86: A Fabulous La Vie En Rose Barge Cruise on the Saone River

Welcome to the 86th weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

We are into our 58th week in France 9/6-9/12/26 having spent 3 months in Duras and then roughly a month and a half in St Germaine de Confolens before settling in Chabanais.

We have been in our home in the village of Chabanais in the Charente department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region of France since the middle of December 2025. You might remember that we actually closed on the house on Thanksgiving Day, but it took a couple of weeks to get fully moved in.

Our home in Chabanais, France

Things on the agenda this week:

• Barging on the Saone River
• Relaxing on the La Vie En Rose
• Drive to Chabanais

Weather forecast:

Warm and sunny all week

Why this Blog?

Long story short, we are Mark and Elizabeth Beiley (EB), “Baby Boomers” that have moved from Venice, Florida to the beautiful French countryside as retirees. After a little over a year of planning and fretting we sold everything in Venice and made the move on 1 August 2025.

We publish a brief update of our adventures every Sunday to share our experiences, tips and mistakes.

If you are wondering what got into our head and inspired us to make the move, check out some of our earlier posts. Again, if you have questions about our adventure, drop your questions in the comment section below.

This Weeks Daily Update

Sunday: Happy birthday to our granddaughter Aryah and my brother Leif

Leave Dijon and drive to the Saone River to meet up with our barge cruise crew.

We were to meet Laura on the quai on the Saone River. We arrived early so walked around, had lunch on the quai and watched some men playing pétanque. I wrote about this popular game a couple of weeks ago.

Then it was time to meet up with Laura. EB and I went over to where the van was parked and found a shady spot. EB figured that they would eventually need to come to the van to get the luggage so might as well wait there (in the shade!). The rest of our gang was waiting near the quai. While EB and I were sitting on a couple of bollards Laura drove up in a big Renault passenger van. She leaned out of the driver’s side window and asked if we were waiting for a ride to a barge cruise, we said yes and explained that our van is parked just beside her van so she stopped her engine, hopped out and introduced herself and asked if I was Don. I introduced myself and Elizabeth (and Rosie). I texted the rest of our crew that Laura is waiting with us near our van and to hustle on over. Soon the whole gang was with us and introductions were made and we loaded up our bags into Laura’s van. Soon we were ready for the roughly 1 hour ride to Gray where we would meet up with the barge. We met the whole family, Simon our captain and son Bodie and daughter Evie and before you know it, we were tasting some bubbly and were seated on deck. What a lovely family. It was a joy to meet them. Then we met Jordan the cook. Yikes this guy can cook. Cocktails and dinner and sunset on the Saone River. I think we were dreaming and woke up millionaires. Dinner was served. Sooo much delicious food.

The crew: Left to right, Jordan chef extraordinaire, Captain Simon our dauntless captain who not only piloted our boat but kept all of the ships systems working flawlessly and is another great tour guide. Then Evie the cutest deck hand you will ever meet and then Laura our brilliant tour guide and basically mama of the ship. And yes, they are as good looking in person.

So what is a barge like. If you are unfamiliar with luxury hotel barges here is a brief explanation.

First things first. Her name is “La Vie En Rose”.  Renamed from “Who Knows”. She is about 31 meters long (about 100 feet) and about 4.5 meters wide (about 15 feet). I might be a little off on the dimensions. She weighs a svelte 120 tons. She is actually a very pretty boat.

I think she was designed and built in the early 1900s to fit the locks of the French canal system. Like other parts of the world, canals were an extremely important part of the commercial life blood of France.

The major conversion of this barge was started by a famous actor who lived in Paris where he kept his barge. Over the years she has undergone additional upgrades and renovations. So yes, she is a converted cargo barge and what a beautiful conversion she is.  Below are a couple of pictures to give you an idea.

The conversion is awesome, but what makes the experience so wonderful is the attention to detail the captain and crew bring to the experience. Not only attention to the boat but also to the passengers. Prepare to be well taken care of on your trip.

We were constantly asking questions about the boat and the river and even the questions were answered with attention and sincere interest. I think this family loves what they are doing and it shows.

Speaking of asking questions: the meals were prepared by the onboard chef, Jordan and all of the cooks among our group were not shy about asking questions of the chef. Jordan offered to share any and all recipes.

No joke, the meals were so good. Our group is pretty easy going but decerning and there were a lot of oohs and awes at every meal.  I’m talking 3 meals per day, every day. 3 really great meals. Included were wine pairings and brief explanations of the wines of the Burgandy area. It is really hard to put into words the high level and quality of service on board.  

As you know EB and I have done 3 Viking cruises and enjoyed them very much, but I think this barge cruise beats them.
Okay maybe it is because of our traveling companions, but man what a great experience.

Monday: 1st day aboard our barge

We woke up to coffee, croissants, jam and then breakfast of fresh fruits, yogurt and granola, and some meats. We needed to get fortified for our tour of a chateau.

Wow!! This was a private tour of Chateau de Fontaine-Francais by the owner who is like the 5^th generation of family ownership. He walked with us and described all of the interesting art and furniture and history of the chateau. He only speaks French so we were lucky that Laura was there to translate all of the interesting information.

Thanks to Dan for the below image of the Chateau

A couple more pictures of the chateau grounds

Back to the barge and lunch. Quiche, salad, salade, and salad, wine more fruit and wine.

Then at 2:30 the barge was underway. Almost immediately we had to go through a lock that would take us up about 5 or 6 feet. It was fun to watch how easily Simon and Evie went through the lock. They have done this before.

La Vie En Rose cruises at less than 10 knots along the gorgeous Saone River as you pass by the beautiful French countryside. What a wonderful way to travel.

There were lots of swans on the river and we passed other boats and barges as we traveled. The below pictures make it look like it was crowded but in truth it was pretty quiet.

Tuesday: Guided tour of Dijon.

We had walked around Dijon last week but today was a guided tour by Simon. Simon is very knowledgeable and humorous and made the history and culture of Dijon come alive,  interesting and enjoyable. We visited the “market” in Dijon and picked up some fresh ingredients for tonight’s dinner preparation. We were back on board the barge in time for another excellent lunch and wine pairing. We lounged around reading and napping until it was dinner time. OMG another great meal and wine pairing. Are you getting the pattern? Breakfast, then an activity, lunch and wine, lounge or an activity, cocktail, then dinner and wine. Of course we enjoyed a little cruising in between meals and wine. LOL!!

Each night we sit around the table in the lounge and play games. One night Marbles, then Mexican train, or Rummikub or Uno. Evie joined us one night for a game of Mexican Train and if I remember correctly she beat us all. The last time she had played was when she was 10.

Speaking of Evie, she is a human dynamo. She is the deck hand, also in charge of breakfast and the maintenance of the staterooms. She also sets the tables for the meals both in the galley and the outside deck. Each meal has different a tablecloth along with fancy cloth napkins and place settings. I’m pretty sure Laura plans some this out well ahead of time, but Evie makes it happen. If that is not enough Evie also serves the meal along with Jordan and her mom or dad and then buses the tables after dinner. She makes sure everything is ship shape at all times. She never forgets about you, making sure your coffee cup is full, or wine glass is full or the sunshade is in proper location. Would you like a gin and tonic? She will mix it right up. If you need someone to leap from the boat to secure a line Evie is your girl. It helps that she is 21 and athletic and sweet and cute too. That is not just my opinion, all of our gang comments on her all of the time.

My sister Cindy wants to take Jordan home with her so she can have a gourmet meal every day. Both her and Don are good cooks, but a chef like Jordan is another level completely.

Wednesday:

Laura is back to lead our tour in Beaune. The tour is of the Hospice. No, it isn’t a tour of a place with a bunch of people waiting to die. It is a hospital that has been shut and turned into a museum. Rosie is not allowed in so Elizabeth and I took shifts being with her outside the museum. I took the first shift. Waiting outside was not tough duty. I walked around the “market” and the surrounding streets. Beaune is a pretty town. EB came out to take her shift, and I thought that I didn’t need to see a museum of a hospital. EB convinced me to go in and catch up with Laura and the tour. I am so glad she did. Super interesting. The hospital was open in the I think in the early 1400s and was in continuous operation until 1975. It treated patients during “The Plague” and WW1 and WW2. It was even used during COVID for the administration of the vaccine. It was really interesting to walk through treatment wards, a surgery center, pharmacy with the jars of various medicinal herbs that would be mixed to prepare meds. Then we saw the old kitchen where meals were prepared over open fires within a fireplace. Then later prepared on a wood burning stove.  The whole museum is amazing and a must see.

Cindy, Rhonda, Laura and Don at the entrance to the Hospice

Inside the hospice courtyard, and then treatment rooms

hospice kitchen

Pharmacy. There were hundreds of these bottles of different compounds.

I thought this was interesting; the limestone flooring was handpicked to create individual indentions so that it wouldn’t be smooth and thus slippery.

After the tour Laura treated us to lunch in a secret location. It turns out to be a private cave that she and a group of volunteers maintains for fund raising events. Very cool!

Thursday: Pesmes and bread making activity

I stayed on the barge to work on the blog and keep Rosie company while the rest of the gang went to Pesmes to learn how to make bread.

It was a cool experience according to everyone. How could it be bad they got to make croissants?

The cough had made the rounds to me and I went to bed early.

Friday: Wine tasting

Today was a real treat. Laura drove us to her friend’s wine making business where we met Tom, an up-and-coming wine maker in Burgundy. Tom and his wife have been in the business for many years but recently started their own wine making business focusing on white wines. As Tom described the wine and poured the tasting Laura was busy setting up our lunch that Jordan had prepared. We tasted several wines and I’m beginning to appreciate whites. What a cool treat to meet a friend of Laura’s that is an actual wine maker.

We went back to the barge for a short cruise then all of a sudden, it was dinner time. Dinner on the top deck in the fresh air is another extra special experience. We had duck and more wine tasting.

Saturday: Drive to Chabanais

We reluctantly left the boat and crew and packed everything into our van. Fairwell pictures below. I think Laura got her fingers in the photo. Notice the barge in the background.

Nothing exciting to report about our drive, just beautiful countryside along the way. I took the first shift and drove about halfway and stopped at a big rest stop where everyone stretched their legs, grabbed a snack and then back on the road. EB took over the driving duty, and I watched as we passed the countryside.

Once home we started laundry. Don and Cindy first then Rhonda and Danny. While laundry was underway, we grabbed some wine and beer and went up to the terrasse to decompress. It was a beautiful night for enjoying the ambiance of the terrasse.

Afterward Don and Cindy went over to the Barrier hotel for the night.

So that was our week.

A wonderful barge tour on the Saone River. We are all very grateful to Don for this awesome experience.

French Lifestyle and Culture

Sorry, I’m going to skip this section this week. Doesn’t mean that there is nothing to say but I just ran out of time. Traveling, wine tasting and sightseeing takes a ton of time. LOL!

Ditto for this week but I plan on spending some time in the coming weeks to talk about barge cruising in France.

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• Chabanais

Weather forecast for next week

Forecasted high temp of 32C (90F). Overnight lows getting down to 11C (52F). Partly cloudy most of the week with a low chance of rain in Chabanais.

Signing off for the week

As always, we sign off wishing you all a good week and remind you to take care of yourselves and your family.

Keep in touch and leave questions, suggestions and comments below. We really enjoy hearing from you all.

Wishing you a good week (Bonne Semaine)

Mark and Elizabeth Beiley

Babyboomersmovetofrance.com