2022 Moving Aboard April 1 -

We flew out of Seattle April 1 on Iceland Air for our 2022 season aboard Juniper. All went smooth, once we were sure we understood all the new protocols. Arriving in Iceland we had a 1.5 hour connection time to clear passport control and change planes. We had over an hour to spare. The current rules said in order to enter France we needed to show our original  vaccination card and have completed a contact form so we could be contacted in France with CoVid info if needed. Neither of these documents were asked for. Just our passports.

Paris went smooth - A short shuttle on the airport tram to our hotel, a quick check-in and a comfortable bed. Having not slept on the overnight flight, we allowed ourselves a two hour nap before getting up for a dry run to our rental car for tomorrow. Returning to our hotel we sat in the bar for some people watching and reading time. A French beer for me and a glass of wine for Joan; we were finally settling in to being in France.

April 3: Sunday morning we took advantage of the hotel’s French breakfast buffet (espresso, croissants, cheese, etc, etc) where we ate enough to last all day. Another ride on the tram and a walk of less than a kilometer had us in our Renault Clio ready to tackle the roads. With Joan driving and Michael navigating we made the trip to the boat without a single wrong turn. Checked into our favorite B&B and grabbed a lamb kabob sandwich for dinner, sleep came pretty quick.

Lunch entrée

April 4: Monday the work began. Last winter was hard on Juniper - besides all the normal winter dirt we had mold throughout much of the boat, a first for us. On the positive side Juniper was in the water with new bottom paint and her cooking gas lines replaced. All we had to do is get her scrubbed from overhead to floor and make sure the other systems are working.

Joan hard at work

April 5-6: Tuesday - Wednesday - Scrub, scrub and more scrubbing, at least the weather was cooperating and we were able air out mattresses, and leave the windows and doors open while we worked. Wednesday we also took a lunch break to Michael’s favorite blue collar cafe with a fixed prix menu. Quiche Lorraine for the entrée, Beef cooked in a wine sauce with pom frites and a salad for our plat and a good selection of desserts and an espresso to finish it off. And being in France, it also came with wine and baguette.

View from our salon

Thursday the weather turned cold, wet and very windy. We picked this time to move aboard and get unpacked. Plus do our provisioning while we still had a car. We then drove to Dijon to get a new sim card for the boat’s phone, at the most modern shopping mall I’ve seen. It would have been fun to spend some time looking around but we still had to return our car in old town Dijon, then catch a train back to Saint Jean and walk to the boat. Dinner was a bowl of soup.

Friday was still cold wet and very windy. After breakfast, we elected to spend the day sitting in the salon and reading for the day. Michael made the first croissant run of the trip - our vacation is beginning.