Chatanoogois Choo-Choo to Le Boat

Bon jour! Monday was a loooooong day; we had to be up by 5 a.m. to be picked up by the transportation service to take us to the train station on our way to Narbonne. It was a quick four hour trip since all us napped on the way there. Arrived safely and groggy and hungry (what else is new?)

After grocery shopping and lunch, we were picked up by a lovely woman (her name was Katerine) in a very comfortable and roomy van to drive us into Homps where we were to pick up our barge. Honestly, I don't know the diff between boats and barges so I won't even try to explain it to any of you and I don't have Wi-Fi power to look it up. Aaaanyway, on the ride there, Katie told us (under the dome of silence) that our boat would not be ready. She said the rental company was trying to fix it but weren't sure if they could by the time we were supposed to take it over and we may have to be transported to Trebes to pick up a different boat. The bad thing about that is Trebes is where were going to end our trip down the Canal Midi.

Katie suggested that, if they were going to change our plans and send us chasing another boat, we should bargain for a better vessel and free transport. While the turn of events was very disconcerting, the information she offered was incredibly valuable; it gave us time to think about our reactions and options.

And so it was that at Homps we were told our boat was not fixed. We were offered another boat to be picked up at Trebes. And guess what? (Sorry, you wouldn't have any idea.) We were given the Mystique, a beautiful 4 bedroom boat that we had considered renting but decided against it because it was too expensive! We, with our best poker faces, accepted their offer and innocently inquired as to how we would get there. The manager asked Katie to drive us to Trebes and the entire transport would be on the house! Yipeeeeee, not a bad deal at all.

At Trebes, Captain Kathy and co-captain Amelia were given instruction on how this beauty works. In the meantime, Karen and Linda decided they would go to the store for ice and bread by bicycle. Silly them, they woke up with Mal de butt. What were they thinking?

We ate at a small restaurant across from where we were moored. I need to mention that one of the offerings (which I had to try) was Mexicaine pizza. It was a large pie with fresh tomato, cheese, onion, oregano, sausage and chorizo. The only funny part to this story is that the chorizo, while delicious, was not Mexican at all! Is was Spanish; we truly are of one world.

Back at the boat, some night caps and re-caps later; we slept on our boat for the first time. All was well with the world.