Place de la Concorde is an amazing row of apartments. The French certainly know how to do high density housing with a lot of class. That begs the question – why can’t we do this in big cities back home?

On to the Louvre

Louvre
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48°51’39.8880″N, 2°20’8.9232″

None of us were interested in going into the building as it was really busy, so we just spent some time enjoying the architecture and people watching.

I had forgotten that you can look back down towards the Champs Elysses from the Louvre and there is a smaller Arc just across the road. You can also get a really neat view of the Olympic flame from this location. It would be interesting to see this at night.

Onward we go to our final sightseeing stop for the day…

Eiffel Tower
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48°51’30.5712″N, 2°17’38.7744″E

It was also very busy at this location (no surprise) and access around the tower was limited. We were all content to enjoy the view from a close distance and after a brief rest we headed towards the subway system. The trains were very busy on the ride back to our hotel. It looked like the end of the workday for many people plus there were lots of students getting on and off at each stop.

By the time we got back to our hotel we figured that we had walked about 10 kilometers in total. That’s a pretty big accomplishment for me as most of my “steps” at home are associated with cutting our small lawn plus several trips back and forth from the fridge to the TV.

When we got back to our hotel Catherine & Valerie headed to our rooms for a rest. We took a pass on riding the carousel in front of our hotel.

David & I paused briefly outside for some liquid refreshments.

Tomorrow we take the train to Angouleme. Our last stop before we pick up our charter boat on Monday afternoon.

Cheers!

Musée Carnavalet
23 Rue de Sévigné, 75003 Paris
Musee
///blaring.beans.moment
48°51’26.3016″N, 2°21’45.3852″E

I just love all the crazy names that what3words assigns to individual latitude and longitude coordinates!

blaring.beans.moment = famous French museum!

Anyway, we woke up to pouring rain this morning & decided that it would be a good idea to spend some time in an interesting museum. Catherine suggested that we go to the Musée Carnavalet which was a short subway ride away & also not far from Notre Dame Cathedral.

This museum is dedicated to the history of the City of Paris from Roman times up to the 20th century. There is no admission fee to the museum (Scottish bonus!) & it has dozens of fascinating & interesting displays. A person could easily spend a full day in this place & there would still be lots more to see on another visit.

All of the metal work signs were a favourite of mine.

Unfortunately the courtyards & outside cafe were closed on this day – another reason for a return visit.

I love this door that was preserved from a local building. I think it would be effective at keeping door-to-door salesmen away!

Our next stop was to see: pitchers.visitor.risky

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, 6 Parvis Notre-Dame – Pl. Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris
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48°51’11.8476″N, 2°20’56.4144″E

Lots of activity still going on there & lots of people watching all the action. Fortunately for us the rain was letting up so we had a good look around & then found a dry place to sit down & have some more “refreshments”.

Our last stop for the day was to show Valerie & David one of Emily’s favourite places – across the river from the cathedral with the hotel’s tiny upper floor windows offering a clear view of Notre Dame. She will be staying here again in a few weeks!

Hôtel Esmeralda, 4 Rue Saint-Julien le Pauvre, 75005 Paris
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48°51’8.9352″N, 2°20’50.2224″E

Not sure if Emily would approve of the what3words address.

By the time we got back to our hotel the rain had completely stopped for the day. Another brief rest & then another very nice meal at a local restaurant.

Tomorrow we plan to visit some more of the “must sees of Paris” including the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysses.

Cheers!