We continue to stay on Heather and Tim's boat moored at Mareuil-sur-Aÿ and we have been exploring the local area without going too far. The weather has been quite cool. One of the holidaymakers from a motor home (or camping car as it is called in France) said that it is ten degrees cooler than when they were here last year. Most days it is around 20 degrees but when the sun goes down and the wind gets up it is cool in the evenings. It is still light until around 9.30 p.m. We are not complaining though, so don't get me wrong. It just means that for me I wear a jacket most days. Mareuil-sur-Aÿ is a village of around 1200 people just seven kilometres from Epernay. The name means Mareuil south of Aÿ. We are moored on the La Marne Canal where as I have said earlier there are facilities for both boats and motorhomes. There is a small casino, no not for gambling, but a shop for buying food stocks and alcohol. There is also a restaurant/bistro and in the village a hairdressers, pharmacy and the standard Boulanger/Patisserie. Such a beautiful spot that we have not moved the boat at all. Monday morning in lovely sunshine we walked to a champagne house which is the property of the family of the "capitaine", who is the young man who manages the mooring and is in attendance from 6 pm to 8 pm each day. When asked which champagne house he recommended of course he said his family one is the best. We walked for about ten minutes and then we were welcomed at the champagne house of L. Bénard.Pitois to a tasting of some five different champagnes. Those who know me well know that I choose not to take any alcohol however not to offend I accepted the glasses and took a sip from each. We had a very pleasant hour and then after stocking up with some for another day we walked back to the boat comfortable that our purchases were going to be delivered. The French provide excellent customer service. After such a glorious morning a relaxing afternoon walking along the tow path beside the canal was great followed by the now customary pétanque which incidentally Peter won. Drinks back on the boat along with other travelling Australians then Heather's famous chicken and prawn paella for dinner. Tuesday we had a booking at yet another champagne house, Billecart-Salmon which is again just a very short walk from the boat mooring. Heather and Tim had booked in advance for a degustation including a tour of the house. Our lovely hostess. Sondi, took us out through the garden and then we viewed the vines, the pressing facilities (used just two weeks a year), the vats, the underground cellars where over six million bottles are cellared, the oak barrels and then back through the gardens to the tastings. This is one of the few privately owned champagne houses still operating and produces some two million bottles per year of which 60% is exported. The USA is the highest importer followed by, no surprises, Australia. Three different champagnes were tasted, again I did my one sip and pass on method, and the opinion of the group (eight visitors in all) was it was excellent. You would never rely on me for an opinion on champagne. We were not hurried and in all the tour took three hours. The tour price of €30 per person was considered excellent value - three glasses of top quality champagne in Melbourne would cost more than $12-15 a glass. Peter and I decided a visit to the statue of Mary was perfect in the afternoon. This statue is on a hill behind Mareuil-sur-Aÿ and is completely surrounded by vines and in fact we had to drive up the narrow paths through the vines to the top. The other choice was to climb the steep stairs and that wasn't for me. The statue was erected in 1946 in appreciation for the safety of the village people following World War II. A visit to the next village called Aÿ nearer Epernay was next. We enjoyed wandering along the Main Street which is so different from main streets in our part of the world. Of course the reigning champion had to prove his worth in a further came of pétanque (some question of whether Peter was the winner this time as a lady had interrupted the game to play a couple of Peter's balls) and then the customary drinks with the other Australians. Dinner back on the boat - lovely lamb curry with rice, aubergine with Greek yoghurt and lemon. Boy have we had beautiful food on this boat thanks to Heather's lovely cooking. After six nights enjoying hospitality from Heather and Tim it was time to move on. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing their relaxing canal lifestyle - it would be very easy to get used to it. Thank you heaps Heather and Tim. So Thursday morning we packed up and headed east. We decided not to take the freeway/motorway so set the GPS to avoid and meandered along the country roads through lots of villages. The speed on rural roads is 90 kph and as you approach the village it reduces to 70 initially, the. 50 then down to 30. As the villages are close together it seems that we were constantly going really slowly and I (Gill) was driving. As much as we love the little villages after about three hours when we were at the first reasonable size town/city we decided we had had enough of meandering and decided to take the dual highway towards Strasbourg. Although not on the freeway/motorway we moved along much quicker and soon realised that we had crossed the border into Germany. There are no border controls now as Germany and France are both part of the European Union - we could only tell because the sign posts were in German rather than French and the style of houses had changed. Good-Boyd France, we have enjoyed. We arrived at our booked accommodation in Sasbachwalden thanks to the GPS. This is a village in the northern Black Forest which we will explore over the next couple of days. We had booked an apartment through airbnb and when we arrived we were really happy with our choice. We are staying in a newly built typical German house which is divided into apartments. We are on the first floor and we have a balcony with outdoor seating area. All around us we are surrounded by grape vines! There is no need for jackets here as it was 28 degrees when we arrived and as it is light until about 9.30 pm we enjoyed dinner outside.