the_bmac wrote in :

They know their business and expect their customers to know about
food, etiquette etc. because that is the societal norm in France.


See? Precisely why I'd rather help the nice English lockkeeper turn
ancient valves and move the gates as he invites us to the pub for a
pint....(c;



Larry
--

....not to mention those
wonderful freckled English girls I don't need an interpreter to talk
to...

Larry

Oh, is that what they are called? We used to call them "flyspots" as
kids and thought that they didn't wash.

Peter

I have just built (well, built in the sense that Caesar conquered
Gaul) a boat to do just that, among other things. The French canals
are still largely useable, and the reunification of Germany has opened
up LOTS of unspoiled (for the moment) cruising grounds in the north.
see www.mp-marine.com

Cheers,
Michael Porter

mcamirand wrote:

Hi group,

I've just reread Weston Martyr's "The 200# Millionaire". It's got me
dreaming about cruising the inland waterways of Europe.
Thing is, the story was written in the 1930s. It claims that you can
get pretty much everywhere in France and central Europe through inland
waterways, even all the way to Budapest, Prague, etc. Is this still
true? Are these inland canals still in operation or have they been
abandoned in the last 70 years? If there are still as many
possibilities as Martyr talked about, what kind of draft is
acceptable?

Anyone done it?

Regards,
-Maxime Camirand

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On May 4, 6:48 am, Michael Porter wrote:
I have just built (well, built in the sense that Caesar conquered
Gaul) a boat to do just that, among other things. The French canals
are still largely useable, and the reunification of Germany has opened
up LOTS of unspoiled (for the moment) cruising grounds in the north.
seewww.mp-marine.com

Cheers,
Michael Porter


That's a good looking boat Michael, have you fitted her out yet?

What kind of route are you planning?

Amesterdam to Budapest would be a great canal trip. Germany sounds
pretty cool as well. When you shoving off?

Joe

"Joe" skrev i melding
ups.com...
On May 3, 3:02 pm, "Jan" wrote:
"Joe" skrev i
glegroups.com...
On May 3, 10:41 am, the_bmac wrote:





Don W wrote:
the_bmac wrote:
Don W wrote:

Why allow yourself to be insulted en Francais by theFrench, when the
English are mostly polite and friendly? And if they aren't, you can
at least understand their insults '-)

my experience in France was that it was mostly loudAmericanswho used
the "maybe if I speak English really loudly he'll understand" method
of communicating with theFrench-who not surprisingly speakFrench-
were the ones getting insulted

(Shrug) Maybe. I have had good experiences inFrenchterritories (F.P.
& Martinique).

However, I've heard second handstoriesabout the rudeness of theFrench
waitersto _all_ customers, and not just theAmericansand Brits. I
have not experienced this myself. Perhapssomeone who has been to
Paris
recently would care to comment.

Well if all you are going to judge by is Paris, then you do need to
understand the mindset of many
Parisians. Unlike New Yorkers, Londoners -or God help them, Torontoids-
who _think_ they're living in
the centre of the known universe, Parisians _know_ they are living in
the
centre of the known
universe. Parisians refer to all living outside of "L'île de France" as
"provincials", quaint rustic
bumpkins who are not to be taken seriously. Americansare frequently
regarded as crass, bourgeois,
hobbled by puritanical mores and completely devoid of any appreciation
for
art, culture and most
particularly food.
PerhapsyourhearsaystoriesaboutFrenchwaiterscomefro mfellowAmericanswho
are accustomed to treating wait-staff like second class citizens.
Waiter
is a respected occupation in
France. They know their business and expect their customers to know
about
food, etiquette etc.
because that is the societal norm in France.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yelp... they are uppty snobs for sure and it's a game they play in a
effort to feel important, sorta like the McDonalds cashier with an
attitude problem.

However as BigMac pointed out, throw a few local phrases at them,
accept the fact that they call the shots, and you can get the sub-
standard level of service the locals are willing to endure. If you go
in shouting "Garson" expect to be ignored.

Why anyone wants to spend anytime in a garbage laiden **** hole like
Parie is beyond me.

You are right, it probably is beyond you.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hey, if rude assholes and lots-o-garbage covered streets is your thing
go for it.
Been there...

My thing?? France has 75 mill. tourists visiting each year, and the number
is increasing. Assuming you are from US, you have 45 mill. tourists a year
and this figure has been decreasing. There must be something about France
you have missed.

Peter Hendra wrote in
:

Oh, is that what they are called? We used to call them "flyspots" as
kids and thought that they didn't wash.

Peter


Have you tried licking them off? I've been unsuccessful, so far...(c;

Larry
--

Michael Porter wrote:
I have just built (well, built in the sense that Caesar conquered
Gaul) a boat to do just that, among other things. The French canals
are still largely useable, and the reunification of Germany has opened
up LOTS of unspoiled (for the moment) cruising grounds in the north.
see www.mp-marine.com

Cheers,
Michael Porter

mcamirand wrote:

Hi group,

I've just reread Weston Martyr's "The 200# Millionaire". It's got me
dreaming about cruising the inland waterways of Europe.
Thing is, the story was written in the 1930s. It claims that you can
get pretty much everywhere in France and central Europe through
inland waterways, even all the way to Budapest, Prague, etc. Is this
still true? Are these inland canals still in operation or have they
been abandoned in the last 70 years? If there are still as many
possibilities as Martyr talked about, what kind of draft is
acceptable?

Anyone done it?

Regards,
-Maxime Camirand

Hope you have also read "The Improbable Voyage" by Tristan Jones. A more
recent account of the author's journey through the Rhine/Danube rivers,
before the canal was completed.

Dennis.

On May 3, 4:22 pm, the_bmac wrote:
the_bmac wrote:
Don W wrote:
the_bmac wrote:
Don W wrote:

Why allow yourself to be insulted en Francais by the French, when
the English are mostly polite and friendly? And if they aren't, you
can at least understand their insults '-)

my experience in France was that it was mostly loud Americans who
used the "maybe if I speak English really loudly he'll understand"
method of communicating with the French -who not surprisingly speak
French- were the ones getting insulted

(Shrug) Maybe. I have had good experiences in French territories
(F.P. & Martinique).

However, I've heard second hand stories about the rudeness of the
French waiters to _all_ customers, and not just the Americans and
Brits. I have not experienced this myself. Perhaps someone who has
been to Paris recently would care to comment.

Well if all you are going to judge by is Paris, then you do need to
understand the mindset of many Parisians. Unlike New Yorkers, Londoners
-or God help them, Torontoids- who _think_ they're living in the centre
of the known universe, Parisians _know_ they are living in the centre of
the known universe. Parisians refer to all living outside of "L'île de
France" as "provincials", quaint rustic bumpkins who are not to be taken
seriously. Americans are frequently regarded as crass, bourgeois,
hobbled by puritanical mores and completely devoid of any appreciation
for art, culture and most particularly food. Perhaps your hearsay
stories about French waiters come from fellow Americans who are
accustomed to treating wait-staff like second class citizens. Waiter is
a respected occupation in France. They know their business and expect
their customers to know about food, etiquette etc. because that is the
societal norm in France.

and as for the British! It is a well-known fact among the French that the British kill their meat
twice when preparing for a meal. Once when the animal is slaughtered and once again when the British
chef performs the "magique" dans la cuisine. All French waiters are taught to recognize the
ale-swilling louts upon arrival in the resto and to give them the service they deserve.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It's well known among Americans that the French are Pricks, cowards, a
smelly frogs.

Joe

On Fri, 04 May 2007 16:29:07 +0000, Larry wrote:

Although it comes from a stereotype, one is often warned about French
boats. They have a reputation in Europe and in other places as being
light fingered towards other boats.

There is a saying "The English equip to cruise, the French cruise to
equip".

Once in a harbour in Spain, Cartagena, where boats were moored stern
to the jetty, tightly packed and only seperated by fenders, a French
boat a couple down from us sailed out in the early morning with both
his neighbours' fenders in addition to the few old ones he had of his
own. He had untied the ropes of the fenders from their lifelines and
retied them to his own, something not noticed at all by them. The
harbour master's boat that pursued the Frenchman was told by him that
they were his. Being unmarked with any boat name that proved
otherwise, he was allowed to escape with the fenders. A neat trick
perhaps, but not an isolated incident. It was then that I wrote my
boat's name one each of mine with a large marker pen.

I have seen people move such as boathooks, buckets etc to below when a
French flagged vessel ties along side.

The Israeli's have the same reputation in Cyprus. The Customs officer
(Christian) I had a daily coffee (proper, with mud in the bottom of
the cup, not dishwater - Vic) with in his office whilst we swapped
Nasrudin stories once warned me "There are 21 Israeli yachts coming in
today as part of a race; put everything removeable below and lock
your dinghy and outboard". - No, I am neither anti-Jewish nor anti-
French. The previous year, one was pursued and stopped leaving Larnaka
harbour with an inflatable with another yacht's name painted on it.

As an aside, it is interesting to note that I discovered that the
Nasrudin (or, more properly - Nasr u Din) as told me as a little kid
by my grandfather are popular all throughout all the lands once ruled
by the Turkish Empire. I have swapped these stories in cafes from Oman
to Gfreece. As a Greek kid I was told they were Greek. They are not
and are now becoming very popular in the West, especially in the USA.

The cruising element? We drove for hours (whilst cruising Turkey) to
see his tomb in his home village of Akshihir and trudged through the
snow. He left instructions to be buried with only a locked gate at the
foot of his grave - no fence, just the gate. His stories, though very
humorous, are actually Islamic Sufi teaching parables with multiple
deeper meanings, depending upon the listener.

An example:

Several visiting dignitaries were hosted at a feast to which the
public were invited in a town Nasrudin happened to be visiting. As his
robes were old and patched, he was placed at a table where he realised
it was going to take a long time to be served, and with not the best
of cuisine. He went to his friend's house and borrowed a magnificent
robe and turban and returned to the feast. He was ushered respectfully
to the head table and plied with delicious dishes such as peacock
tongues in aspic and the like. After every few mouthfuls, he would rub
some of the food onto his garments and turban.

Entranced by this, someone asked in a respectful manner "Effendi, we
cannot help but notice that you must be from a different place and
thus have eating habits which appear strange to us. Would you be so
kind as to explain why you smear food on your clothing?".

Nasrudin replied between mouthfuls "The clothes got me in here, surely
they deserve a share of the food?"

Bill Shakespeare got it wrong.

cheers
Peter





Peter Hendra wrote in
:

Oh, is that what they are called? We used to call them "flyspots" as
kids and thought that they didn't wash.

Peter


Have you tried licking them off? I've been unsuccessful, so far...(c;

Larry

Peter Hendra wrote in
:

"There are 21 Israeli yachts coming in
today as part of a race; put everything removeable below and lock
your dinghy and outboard". - No, I am neither anti-Jewish nor anti-
French.

Nope....That won't do to disclaim it. Every mention of something anti
Israeli, MUST be attacked as being a total anti-semitic heretic. You're
never supposed to mention those two words (Israeli or Jew) unless you're
saying something really positive in any kind of post.

Having violated this, you'll be summarily attacked by rabid dogs.

You're NEVER supposed to mention anything negative about the Apartheid
Israeli Government, especially about any apartheid walls 700km long!

They can't possibly be thieves, being the "Chosen People".....So, you
MUST be an antisemite. (You're in good company...me, too!)

Larry
--
This spammer called my cellphone:
First American Payment
10101 E Arapaho Rd
Richardson, TX 75081
972-301-3766
They were nasty when I politely said I wasn't interested....(c;