Barging in France by Bill Koenig S58 and Nancy (Joyce) Koenig S62

        We were walking our dog one day, talking about what we should do in retirement, when suddenly the idea of moving to France and buying a canal barge popped into our heads.

        This was late in 1998, and we were planning to retire soon, but we still hadn’t decided what to do with all that freedom. When this idea came out of the blue that day, we recognized it as the right idea for us. We had rented self drive canal boats twice before on vacations in France, and we loved the slow pace of life on the canals, and the peaceful beauty of the French countryside.  We startled our dog when we made an abrupt u-turn, cut short his walk, and practically ran back home to start doing research about living on a barge on the Internet.

        It took us a full year of hard work to organize the move. In January of 2000, we landed in Paris, picked up our leased station wagon, loaded our luggage in the back and found that there wasn’t any more room for our Golden Retriever, Toby. He was very happy to squeeze up front with us, and we drove out of the airport, and into the beginning of our adventure without knowing how long we would stay or what to expect.

        What we found is a life we love!

        Within a month, we had purchased a 22 meter Dutch barge, contracted for some interior remodeling work to be done, and found a temporary home in a farmhouse in a small French village. Daily walks along the river behind our farmhouse brought us to a nearby canal, where we met other barge owners who were moored there for the winter. We were immediately and warmly welcomed into the barging community. Between people we met at that canal and people we met at the boatyard, we made our first friends on this side of the world.  Amazingly, two couples that we met during this time were also from San Francisco.  We were all buying boats from the same barge broker, and for awhile we were all roommates in our huge farmhouse, sharing meals together in the simple but roomy kitchen. These friendships, made during our first months in France, are friendships that we cherish.

        The barging community has been described as a moving village. Our village neighbors may be moving through Europe, but we keep in touch, and we know where our friends are during both cruising and winter seasons. Email and cell phones help to keep everyone in contact.

        France has many wonderful cities that we can visit by barge, and the beauty and tranquility of the countryside still overwhelms us. Entering Paris by boat, during our first cruising season, was a fabulous E-ticket ride. We cruised on the Seine past the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame and then entered the lock at the port near the Bastille, where we stayed for a month in the middle of Paris in our own home. This last summer, in the Champagne region on the Marne, we moored next to a tiny village with swans for neighbors and rolling hillside vineyards as the view. It was so beautiful that we almost forgot to leave.

        As Americans in France, we have found the French to be warm and hospitable. After 9/ll, we were surprised by the number of French friends who called to comfort us. We had not realized how many friends we had already made in less than two years.

        Every year here in our winter port of Roanne, a small city near Lyon, we meet a few more people who live in town. Last winter, after a chance meeting, we were invited to dinner at the home of a French couple because they had once visited and fallen in love with San Francisco. At our gym, we are greeted with handshakes and kisses every morning, and we are often invited along to events outside of the gym. If there are any rude French people, we haven’t met them yet.

        The quality of our life here is good, as good as the food and the wine, and the cultural differences make our daily life more of an adventure than it would be back home.  Everything is new again.  Learning the language and the physical activity of moving and maintaining the boat are challenges that we are enjoying now, and hope to enjoy for many years to come. La vie est belle sur les canaux.

        We have a website that we use as a postcard to our family and friends back home; we cordially invite you to visit our site and write us a note to say that you stopped by.   You can see our photos, and read our stories at:  www.billandnancy.com