Aug 04 2022

Barging Through Burgundy

French region known for world-renowned wine, historic chateaus and Dijon mustard

USA Today.com/The Arizona Republic — August 6, 2022

DIJON, France – “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?”

The Adrienne, a 12-passenger barge operated by French Country Waterways, cruises the Canal du Centre in the Burgundy region of east-central France

Inside a crowded mustard shop in the Burgundy town where the famous brand of Dijon mustard was invented in 1866, I couldn’t resist repeating the line from the oft-quoted 1980s American advertising campaign.

After waiting 20 minutes in line, my hopes for a knowing smile and a response of “but of course” were spoiled like an open jar of year-old mayonnaise.

The manager of Moutarde Maille told me the shop hasn’t carried Grey Poupon since 1962, instead focusing on its competing brands of the spicy French-made condiment known for its infusion of white wine.

Moutarde Maille sells 100 flavors of mustard in such large quantities that their clerks dispense it out of taps the same way bartenders here pour a Kronenbourg lager – only without a foamy head. We bought a jar of Dijon made with Burgundian-produced Chablis wine.

Shopping for mustard in Dijon was just one of several appetizing tastes of French life we experienced during a six-day barge cruise through canals and rivers in the Burgundy region in east-central France, about 200 miles from Paris. Home to 1.6 million people, Burgundy is geographically a bit larger than the state of Maryland.

Dijon mustard, infused with white wine, is dispensed by tap at the popular Moutarde Maille shop in Dijon, France

Cruising through Burgundy on a barge

We were aboard the Adrienne, which holds 12 passengers and six crew members. The Adrienne, built in 2004, is one of five barges in the fleet of French Country Waterways, a Massachusetts-based company that owns a fleet of five barges cruising France’s inland waterways.

Two of the barges are sailing this summer through Burgundy; the other three are doing itineraries in the regions of Alsace-Lorraine, Champagne and the Upper Loire Valley south of Paris.

Barging has become a popular — albeit pricier — alternative to more traditional river cruises. It’s geared for well-heeled wine enthusiasts and foodies who prefer traveling in small groups at a leisurely pace. There is less time devoted to sightseeing — and more time for elaborate, multi-course meals — than on a typical river cruise.

That’s not to say that we weren’t able to explore Burgundy’s most notable sites, including medieval abbeys, chateaus, castles and wineries. There are seemingly more UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Burgundy than sidewalk cafes on the Champs-Elysees.

The 12th-century Chateau de Rully overlooks a vineyard in the Burgundy region of east-central France

France’s canals have a speed limit of 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) per hour, and passing through 39 locks on the route provided ample opportunity for us to step off the barge for a walk or bike ride past small villages, vineyards and fields full of blooming sunflowers.

The French canal system had its beginnings in the early 17th century during the reign of Henry IV. Barges were used to haul coal, grain and heavy goods from village to village. With the advent of trains and motor vehicles, their use as workhorse transport vessels has become mostly obsolete.

Now, barges have morphed into an opulent and relaxed way for tourists to experience rural France in a manner in which the Dukes of Burgundy, who ruled this region during the late Middle Ages, would feel accustomed.

Matthew Walsh, the Adrienne’s captain and tour guide, has been working on luxury barges in France since 1979.

“When people first hear about it, they ask, ‘Barge?'” said Walsh, who was born in England but has lived in Burgundy for more than 30 years. “But this is not like a traditional barge. This is more like a luxury yacht. Once they’ve learned about it, people really do like it.”

Chef Tadek Zwan prepares a traditional Burgundian meal of coq au vin in the Adrienne’s kitchen

Food and wine

Lunches and dinners weren’t just meals — they were discourses on local cheeses and wines. The Adrienne’s chef, Tadek Zwan, prepared Burgundian specialties like beef bourguignon and coq au vin — chicken cooked in wine sauce.

Burgundy produces some of the world’s most renowned wines, many of which have achieved prestigious “grand cru” or “premier cru” status, meaning they originate from designated high-quality vineyards. The region’s Pinot noirs and Chardonnays are particularly exceptional.

Not only do the wines go down easy, the terraced vineyards that produce them are some of the most scenic in Europe.

I especially enjoyed a visit to the Chateau de Rully, an 800-year-old fortress overlooking an expansive vineyard near the village of Chagny. We were given a private tour of the grounds by Raoul de Ternay, whose family has owned and lived in the castle for 26 generations. Afterward, we sampled some of the chateau’s wines in its medieval kitchen.

We also spent an afternoon in Beaune where we toured the well-preserved Hospices de Beaune, a former hospital for the poor dating back to the 15th century. The hospital’s eye-catching multicolored tile roofs are a traditional part of Burgundian architecture.

Scenic vineyards in France’s Burgundy region. The area is renowned for its Pinot noirs and Chardonnays

During six days onboard the Adrienne, we covered a mere 50 miles on two canals and the Saone River from Dijon southwest to St. Leger-sur-Dheune. With morning bike rides and daily sightseeing trips on a small tour bus driven by Walsh, it still felt like we got a reasonably good taste of Burgundy.

“In some ways, you can have a better time staying in one small area and studying it in detail,” said Walsh. “You get a real flavor and sense of place.”

The French barge season runs from April through October. Passengers typically fly into Paris and are picked up at a designated hotel and driven to where their barge is moored. In our case, it took about 3½ hours to get from Paris to Dijon.

Most barges can be chartered by groups or booked by solo travelers or couples. Fortunately, the 11 passengers on our sailing meshed well together, important as dinners are eaten as a group at one large table. Walsh said more than 90 percent of French Country Waterways’ clientele is American.

As for the treasured jar of mustard we bought in Dijon, it never made it home. With so many canceled flights and lost bags plaguing travelers this summer, we chose not to check our luggage. The mustard was confiscated from our carry-on as we passed through security at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

All we could do was shake our heads and utter a phrase the French use when things don’t quite go according to plan: C’est la vie.

Websites for more info:
Burgundy Tourism
French Country Waterways
© 2022 Dan Fellner

Aug 17 2018

The Somme Battlefields

By Dan | Cruising, France | No Comments

Site of savage World War I battle in France moving part of Seine River cruise

The Arizona Republic — August 19, 2018

VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, France – For such a stunningly beautiful part of the world, it’s hard to fathom the horrific carnage that took place here more than 100 years ago on the Western Front during World War I.

The flags of France (left) and Australia overlook the Normandy countryside in a military cemetery at the World War I Battle of the Somme

Amidst the rolling hills in Normandy bearing golden wheat fields, apple orchards and tiny medieval villages, are the remnants of what’s been called by historians the bloodiest battle in the bloodiest war ever fought by mankind.

For more than four-and-a-half months beginning July 1, 1916, Allied troops, led by soldiers from France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, fought the Germans in the Somme region of northern France spanning both sides of the Seine River.

My visit to the Somme battlefields was one of the most impactful and emotional days on a week-and-a-half cruise on the Seine River on the Scenic Gem that started and ended in Paris. Like many Americans, I was reasonably well-informed about the D-Day invasion in World War II and had previously visited the Normandy landing beaches.

But I knew far less about the first World War, which was idealistically – and naively — referred to at the time as the “war to end all wars.”

The battle of the Somme was mostly fought under horrific conditions in trenches by armies just a few yards apart, separated by “no-man’s land.” Venturing outside of a seven-foot-deep trench on the front lines often meant instant death. The Somme also marked the first use of tanks on a battlefield, although the British armored vehicles used at the time were unreliable and yielded only mixed results.

Visitors walk through the trenches at the Somme battlefield

“In the trenches, it was almost impossible to reach the other trench without being killed,” says Nathalie Lefevre,” a history teacher in Normandy who came onboard the Scenic Gem to give a lecture about World War I the day before the ship’s 86 passengers visited the Somme. “And this is why the battle was so deadly. Plus, the new weapons that were invented made all battles during World War I very bloody.”

By the time the battle of the Somme ended on Nov. 18, 1916, more than one million men were killed or wounded. In comparison, that’s more than double the causalities suffered in the World War II D-Day invasion and the entire battle of Normandy in June 1944.

There are numerous military cemeteries, many of which contain the graves of soldiers who were never identified, scattered throughout the Somme. Even though the battle was fought more than a century ago, the trenches are still visible and some have been paved so that visitors can walk through them. The area still contains undetonated shells from the war and after a hard rain, it’s not uncommon for locals to spot the remains of soldiers in the mud, whose bodies were never recovered.

While Allied forces are considered the victors in the battle of the Somme, they gained little territory in the process. But the battle seriously weakened the German army. America entered the war a year later and its fresh troops helped the Allies gain the upper hand, ultimately culminating with Germany’s surrender in 1918.

The Scenic Gem docked on the Seine River in Honfleur, France

The cruise also included a visit to the moving American military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach on France’s northern coast, site of the D-Day invasion which turned the tide turned during World War II and led to Germany’s surrender to the Allies in 1945. The cemetery contains the remains of more than 9,000 Americans.

In stark contrast to the grim reminders of the first two world wars, the cruise also included visits to some of the most beautiful and tranquil settings in Europe, including the famous Giverny Gardens on the right bank of the Seine. The famous Impressionist painter Claude Monet lived in Giverny and we visited the water-lily ponds that were the focus of much of Monet’s work during the latter part of his life.

We spent a day in Deauville, a seaside resort on the English Channel known as a playground for French high society. Deauville features numerous half-timbered buildings, a trademark of Normandy’s traditional architecture.

Our visit happened to coincide with France’s Bastille Day, which commemorates the turning point of the French Revolution in 1789. We were treated to a magnificent fireworks show from the top deck of the Scenic Gem while docked in a small village on the Seine.

The famous water lilies in Giverny that Claude Monet painted during the last 30 years of his life

We also enjoyed a unique light show at the Gothic cathedral in Rouen, the administrative capital and largest city in Normandy. Consecrated in 1063 in the presence of William the Conqueror, the cathedral was the tallest building in the world for a several-year period in the late 1800s

The light show chronicles the church’s tumultuous history, including Viking invasions, fires and lightning strikes. It’s just a 10-minute walk from where the river ships dock and is offered free after dark during the summer months (see video shot by the author: Rouen cathedral light show).

All told, we sailed about 400 miles roundtrip on the winding Seine from Paris to the picturesque port of Honfleur near the English Channel, leisurely meandering past numerous castles, cathedrals and chateaus.

Built in 2014 specifically for the Seine, the Scenic Gem is one of only a handful of the 19 ships now sailing the Seine that can navigate the river’s numerous locks and sharp turns and make it all the way to Honfleur. Cruising the Seine is a relaxing way to explore northern France and by eating meals on the ship, you’re immune from the exorbitant costs of French restaurants.

An artist paints the picturesque harbor in Honfleur, France

The weather during the trip was spectacular – sunny most days with highs in the 80s. The only exception was our day spent at the Somme battlefields, when it was cold, windy and rainy. It somehow seemed fitting given the horrible loss of life that took place in northern France more than a century ago for so many soldiers from all over of the world.

“Many of the men who fought were volunteers, so they chose to cross the world and come to our country and help us and the other Allies win the war,” says Lefevre. “This is always very impressive for me.”

Jul 15 2016

The Romantic Rhine

By Dan | Cruising, France, Germany, Netherlands | No Comments

40-mile Rhine gorge highlight of rainy river cruise on Scenic Opal

The Arizona Republic — July 17, 2016

MIDDLE RHINE VALLEY, Germany – Even under perpetually gloomy skies and unseasonably steady rain that caused flooding and disrupted the itineraries of numerous river cruises, it’s still easy to see why Germany’s longest river is widely known as the “romantic Rhine.”

A rainbow arches over the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress following heavy rains in Koblenz, Germany

The most idyllic portion of the Rhine is a 40-mile stretch in western Germany flowing north from Rüdesheim to Koblenz. Called the Rhine Gorge, the region is liberally punctuated with remote chapels, terraced vineyards, about 60 villages nestled beneath jagged peaks, and a medieval castle at virtually every bend of the river.

The Middle Rhine has been romanticized over the centuries by numerous poets, painters and composers. Noting that the gorge “graphically illustrates the long history of human involvement with a dramatic and varied natural landscape,” UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site.

In short, the gorge is a storybook blend of nature and manmade wonders.

The four-hour passage through the gorge was the highlight of a week-long Rhine River cruise in June on the Australian-owned Scenic Opal, a 169-passenger luxury “Space Ship” that was launched in 2015. It is one of 15 ships in the Scenic fleet, 13 of which are sailing on European rivers this summer.

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle appears to be drifting down the Rhine, its tiny patch of land obscured by high waters

The cruise was supposed to have started in Basel, Switzerland, and then head north on the Rhine through France and Germany before ending in the Netherlands, where the river empties into the North Sea. But heavy rains spanning several weeks in the region led to high waters and made southern portions of the Rhine unnavigable for larger vessels like the Opal.

Numerous boats that ventured too far south were stranded — stuck up the river without a proverbial paddle. Fortunately, our captain made a strategic decision three days before the cruise started to park the Opal farther north in Mannheim, Germany, where we were bused after arriving by air in Zurich, Switzerland. So instead of visiting our first two ports by boat, we were taken there by bus.

It made for a chaotic and exhausting first couple of days of the trip but we were able to see all of the ports on our itinerary, including the city of Strasbourg, located in the Alsace region of northeastern France on the French side of the Rhine. Strasbourg’s medieval city center, featuring an ensemble of historic houses, museums and churches, is also a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The medieval city center in Strasbourg, France, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

We also spent a day exploring the university city of Heidelberg, Germany, which was largely spared from bombing during World War II and thus retains its baroque charm.

By the third day, we were back on schedule and set sail from Rüdesheim through the Rhine gorge. It didn’t take long to see the impact of the heavy rains and flooding.

The famous 14th century Pfalzgrafenstein Castle, built on a small island near the town of Kaub, appeared to be aimlessly drifting down the Rhine, its tiny patch of land totally obscured by the high waters. The Rhine has long been a vital transport hub in Europe and the castle used to function as a toll booth for ships.

We later passed the stunning Marksburg Castle, built in 1117 to protect the town of Braubach. Marksburg is the only castle on the Rhine that has never been destroyed, having survived the Middle Ages, the rule of Napoleon and two world wars.

A popular pedestrian promenade on the Moselle River in Koblenz was several feet under water

Our trip through the gorge ended in the city of Koblenz, located at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Finally, the sun peeked out for a few minutes and we were rewarded with a resplendent rainbow arching over the impressive Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, built high on a mountain in the early 1800s and now connected to the city by a cable car over the Rhine.

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The following day we took a walking tour of Koblenz and once again witnessed the flooding that has caused so much havoc in the region this season. A popular pedestrian promenade on the Moselle was several feet under water.

“We have never had so much rain as this year,” said Homeira, our Koblenz guide, describing an unusual weather pattern that has impacted much of Europe this spring, even leading to a several-day closure in June of the Louvre in Paris after the River Seine reached its highest level in more than 30 years.

Kölsch beer in a Cologne pub

While the rain was an annoyance, the surprisingly cool temperatures – highs most days were in the 60s – were perfect for sightseeing.

In addition to the sightseeing tours, Scenic did a good job of immersing the 153 passengers onboard – about two-thirds of whom were Americans and Canadians — in German culture. There were German language lessons, a performance by a local brass band featuring a long alpenhorn that looked straight out of a Ricola commercial (see video: German brass band), and a lecture about German beer.

We learned about kölsch, a light, all-barley ale brewed only in Cologne, our last German stop on the itinerary and the largest city on the Rhine, with a population of more than 1 million.

Kölsch, produced by more than a dozen breweries in the Cologne area, is typically served in small distinctive glasses called stange. They are designed as such so that the beer can be consumed before it goes flat.

The Scenic Opal docked on the Rhine River in Rüdesheim, Germany

Kölsch is the Lay‘s potato chip of Rhineland beer. As we noticed during a visit to a Cologne pub, it’s rare to see a German drink just one.

Our cruise concluded with a full day in Amsterdam, where we ventured into the countryside to see the lovely Dutch villages of Volendam and Edam and tour a cheese factory. The following morning, we were bused to the airport during yet another downpour. By then, we had grown used to it.

Despite the inclement weather throughout the week, the historic – and romantic — Rhine River gorge had single-handedly made the trip unforgettable.

American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited here in the late 1820s and wrote: “Beneath me flows the Rhine, and, like the stream of time, it flows amid the ruins of the past.”

Nearly 200 years later, what Longfellow admired is now even more historic and every bit as magnificent.

Apr 27 2013

Barging Through France on French Country Waterways

By admin | Cruising, France | No Comments

Eight-passenger Princess offers a luxurious and slow-paced way to experience provincial France

The Arizona Republic — September 16, 2012

LOIRE VALLEY, France — Never before has traveling so slowly brought such a huge rush.

French Country Waterways' Princess on the Briare Canal

The Princess slowly traverses the Briare Canal

We’re cruising the Briare Canal in the Loire Valley south of Paris on a small barge and are being passed by pedestrians taking a leisurely stroll on a gravel path next to the canal. Our top-speed on this six-day cruise never exceeds 3 mph, and during the entire trip we traverse a grand total of 30 miles.

Our dawdling pace is fine with us. As the barge drifts by small villages, vineyards and medieval chateaux in the French countryside, a tout de suite mentality seems as out of place here as a sprawling shopping mall.

Barge cruising is a little-known offshoot of the growing European river cruise market. Barges tend to be smaller than their riverboat cousins, carry fewer passengers, and are able to navigate narrow canals that give cruisers a more intimate and rural traveling experience. Some also offer food and wine worthy of Louis XIV.

I was on an elegant barge called the Princess, one of four vessels cruising this year in the fleet of French Country Waterways, the only American-owned barge cruise company operating in France.

The Princess was built in 1973 for a billionaire shipping magnate

In addition to the Loire Valley, FCW barges – none of which carries more than a dozen passengers — cruise through canals in the French regions of Burgundy, Champagne and Alsace-Lorraine.

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The Princess, originally built in 1973 as a private barge for billionaire shipping magnate Daniel Ludwig, can hold up to eight passengers and an additional six crew members. It feels less like a cruise ship and more like a floating bed-and-breakfast — with lunch, dinner and top-shelf French wines and cheese thrown in as well.

It’s the only time I’ve been on a cruise in which I memorized everyone else’s name – including the crews’ – by the second day. Half of the six crew members were from England; the rest were French, but everyone spoke English.

At the beginning of the week, our captain and tour guide, Joanne Padbury, picked up our group of four couples at a Paris hotel and drove us in a van about 60 miles south to the ancient walled-town of Montargis. There, the Princess was waiting for us moored in the Briare Canal.

Montargis is known as the “Venice of Gatinais”

One of the oldest canals in France, the Briare opened for traffic in 1642. In those days, barges were pulled by horses on towpaths. Before trains came along, river and canal barges were one of the safest and most efficient ways to transport both people and goods in Europe.

But their importance waned over the centuries, and now French barges are used primarily by vacationers and the canals maintained by the government for their historic importance and scenic beauty.

The towpaths still remain and we used them to take walks and ride bicycles stored on the back deck of the Princess. While we were cruising, Padbury would drive the van each day through the nearby villages to pick up fresh croissants at boulangeries for breakfast and ingredients at other shops that our French chef, Jean-Yann Attica, would whip into wonderful meals. Padbury would also use the van to take our small group on sightseeing excursions.

Wildflowers in the Loire Valley

Montargis, with a population of about 60,000 including its suburbs, was easily the largest town on our itinerary. We took a walking tour through its historic downtown and saw how the “Venice of Gatinais” earned its nickname.

Like Venice, Montargis has a large network of waterways cutting through the heart of town and there are 131 bridges — many adorned with beautiful flowers – that cross them. At the end of the tour we were treated to a praline-tasting at a candy store, at which Padbury bought our supply of chocolate goodies for the week.

The next two days the Princess was moored in the village of Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses, named for its seven locks that were built in the 17th century. These locks, which resemble a large staircase, are no longer in use but remain an intriguing site for visitors.

Numerous other lock stations in the canal – every few hundred yards or so — still function. The aquatic elevators are needed to compensate for changes in elevation in the Loire Valley.

Loic, our pilot, would steer the Princess into a lock station with the precision of a surgeon, as there were just a few inches to spare on both sides of the barge. A lock keeper, who typically lives in a home adjacent to the station, would then close a large door behind the vessel. If we were going up, water would pour into the lock, enabling the Princess to rise several feet, just as a rubber duck rises when a bathtub is filled.

The Chateau de Chambord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Watching the process unfold over and over again never got boring. The lock stations also were a convenient place for us to get off the barge for walks and bike rides.

While moored in Rogny, our crew taught us to play the popular French game of petanque (pronounced pay-tonk). Contested on a gravel field with hollow steel balls, petanque is somewhat similar to the Italian game of bocce. The slow-paced and cerebral game seemed a perfect fit with the laidback tone of the cruise.

In terms of sightseeing, the highlight of the week was a trip to the largest and most famous chateau in the Loire Valley, the Chateau de Chambord. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Chambord was built in the early 1500s as a hunting lodge for King François I.

It has 426 rooms, 282 fireplaces and 77 staircases, including a unique double-spiral staircase that links the chateau’s three floors. Some historians believe Chambord was designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

Entrance to the Pont de Canal

We also visited an even older chateau in St. Fargeau, which dates back to the 15th century. And there were excursions to a winery in Chavignol, a pottery factory in Gien, and a cruise through an engineering marvel called the Pont de Canal.

This watery bridge takes the Briare Canal high across the Loire River. Designed by Gustave Eiffel – yes, the same Eiffel best known for the Paris tower – the Pont de Canal was the longest navigable aqueduct in the world from 1896 until the Magdeburg Water Bridge opened in Germany in 2003.

Our forays into French life were punctuated each evening with delightful four-course, three-hour dinners, which included presentations from the crew about the French cheeses and wines we were served – many of which had attained prestigious Grand Cru or Premier Cru status. At the captain’s dinner our final night aboard the Princess, we were presented with copies of the menus, wine labels, and a cheese list for the connoisseurs among us who wanted to enjoy the same wines and cheeses back home.

Chef Jean-Yann Attica prepares a meal

We had been concerned about cruising with such a small group of people. What if we weren’t compatible? With only eight passengers aboard, lunches and dinners are eaten together at one table. There’s no place to hide.

But our fears proved to be unfounded. The three other couples – two of whom were American, the other Australian – were delightful travel companions and our mealtime conversations were as interesting and enjoyable as the passing scenery.

“Some people come onboard with a bit of trepidation, realizing that you’re only going to meet three other couples,” said Padbury, who has worked for French Country Waterways for 10 years, the past four as a captain and guide.

“But I personally like the intimacy. I like the fact that I get to know my clients by the end of the week, about their families, their jobs, even how they take their coffee. There’s a connection.”

Joanne Padbury, captain of the Princess, leads a sightseeing tour in the Loire Valley

At the end of the cruise, we climbed into the van once more and Padbury drove us north back to Paris via a four-lane highway. It took us less than a half-hour to reach Montargis, where the Princess had started its journey on the canal six days earlier.

The trip going south on the barge had been much slower, but a lot more enriching. We had taken the same mode of transportation along the same route the locals had used nearly 400 years ago – and gotten a wonderful taste of French culture in the process.

Dec 29 2012

Photo Essay: Lovelocks on Paris Bridge

By Dan | France, Photo Essays | No Comments

Lovelocks; Paris, France

Matt and Tiera have a thing for each other. So do Helio and Monica, and for that matter, Runar and Lena. I learned this while crossing a bridge in the heart of Paris called the Pont de l’Archevêché.

Those were just three of literally hundreds of couples who wrote their names and initials on locks and then attached them to a chain-link fence overlooking the Seine River. It’s a way of publicly professing eternal love for each other.

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And it’s much cheaper – and lasts a whole lot longer — than a dozen roses.

These so-called “love padlocks” are part of a growing worldwide phenomenon. No one is actually sure of where it all started, but lovelocks on bridges are increasingly becoming a common sight, particularly in France, Italy and Germany.

The French government, though, doesn’t particularly appreciate these stainless steel symbols of amour, saying they “raise problems for the preservation of our architectural heritage.” A couple of years ago, the locks were removed from another bridge in Paris.

But that hasn’t deterred young lovers. The locks have since appeared on several other bridges – like the Pont de l’Archevêché — more plentiful than before.

As the famous French novelist Marcel Proust once said: “Love is space and time measured by the heart.”

What Proust didn’t say was that you can find it in the hardware section at Home Depot for $7.99.

Barging Through Burgundy

French region known for world-renowned wine, historic chateaus and Dijon mustard

USA Today.com/The Arizona Republic — August 6, 2022

Cruising through Burgundy on a barge

Food and wine

The Somme Battlefields

Site of savage World War I battle in France moving part of Seine River cruise

The Arizona Republic — August 19, 2018

The Romantic Rhine

40-mile Rhine gorge highlight of rainy river cruise on Scenic Opal

The Arizona Republic — July 17, 2016

Barging Through France on French Country Waterways

Eight-passenger Princess offers a luxurious and slow-paced way to experience provincial France

The Arizona Republic — September 16, 2012

Photo Essay: Lovelocks on Paris Bridge

Lovelocks; Paris, France

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