Finding the sweet heart of the Loire - WOTM

Enjoying our selection of french wines is part of any cruise on Serenity. Today, we're launching our new wine of the month feature with a look at an unusual dessert wine from the Loire.

Pétanque et Paris

Like me, you might think that these days pétanque is only played by old men in town squares in the south of France, but you'd be wrong.....this most gallic of sports is positively thriving here in Paris.

From big fish to small fry!

Being the maximum size of boat that fits through the canal locks we don't often come across anything larger than Serenity but out here on the river Seine it's a whole different world!  

If you talk about the Seine I always think of Paris' famous bateaux mouches, but actually a massive amount of cargo is moved along the river aswell.  And these monster ships can be up to 110m long - that's the length of a football pitch!

With container barges, tankers and barges filled with sand and gravel going by - at least the painting crew have some action to watch.....

Dwarfed by our next door neighbour!

That's a regular size car on the back deck!

Five tips for romance in Paris

Romance is such a tricky thing...it's all in the (sometimes fickle) eye of the beholder. Me, I'm a simple kinda gal, a candlelight dinner somewhere fancy tonight would be way to much pressure to be having a 'perfect' time....bringing me breakfast in bed unexpectedly, now that's romantic.

Checking out Champagne

This week we ‘abandoned ship’ to explore next year’s cruise route on two wheels – following the Marne river through the Ile de France and Champagne regions. Despite the chilly weather we received a warm welcome from everyone we met and can’t wait to introduce our guests to this French heartland.

With twinkling lights strung above the road in every village and vin chaud (like mulled wine) at the Christmas markets in Reims and Meaux, the winter season has a charm of its own.

Welcoming the first wines of the 2014 harvest

From last Thursday banners outside our local wine merchant have proudly declared "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé" ("The New Beaujolais has arrived").  

Only in France would the date that a wine is released have been set down in law since 1951, making its official arrival each year an event to be celebrated (the third Thursday in November).

A fresh and fruity red wine, Nouveau Beaujolais is made from Gamay variety grapes, grown in vineyards throughout the Beaujolais appellation, just north of Lyon. But what makes this wine unique in France is that its produced, bottled, and released within just 6-8 weeks of the harvest.

Just another day at the office!

This week we've been getting to grips with our new power tools whilst taking advantage of some unseasonably warm October weather