apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sometime in the 70's, National Geographic did a series of documentaries about a U.S. family who lived on a motorized sailboat and cruised all around Europe on its canal system. As a child, I was totally captivated by their adventure as it seemed anywhere in Europe where there was a canal, this family visited it. Unfortunately, when you grow up, you realize that their journeys took months to complete since they only traveled at 10 mph.

This reminds me of one of my favourite movies, Take Me High, starring Cliff Richard. When I was very young, watching the movie made me want to live on a barge, and it still does. It's nice to know about the option of hiring one! Thanks!

This is definitely the way to travel! I had the best vacation ever in October 2005 when my friend Patrick invited me to join him on his "peniche" on the Oise river and we spent three days going through the locks and tying up to visit farmers markets and sleep at night. We'd drift with the swans till we reached the Seine at Conflans and took another day or two to reach Paris. There's nothing quite like coming into Paris on the Seine floating by the houseboat communities and the Eiffel Tower till we reached the Port d'Arsenal and docked just feet away from the Bastille and all the wonderful shops and markets of the 11th arondissment near the Marais. I could walk to Pere La Chaise cemetary or the Louvre - it made me fall in love with Paris all over again!