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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Caturday & Simon's Cat

I love Simon's Cat. He "gets" cats. The cat sounds and actions are purrfect!

Simon's Cat in "The Box"

Every cat loves a good box.  Our Amazon boxes never go to waste. They become recycled cat toys and cat beds. Paper bags are very much appreciated, too.

There are two Simon's Cat books available on Amazon.com

Simon's Cat in His Very Own Book

Simon's Cat, Beyond the Fence

Happy St Patrick's Day

This is probably the most popular subject of the day and what a nice day it is...

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Looking for some tunes to get you going?  Check out these mp3 downloads from Amazon: Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, U2, The Pogues, Sinead O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Corrs, The Chieftains, The Irish Rovers, Irish Folk Players, The Cieli Band  

In honor of St Patrick's Day, this month we are featuring the Irish Hotel Barge Shannon Princess and thought we'd tell our All About Boats readers about her.

Take advantage of our special gift for a barge charter on the all-inclusive crewed hotel barge SHANNON PRINCESS which cruises along the River Shannon in Ireland. It expires today but maybe you'll get lucky if you ask nicely :)

Besides their standard itinerary, which can be adapted for your charter group's interests, they also have ones for golfing, guided walking tours, family cruises, and they now have a new itinerary for Guided Bike / Cycling Tours which sounds very interesting... and at no extra charge! Read our various posts on the Shannon Princess.

Here's a bit of culture for you :)

• Wondering what that phrase above means?

Beannachtaí na Féile Páraic oraibh! : St. Patrick's Day blessing upon you
Click HERE to listen (ban-ock-tee na fay-lah paw-rig ur-iv)

• Here's another useful saying when you visit Ireland:

Pionta Guinness, le do thoil. A pint of Guiness, please.
Click HERE to listen (pyunta Guinness leh duh hull)

(Thanks to http://www.irish-sayings.com for these sound bytes!)

If you would like to visit the Emerald Isle this season, let us know! Visit www.BargeCharters.com

Sláinte agus táinte!

Rain Rain GO AWAY!

Guess what... Yes! More RAIN...

The islands are nice and green now.  WAPA on St Thomas has some kind of water generating problem, but I hope they have been able to catch all this rain we've been having.

My friend Kerry, owner-operator of the charter yacht PROMENADE, took a few photos for her blog.

 Wednesday in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas

Thursday in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas

Probably looked pretty much the same today, too :)

Since we are talking about depressing weather, did you see this on Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog ???

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its 2010 Atlantic hurricane season forecast today. NOAA forecasts a very active and possibly hyperactive season. They give an 85% chance of an above-normal season, a 10% chance of a near-normal season, and just a 5% chance of a below-normal season. NOAA predicts a 70% chance that there will be 14 - 23 named storms, 8 - 14 hurricanes, and 3 - 7 major hurricanes, with an Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) in the 155% - 270% of normal range. If we take the midpoint of these numbers, NOAA is calling for 18.5 named storms, 11 hurricanes, 5 major hurricanes, and an ACE index 210% of normal. A season with an ACE index over 175% is considered "hyperactive." An average season has 10 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 intense hurricanes.

This is an interesting tidbit from NOAA...

We received an email from a client in Reno Nevada this morning. He said that he awoke this morning to 2 inches of snow and 31 degrees. I'm surprised as it's almost June! His local news media said that this May has been the coldest on record in 125 years...

This afternoon I had a phone call from the Irish Hotel Barge Shannon Princess. I was complaining about all the rain we've been having in tropical paradise, and he said that they had a glorious and sunny day on the Emerald Isle of Ireland.

So It Goes...

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.

New Hotel Barge Cruise Vacations website uploaded

What did I do this weekend?  I did the happy dance!

After a couple of years of good intentions of creating a standalone hotel barge charter website, I finally did it and uploaded it. You can check it out: www.BargeCharters.Com

Of course, it's not completely finished yet, but the important bits are there and I can tweak it and add more information later.

I have also had to modify links to "European Barges" and "Hotel Barges" on the ParadiseConnections.com website, plus our various blogs. And, then there is the task of submissions to search engines.

Still more to do, but So It Goes...

Hope y'all had a good weekend, too!