Enjoy Bastille Day this Weekend

This morning we received our weekly newsletter from Carcassonne France and it had a bit about their celebrations for the Fête Nationale on quatorze juillet (14 July, Bastille Day).

For those of you who will not be in attendance this year, here is a video from 14 July 2012. It is very good footage but nothing like being there in person with the beautiful colors, the sounds of the rockets taking off, the percussion of the soundwaves striking your body, the oohs and ahs of the crowd... Good stuff. The French can really put on a show :)

This video is from the producers of firework spectacles, Ruggieri.

Looks like a pretty interesting program...

Feu d'artifice et embrasement de la Cité Médiévale

Dimanche 14 Juillet à 22h30 - aux alentours des berges de l'Aude

«Féériques émotions, la Cité dans tous ses états» est le nouveau spectacle de plus de 25mn que la ville de Carcassonne vous propose. Chaque acte du feu sera la métaphore d'une émotion. La mise en scène sera une sorte de pièce de théâtre en plein air ou chaque artifice jouera un rôle précis à travers sa sonorité, ses formes, ses couleurs, son cadencement, son ampleur et sa puissance.

«Féériques émotions, la Cité dans tous ses états » est une épopée colorée et cadencée autour de nos émotions de base.

7 grandes parties : 1 prologue aux couleurs de la république et 6 actes sur le thème des émotions.

Prologue : date du 14 juillet et tradition oblige les artificiers réaliseront un grand tableau républicain bleu blanc et rouge avant d'entamer la scénographie sur le thème des émotions. Ensuite, le spectacle s'orchestrera en tableaux structurés autour de 6 grands actes progressifs :
1. La peur, l'angoisse (fear, anxiety)
2. L'amour, le désir (love, desire)
3. La colère, la fureur (anger, fury)
4. La tristesse, la mélancolie (sadness, melancholy)
5. Le rire, la joie (laughter, joy)
6. La surprise, l'émerveillement (surprise, wonder)

We will be on our boat in Saint Croix (at least it has a French name!) and we will be raising a glass or two of pastis over the weekend while listening to Radio Nostalgie on our TuneIn Radio android app.

Hey, there's always next year... Contact Paradise Connections to book your barging vacation! Visit their website.

Bonne fête

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Life on the Seine

I just ran across a book on someone's blog that brought back memories.

The book is "Houseboat on the Seine" by William Wharton, who you might know from the movie and book "Birdy".

We lived on a converted barge in Le Port Marly on the branch of the Seine that flows from the Bougival lock and we rowed by his boat almost daily. Rosemary, the "better half" of the couple who owned La Péniche Black Moon used to type up Wharton's manuscripts, so I wouldn't be surprised that she did her part in the early stages of this book that was published in 1996.

The boat was quite a shambles in the early 80's and one striking feature was a large aviary aboard. We were not surprised to learn that it was Birdy's boat.

So, this book, Houseboat on the Seine, will be going on our wish list. According to the reviews it is more about Wharton's 20-plus years' struggle of fixing up the boat rather than about his life.  The review from Publisher's Weekly did mention "generous dollops of humor and local color" which we will probably find interesting and can relate to, along with the toils of boatbuilding in France :)

Wintry weather "back home" in south of France

Our friend Liz, owner-operator of the French Hotel Barge EMMA which cruises the canal du midi in the south of France, wrote to us Monday and sent us this beautiful and unusual photo.

French Hotel Barge EMMA, canal du midi, South of France

Hello everyone. Here is a photo of Emma which I never thought would be possible, especially in March. We have had a downfall of snow which is really beautiful but totally unexpected. On Friday we were in T-shirts finishing the little painting details and enjoying a glass of wine at the end of the day. Today it will be hot soup and hot toddies, dressed in woolies. Hope winter is being kind to you and that spring is just around the corner. Amitiés Liz

We remember the winter that we spent on the canal in Frontignan with Liz and Rene when they had a small motor boat. It was cold winter.  On a few particularly cold evenings, a bunch of us would get together on a boat with an electric heater to play cards and drink hot cocoa. We had ice on the chemin de halage that we used to ride our bikes on to go shopping, but never SNOW!

I hope the pink flamingoes toes didn't turn blue... maybe they have socks.

Even though we were complaining about the low temperature of 67°F in St Croix the other night, the chilly photo of Barge Emma really made us homesick for the French canals.

If you would like to know more about our friend's barge and barging vacations, check out Emma's online brochure HERE.