Saverne: 31/05/2013 to 02/06/2013:
We don't usually ring ahead and book a mooring, we are usually able to find something when we get there, but for Saverne we definitely called to reserve a place. Hotel boats use it a lot, and the mooring spaces for larger boats are limited. Also, if you can get a spot there, the large boat moorings are the very best in the port, situated directly in front of the Chateau de Rohan.
The Chateau was built just before the French Revolution, and was confiscated by the new regime. I understand it fell into disrepair until the town of Saverne bought it and turned it into a museum. Its quite a sight, particularly at night when they light it up. I think its probably one of the best 'eating on deck' backdrops that we've experienced.
It seems the further east we go the more like Germany France looks. If you don't think I'm right, take a look at the decorations on the bar next to the lock.
I mean; lederhosen! Beer and pretzels!
How quintessentially German can you get?
We met another Australian in Saverne. Brian, from the barge "Fiducia", who has a dog he rescued from the local pound called Boston.
Boston likes to be brushed - literally.
Hochfelden to Brumath Forrest: 03/06/2013 to 04/06/2013:
This is a pleasant stretch of waterway but with only a few villages close to the canal. While it is certainly worth the journey, it doesn't warrant too long a stay at any one place. Having said that we stayed in the Brumath Forest for a week in 2008; the canal goes right through the middle of the forest - very pretty. On that occasion we hired a car and drove to a number of the nearby villages along the Alsace Wine Route - Colmar, Riquewihr, Ribeauville, Kaysersberg, etc. This is fantastic countryside; beautiful villages, great food, and wine that was not bad at all.
This year we had planned a similar trip with visitors, but because of an unfortunate change to their plans (i.e. they couldn't make it), Pete and I will be travelling this stretch of the canal by ourselves, and so we have decided instead to concentrate on seeing more of Strasbourg. Perhaps we'll get back to this part of the world again later in the year (we've liked it so much) and make another visit to the wine route then.
We did catch up with an Australian couple when we stopped in the Brumath Forest; Helen & Denis from Williamstown in Melbourne. They were on a hire boat and although we only had a short stay in Brumath together, we managed to visit the local restaurant, which is right next to the mooring. We had a very nice lunch before they had to leave; they heading back to Saverne, and us to Strasbourg.
As we motored into Strasbourg, we came across a number of nesting Storks. Some are in trees, but many are catered for by the local villages that have installed special nesting areas, like helicopter pads, on the tops of their roofs.
We've booked into a port in Strasbourg called Koejac's, which is just out of town. There is no mooring in the centre of town, the canal is too small and only big enough for low-profile tourist boats. We've decided to stay here for a week and really see the place. It's a fantastic town; as great a location to visit as Paris is, in my humble opinion. I know that is a very big call, and that some may think I'm just having an episode of some sort, but I really think it's a fair, if guarded, remark to make.
Strasbourg has a great history to tell; from its beginnings as a Roman garrison in the first century, to its place today as the home of the European Parliament and European Court, it has developed its own unique character. Being located on Roman roads that reached deep into Western Europe, being on the Rhine river with access to sea ports in Germany and Holland, and having good access to trade routes both to the south and east, it developed into a prosperous Renaissance trading town.
Unlike Paris whose medieval centre was completely torn out by Baron Hauseman in the late nineteenth century, demolished to make way for the wide tree-lined boulevards that define Paris today, Strasbourg still has its medieval heart. Many of its brightly painted thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth century wattle and daub timber-framed buildings are still there in its historic medieval centre; as are the later old sandstone buildings, erected in the time of Louis XIVth, and also the grand French Second Empire buildings, constructed under Napoleon IIIrd.
Also the Alsace food is very unusual, and local wines found here are quite different to anywhere else in France.
I think Paris is a great city, but I don't retract for a moment the fact that ... so is Strasbourg.
After leaving Strasbourg we have now retraced our steps and have travelled back down the canal to Saverne. Here we will await the arrival of our first visitors for the year, our friends Mark & Lesley. On the way back we passed more storks; a feature of the bird-life in this area.
We've paid for five days at the mooring, giving us enough time to clean up the old girl (... Histoire d'eau) before Mark & Lesley arrive and to get in some vital supplies, get haircuts, have a lunch or two, etc. There are a couple of little jobs I have to do before we leave Saverne and go through the tunnels at the top of the St Louis lift, the most important of which is to fix up our 'tunnel light'. Although the two tunnels we have to go through are (supposedly) lit, we discovered on our way through them the first time this year that a number of lights in the sequence have blown and have not been replaced. Consequently you travel through well lit sections, followed by the odd dark (pitch black) section. While the eyes are adjusting the boat is going where ever it likes; not a good thing in a tunnel.
Mark & Lesley arrived on the Sunday. At the same time the town had organised a contemporary art exhibition to be located in the Port of Saverne. In fact, they set up their stalls right in front of the boat.
There were sculptors, painters, musicians, actors, ... the lot.
We took the train with Mark and Lesley on Monday back to Strasbourg, just for the day, It's too good a place for them to be this close and yet miss out on a visit. Mark had a crack at some real Alsacian food - "choucroute", washed down with a local Riesling ... an acquired taste (the choucroute, that is).
Having finished our work in Saverne, including getting Lesley to a doctor for some antibiotics (she brought a nasty cold with her from Spain ... strictly against 'boat rules'), we set sail mid-morning. I'm happy to report that after a good dose of prescribed drugs Lesley is making a satisfactory recovery.
I enjoyed Lutzelbourg on our way through here earlier in the year, so much so we've decided to stay a couple of days. The visit this time included a brisk walk up the hill to the castle ruins which overlook the village. The enthusiasm for this came mainly from Les, who seems to now be fighting fit. We dodged a bit of rain in the morning, and had good weather for the walk in the PM.
It was a pretty good 'Goldilocks walk'; not too long, not too steep, ... just right, and was rewarded with some beautiful views of the valley below. Just the same, I was pleased we were sight-seeing in the twenty-first century, rather than storming it in full armour in the thirteenth century.
(If you look closely at Pete's photograph (below, right) you can make out Histoire d'eau at her mooring - at the end of the cut in the canal.)
We left Lutzelbourg on the Friday and made our way down through the villages of Hesse and Einville, negotiating the tunnels and the "Arzviller Lift" on the way, and eventually arriving at Nancy. They still hadn't fixed all the lights in the tunnel, but it was good enough (we had our own spot-light turned on, just the same).
We enjoyed a couple of splendid days in Nancy before Mark & Lesley had to leave, even getting a chance to go to the "Light and Sound" show in the evening. We also frequented the usual haunts - "The Excelsior for lunch (of course ... it's impossible to visit Nancy without visiting "The Excelsior"), the market (great, as always) and Darty!
(Darty is a white-goods store in which we are, unfortunately, becoming quite well known. So far this year we have purchased a new refrigerator in April, and now a new washing machine - our 20 year old washing machine has started to leak and they don't make the parts anymore ... a classic case of 'built-in obsolescence' if you ask me.)
However, given we have had to fork out twice this year for white-goods, I have to admit that the people at Darty have been very good; easy to talk to, they deliver free and within a day or two, they give an automatic two year guarantee, and they even take away the old appliance for free. The delivery truck has two men who have been happy to man-handle the heavy appliances into the salon and hold of the boat, and remove the old gear. These guys even called on the day to give an exact time of delivery, and stuck to it. Well done Darty!
The trip to Nancy was enjoyable and uneventful, but the weather went from 'air-conditioner' hot to mild and 'umbrella' wet in a couple of days. Fortunately Nancy is a great town despite the weather.
(For those of you who have seen this show on a previous occasion, you may be interested to know that it's been updated to reflect the celebrations associated with the "Nancy Renaissance Festival", which is currently running in the town. The show is still just as spectacular).
After Mark and Lesley left, we took a slow trip to Toul via Liverdun ("...the town that refused to die"), according to Rod. Nevertheless, it has a beautiful mooring on a wide bend in the Moselle, which in itself is worth stopping at. Still not dead yet, Rod!) We arrived in Toul on the Friday.
We leave for the airport tomorrow. We should be back online (web-wise) at the end of July. See you then.
The port at Toul is quite pretty in the evening...
You can click here to go directly to the July 2013 web page ... click here for July 2013
Strasbourg: 05/06/2013 to 12/06/2013:
Saverne: 14/06/2013 to 18/06/2013:
Lutzelbourg: 19/06/2013 to 20/06/2013:
Nancy: 24/06/2013 to 26/06/2013:
Toul: 28/06/2013 to 03/07/2013:
Having settled in at the port (Tony, the port captain, had our spot reserved and taped-off for us on arrival. A good man.), we have started preparing for a visit to Turkey to see Helen & Iain. They have kindly invited us aboard their yacht "Alma", for a couple of weeks, after which we are stopping of in Instanbul for a week's sight-seeing.
or here to go back to the May 2013 web page ... click here for May 2013.
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