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Copyright © 2019 Hugh Brock

Cars, Boats, Airplanes

Canal Boating: Expect the Unexpected

21 September, 2017

Hotel Barge Amaryllis exits a lock on the Canal du Centre

A brief summary of our Escapades Fluviale

One of the great things about canal boating is you never know what to expect…

Year 1: We arrive equipped with elaborate plans for what to do on our boat trip on the Canal du Centre, including which wineries to visit etc. Problem: Canal du Centre is closed due to lack of water, try a different canal. Outcome: Excellent — we visit Pont de Vaux (a tiny canal to a tiny village) and Louhans, at the top of the navigable Seille river, which has the most amazing market (including livestock!) we have ever seen.

Year 2: I book the wrong boat (was supposed to be the deluxe two cabin version, actually was the non-luxury three cabin version of the same size boat). Additional problems: Bow thruster doesn’t work and my bed broke and dropped me into the bilge. Weather is freezing cold most of the time and the crappy boat has to be driven from inside when it’s raining because there is no dodger or anything of the sort over the outdoor help position. Outcome: Excellent — we have a fantastic time with great friends, searching for geocaches along the route (my normally risk-averse wife crawled out onto a disused railroad trestle over the river to find one), and met a winemaker in Rully that we still visit regularly (Domaine De La Folie, highly recommended).

Year 3: I book the right boat (yay) with the right company (Saone Bateaux) and we actually have decent weather with Kim’s dad and stepmom. Problem: Plan is to go up Canal de Bourgogne and make extensive use of e-bikes for Ron and Claire to tour around the area — but they both have trouble getting used to the e-bikes so we mostly stay on the boat. Outcome: Excellent — after panicking over possibly running out of fresh water for showers etc., we make it to a lock with an anchorage run by two fantastic people who make us great food. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. Hope to go back soon.

Year 4: I book the right boat again and we go up the Canal du Rhone au Rhin with same friends from Year 2. Problems: None. Outcome: Excellent, had a really great time, dropped Alison and Kyle off in Besancon for their return and then went up the Canal du Centre for a couple days on the way back to turn the boat in.

Year 5: Great weather, so great that I get heat exhaustion/dehydration from standing out in the sun driving the boat! (Wine might have played a part…). Outcome: Excellent, we were so hot we swam in the Saone off the back of the boat for the first time in 5 years. It was deliciously cold.

Year 6: Cold and rainy to start, now shaping up very nicely however as I write this. Problem: Atlantic side of Canal du Centre closed due to a broken lock (They had to drain the canal!). Outcome: So far, excellent — we get to spend more time in the Cote d’Or visiting wineries.

In general — one of the fun things about doing this canal boat vacation is that you never know what France is going to throw at you.

Filed Under: Cars, Boats, Airplanes

Everything’s Bigger in America

24 December, 2015

Today I’m writing from a coffee shop in the Santana Row “village” (see below for rant) in San Jose, California. It’s Christmas Eve, 2015. I’ve been in the Czech Republic now with only brief interruptions since June 2015, so I’ve had a fair bit of time to acclimate to the European lifestyle. Coming back for the holiday brings a bunch of thoughts, including how weird it is that everyone understands English, but one stands out:

Holy crap everything is just enormous!

Like, seriously huge. Cars, houses, roads, plates of food, stores, things in stores… I feel like Gulliver or something. Only the people are roughly the same size. Well, they’re roughly the same height, anyway. Nonetheless, it apparently takes one of these to transport a family of four to dinner:

A go-kart, apparently

It’s not like big cars are a new thing in the U.S. After all, my father drove us around in one of these when I was a kid:

1960cadillacTTB

(Wow I really wish he had kept that car…)

What I do think has changed since the Johnson administration is the size of everything else. I’m not sure, but I wonder sometimes if the American obesity crisis is simply an attempt to expand to fill all the space we’ve made for ourselves. (Really I think it’s because we’re being poisoned, but that’s a subject for another blog.)

The contrast with Brno, where the average monthly salary would not quite buy the gas for the truck above, is quite impressive. You can make arguments for both lifestyles, I guess, but I know which I would prefer.

Oh, and about Santana Row… blearrgh. Why do we tear down real towns with character and interest, so we can build fake ones instead? Not enough room for luxury retail? Bad land-use laws (this is probably it, really)? I think I feel another blog coming on on the importance of decent legislation…

Filed Under: Brno, Cars, Boats, Airplanes

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Meet Hugh

I'm the Research Director for Red Hat, married to harpist and writer Kimberly Rowe, living in Boston. We lived in Brno, Czechia until pretty recently. Read More…

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