FINALLY SOME PHOTOS

HIDING INSIDE

The last couple of weeks we have had bad storms, wind, hail, the works. Obviously it is hard to work on the boat under those conditions. The saw cannot be set outside, so it is hard to advance. However, Bill has managed to do a lot of work. The base cabinets in the wheelhouse are finished, and the new flooring has been temporarily laid. Things are beginning to look great. I found an upholsterer who is calling me today with an estimate for the cushions which will serve the dual purpose of dining room seats and beds. Hopefully we can have them ready for our first guests who will come in early June.

Yesterday Bill made us a wine cellar, where we can store our wine under the floor directly on the boat's steel hull. This will keep the wine at canal water temperature, which is considered optimum by some people. It has freed up a lot of space in the pantry area.

Last Sunday we went to Brighton, England with the Cambrai Mini Club for the 21st London-Brighton run. We crossed the Channel Tunnel on a bus. Although it rained all day, we managed to have a great time shopping around The Lanes and going into the little pubs. We had a lovely Indian meal which lasted at least three hours, and were back in Cambrai by 10:00 PM. Tomorrow is Ascension Day in France, a National Holiday, so we are going to Maastricht, Holland to meet our friends Jamie and Anne, whom we met here while taking our boat-handling course. They have a lovely 32 m Dutch barge, which we are going to take as far as Liege, Belgium. It is about a day's trip on the boat, but I am sure stops will be made along the way. We shall be back on Monday to resume our work on Biesbosch.

AT WORK ON THE BOAT

Since our arrival in Cambrai, we have been working non-stop taking advantage of the good weather we have had. Bill has removed the old floor on the wheelhouse, put in new insulation, and is now ready to install the new one. The water tanks are now permanently installed and the plumbing for them working beautifully. We have a total of 1,100 lbs. Which is quite a lot for a boat of its size. Sylvia has grounded off all rust spots on the decks, treated them with an anti-rust agent and painted the entire area with a non-slip paint, a gritty and rubbery paint very difficult to apply. It took all afternoon to do it, but it dried quickly and it looks great.

Spring is in the air, all is green and beautiful, and we have a new generation of duckling. Mama duck, one of last year's babies, paraded around along with "dad" and her 16 duckling three days ago. Two are bright yellow, four black and the rest brown with yellow spots. They are the most beautiful thing to see. Many of our friends who keep their boats here for the winter are back working on them before doing their cruising, so we are back to socializing in the evenings, and enjoying our friends' company very much. On the 21st, we will be going to Brighton, across the Channel with the Cambrai Mini Club. We did this last year as well, and had a very good time. It is the London-Brighton Mini Run # 21 this year.
The following weekend, we will join our friends Jamie and Anne in Maastricht, Holland to go with them on their boat to Brugges. We are very much looking forward to this. We did a short trip on their boat last year from Charleroi to Namur, in Belgium. Our first visitors this year will be Jeff and Susan Nemerov , friends from N.Y. who will be with us for three days in June. We will take them on an overnight trip to Vaucelles, where there is a Beautiful Cisterian Abbey.

THE REST OF OUR TRIP

We returned to Cambrai on May 1st, after a fabulos three weeks of travel. In San Sebastian, we stayed and had a lovely evening trying every tapas bar in the old section. Our rule was not to have more than one glass of wine per bar, and no more than two tapas per bar. We had some of the best ever, and got a lot of mileage out of that experience. From there we pretty much stayed along the coast from Fuenterrabia, Hendaya, Biarritz and then through the beaufiful dunes and forests of Landes up to Bordeaux. The weather was sunny and warm even up in Brittany and Normandy, known for their gloomy weather. We stayed in Dinan, a half timbered town from yhe XIIIC, then to St MaLo, a fortified medievam city built entirely of stone and from there we went to Honfleur. This town is most charming with a small port and a church and bell tower built entirely of wood. Before going to Paris for three days, we visited Giverny, and Monet's house and gardens. In Paris the weather turned cold and rainy, but Paris is Paris. . . We parked the car and walked and took the metro everywhere. We saw the newly restored Petit Palais, a sumptuous museum, the Monet museum, went to an organ concert in La Madeleine and enjoyed some great food. Today, the weather is gorgeous and Bill has started to *attack* the wheelhouse to have it ready as a guest room for our friends.