Day 18 ... highlights train travel and Bateau Simpatico

... early this morning we made our way to Amstedam's Central Station to begin our travel to Paris - I had to make a quick detour to the Yellow Bike Company as yesterday when we dropped off our rental bikes I forgot my basket at our abode ... ... so I made a quick dash from the train station to the company to drop it off and then we were on our way.

We travelled via Thalys Train from Amsterdam to Paris ... this is truly the way to travel in Europe ... 300 KM/hour and the comfort and service was incredible - not only did we receive a healthy mid-morning snack and coffee but we also received a well-balanced lunch with spirits [all included with our "Comfort 1" tickets]. I much prefer this mode of travel over airplanes. Now sit back and enjoy a couple of interesting stories of the journey:

• when we boarded the train in Amsterdam, our train car had 7 people in it, including the 3 of us - we figured we would be in for a quiet, uneventful trip as there are very few stops [being a high-speed train] ...
• first stop, Rotterdam, 12 seniors board the train and join our car ... boy, did that wake us up ...
• as they were getting settled I was listening to their lively exchanges and couldn't help but laugh out loud ... seated across the aisle from us was the "gal in charge" and her fella ... Alice and Herman ...
• immediately, I knew: a) we were in for a lot of laughs, and b) that they were Canadians [I could tell by their lack of accent, but of course I had to ask ... ] ...
• Herman reminds me very much of my 2nd Dad Lloyd, and he confirmed that yes they are from Canada - British Columbia, all hailing from the Abbotsford and Chiliwack areas ...
• the group had barely sat down when one of their cohorts "George" shouted out it was time to break-out the Jagermeister ...
• as we were chatting with Herman and Alice and getting to know them they said to Sabine how lucky she was to accompany her parents on a trip abroad, George chimed in by asking, "next trip can I be one of your kids and come along?" ... my natural response, "absolutely, you're the one with the Jagermeister!"
• an interesting fact about this crew is that they were all born in Holland and grew up in Canada ... except George ... he was "created" in Hollad but born in Canada ... he considered himself a dual citizen ...
• what next for this motley crew you ask [... I know you're wondering ... as was I and I certainly had to ask ...]? They have rented a bus and a personal guide and are touring all the wineries in southern France ... ... I said to them they should have hired a videographer and got the whole think on film for posterity sake!!

So this brings us to the lively city of Paris, we arrived at the Gare du Nord train station and made our way undergroud to tackle subway travel [with our ever-expanding suitcases] to our new temporary abode ... a houseboat on the River Seine christened "Bateau Simpatico":

• just one slight hiccup on the way here, ended up getting on the #4 going in the wrong direction [I actually recall making this exact mistake with Beanie the first time we were in Paris six years ago ... once again lesson learned - the hard way] ... but it was all good from there, once we righted ourselves we navigated well through the Metro system ...
• we arrived at our final stop the Hir-Bakeim platform and made our way down to street level ... so imagine this, we have the Eiffel Tour on our right as we make our way across the boulevard toward the River Seine ...
• we made our way down to the Port de Suffren and located Bateau Simpatico right away ... and immediately who should pop his head out the Starboard side of the vessel - Captain Bob ... ...
• Captain Bob was very welcoming and in fact had cold beer awaiting our arrival ... we all toasted to Paris and then spent time getting to know each other ... the exchanges with Captain Bob were very interesting, and he was very gracious about providing information on the boat, advice on the neighbourhood and provided some insight on the best mode of public transporation ...
• Quick Fact: Captain Bob purchased Bateau Simpatico in 1975 and sailed her around for a few years, it was in 1976 that he first discovered Port de Suffren and began to temporarily dock, the Port's wealthy merchant got to know Captain Bob and in the mid-1980s he encouraged Bob to purchased the post/place where he now docks, and in the mid-1990s the City of Paris began providing electrical and city water services to houseboats [of which there are 125 in Paris]
• More Quick Facts: lastly, Captain Bob has owned Bateau Siimpatico for almost 40 years / Bateau Simpatico was built in 1916 and will soon celebrate its 100th year!!! Bob is planning a party for the two events sometime in 2016 [I already told him I'm in ... ] ...

Tomorrow we have tours set-up for Versailles and Giverny [inspirational sight and subject of many of Claude Monet's masterpieces] ... better hit the hay as once again everyone is asleep ... better make my way along with the sway of the waves to bed ... ... g'night ...

Today's photo: I know I mentioned yesterday that I would post the opening to the Grachtenfestival but I changed my mind ... I really want you all to see a snippet of our temporary abode and get a feel for this place ... I snapped a quick picture of Sabine inside the houseboat ... the item Sabine is sitting on is used to close the dormer windows ... check-out the beautiful port-hole windows. Captain Bob located all of them in Holland ship scrapyards and installed a total of 23 in the area(s) we are staying in ...

Cheers All - RGR

P.S. I was actually done this Blog over an hour ago and was about to post the photo and my whole Blog went 'ka-put' ... so I've had to re-create it ... urgh! my first cut was much better but what can you do ... it's still got some good bits ...