Our whole trip to France was built around a barge cruise on the Canal de Bourgogne in Burgundy with Rick’s business school friends. On Sunday, Oct. 2nd, all six couples boarded a bus to reach Venarey-Les-Laumes, our starting point, from where we’d travel north to Tanlay along Le Canal de Bourgogne for 36.5 miles over the next 6 days. And yes, we could walk faster than the barge floated most of the time from lock-to-lock. We had the barge named Nenuphar (water lily) to ourselves, with each couple having a lovely stateroom “en suite” and sharing a dining and living room and covered deck. Our “Captain” Matthew also acted
as tour guide and bus driver when we visited sites nearby; his wife was one of our food and wine staff; a young woman who worked with her; and 2 operators who guided us through the locks and handled all problems. Chef Tadek, who had trained at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris, prepared top-notch food, which was accompanied at each lunch and dinner by at least 3 unique cheeses and 2 wines (1 white, 1red). Luxury treatment, food, wine on a relaxing vessel with good friends—this was the life! See OUR TRAVELOGUE for more details.
