Still on the Meuse – but not for long

Today we realized that it has been a week since our last post and this isn’t because there’s been nothing to report – quite the opposite, we are having a lovely time.  But with no free Wi-Fi we are using the “stick” for email only and not spending much time on the computer.  Since the last post we have had a quiet rural night in secluded mooring, spent 3 days in Verdun, and two days in this nice little town of St. Mihiel.  And you can’t spend any time here without being educated on the WWI as this is where is all happened.

Verdun was a nice city of 21,000 people with moorings (free) right in the middle of town and some very nice buildings.  We had the best meal so far in a little restaurant near the quay, thank you again Trip Advisor.

 

The next day we bought tickets for the “hop on hop off” bus tour to the battlegrounds.  My impressions of the WWI battlegrounds were of pitched battles on flat fields, but the land around Verdun is hilly, wooded and very pretty. The first stop was an excellent museum that lead you through the war and the particular battle of Verdun that lasted 300 days and took ½ million lives. We had 50 minutes before the next bus so we followed the signs to the village of Fleury  which was the most moving of all the monuments.  Imagine one of the prettiest forested landscapes you have seen, with the light sifting through the trees on a gentle slope and lush ground cover with occaisional flowers.  Then you notice that the ground is not really smooth but is many hillocks and hollows and in some of the hollows there is the odd brick or concrete rubble.  In amongst the forest along side of the path are small concrete posts with a plaque on top -  Boulanger,  Farm, Boucherie and, near a small monument, Hotel de Ville, other than that there is nothing there.   The forest is all that remains of the village that was unfortunate to be in a key strategic position and changed hands about 16 times during the battle, by the end of which it was completely destroyed.  There are 12 others like it in the area.  The land was so devastated after the war with so much explosive buried (over 60 million shells fired) that it was all turned over to the forestry department. Now it is a tranquil beautiful landscape covering reminders of unspeakable horrors.

The day continued with more formal and dramatic monuments.

The next stretch of the river is still uses manual locks so we had to call the day before and tell them when we were leaving so there were people on hand.  I think I told them the right thing as it worked OK.
We got our own personal lock keeper who travelled with us through several locks and then passed us off to the next guy. Our last keeper gave Terry a pink rose and a “madeleine” cake. As we did 10 locks between Verdun and St. Mihiel this was helpful.  Our first lock keeper was very helpful and even delivered us apples from his tree after Terry admired them, not knowing they were his.

St. Mihiel was the one town on the Meuse held by the Germans throughout most of the war until liberated by US and French troops.

Today the weather was perfect and there were lots of activities in town including the Petanque championship, and a concert by the music school in the local church.

In a couple of days we will leave the valley of the Meuse for that of the Moselle.  We first encountered the river as the Maas at Heusden in Holland back in June.  Since returning we have been on it,and it’s canals, continuously climbing over 600 feet. It is a lovely river and we have learned about it’s historical importance from before the Roman times.  It will be like saying goodbye to an old friend.

 

Mouzon

Toinight we are moored in the little village of Mouzon that doesn’t even rate a Wikipedia entry.  We are the only boat here – for that matter we haven’t seen another boat all day – not that we are complaining.
I got a mobile internet subscription in Charleville that came with the first two days free – after that it’s expensive so be prepared for some terse posts – so we have been indulging, to the point of chatting with Skye in Sydney while motoring along the canal.  Gotta love technology.
Last night we were going to stay in Sedan, which has the largest fortified site in Europe but when we pulled into the marina (which was empty) they were setting up the music stage opposite, and the loudspeaker was blaring behind us – we left.  We found a mooring off  the main river at a hotel.  Very private and peaceful and we walked up the gangplank for dinner – lovely.
Today the weather was fine in the morning and the river is beginning to peter out so there is more canal, but rural canal, up higher with lovely views and very peaceful, just as we had hoped for in the beginning.
I figure the average is about 1 great day of weather in 10 and our quota was up so it got black and cool so we decided to stop here in Mouzon.  It rained some but then cleared for the evening.  This town has a lovely Gothic Church, nothing spectacular just excellent proportions and beautiful stones, some nice houses and a patisserie that is open on Sunday, now THAT, and the four fruit tart we bought is worth something.
Terry has started the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and we have all three so I may not hear from her until Christmas.
General plans are to head south through Verdun to Toul and Nancy,  and then maybe to Strasbourg and back to Nancy where we hope to leave Armida for the winter..

Frizzy Hair

There is no doubt about it, summer is long gone. Weather is humid, intermittent rain, with an occasional gift of sun and mild temperatures.  Today I bought wool gloves without fingers so I can still do needlework and a new warm sweater for under my jacket. Bring on the cold.  We heard from PJ who had wonderful weather in Austria and Slovenia at the same time we were getting rained upon with chilly winds. 

We arrived in France over a week ago.  Until now we have traveled through small provincial villages that seem to be stuck in time and offers unassuming charms.  We just spent our fourth night in Charleville, a once grand city with a huge square surrounded by buildings of identical architecture from the 17th century.  We’ve been to three museums that offer information in French only.  We decided that their Regional History Museums (Musee de l’Ardennes) is one of the best we’d been to.  The content was interesting enough but the transformation of a 400 year old sandstone tannery into a modern museum was awesome.  The exterior was absolutely unchanged.  It was a three sided building surrounding an inner courtyard you enter through large gates.  The handsome three story structure with a high roof full of gables was untouched.  Once you entered you see that the outer walls remain the exposed lovely warm golden stone, yet parts of the interior feel as if you are in an Escher drawing with levels leading you in one direction on through displays.  All the interior beams remain intact, yet the rest is modern in a tasteful and pleasing way.  We began with the prehistoric bones of a Wooly Mammoth and ended up in the gables stepping into two rooms that made us feel like we’d just stepped into the home on a family living in the 18th century.  No book about the work was available at the gift shop.

Once we entered Belgium our culinary experience went from disappointing to yum.  After rarely eating bread, butter or cream, we eat it everyday with different pates, cheeses and fresh fruit.  Even though we are on a budget and spend about 5 Euros on wine we’re happy.  I’ve made myself sick with all this AND the pastries.  In the beginning we had croissants with our morning coffee,  Then we switched to pain au chocolate.  Then in this town we discovered the almond, chocolate croissant.  For dessert we have fresh plum, cherry or apricot tarts.

Although we’ve lunched a couple times at cafes (Noodle and Rosie too) last night was our first night out to dinner.  A couple of Englishmen who run a hotel barge, with two couples from Ohio abroad, gave us a recommendation when asked.  In the afternoon we walked over to look at it and saw that it was a Michelin listed establishment with prices to match.  When we returned to the boat later we thanked them, but said it was out of our budget.  In that case they sent us, not where they send their clients, but where they like to go. “ The Slanted Pig” a hidden bistro that was nearly full.  We did not order off the menu, but made our selection from the items offered on the 19 Euros prefix three course meal.  Nice starter, tender lamb stew with Moroccan spices and dessert.  Loved it.

I’ve finished two little needlework projects and will now begin a a more difficult miniature kit that was designed by neighbor, Marny.  I love the release and relaxation these afford me.  Rob and I have both read many books and look for English speaking material everywhere we go.  I bought Rob a quarterly magazine published by his beloved Economist.  It’s kind of like a cross between the weekly and People.  I’m loving it myself.  Please set a side any good books that you know you will never see again for us to take next year on our trip.  Listening to music and reading is how we spend most evenings.    

A typical Rob story that more than anyone our girls will enjoy:

Rob says to me that he’s going to take apart the electric toilet to see if he can make it quieter.  I say that he really doesn’t know anything about it.  He barks back that I have no faith is his abilities and how can he learn about the boat if he doesn’t do these things.  A typical Rob and Terry exchange.  I’m happy to say that It’s now twice as noisy.  And I love him more for being himself. 

Rosie and Noodle went to the groomers today for a bath and trim.  She did a nice job, made it personal for the dogs, they had full run of the little shop with treats, water and a free French lesson.  In at 2:30 and out at 5PM. 

The dogs have adjusted amazingly to being on a boat and the constant changes.  One would think they preferred it to being home the way they get excited with each new outing.  They’re fine with staying on the boat while we do no dog type things, they are well behaved on the street amongst people and show good manners when passing other dogs of which there are many.  Except for a very large German Sheppard that has been walked in the park just outside our boat these last few evenings where they go crackers when they see him.  It’s great having them with us.

We have zero news from friends and would love to  hear from you. What’s happening there and with you? 

Our best to Jeanne who is convalescing from surgery this week and Stephen who will be at her call.  Hope all goes well. 

Toodles, Terry

Taking it Slow

We are spending a couple of days here is Charleville-Meziers as the dogs have a grooming appointment tomorrow –  they have to look their best for the French dogs.  It is a very pleasant town with the prettiest town square we have seen yet.
Taking advantage of the Wi-Fi to get some pictures posted.
There are some of Belgium here and some of France here  (now with the right link)

Connected again.

Charleville-Meziers  7 September

Apparently there’s a general strike in France today but the locks were working and so is the Wi-Fi at last.  So there are two more posts below to check out.

Lost on the Meuse – 6 September

It feels now like we are in another place.  There does not seem to be Wi-Fi to be had in this part of France so we don’t know what is going on in the world – nor do we care for that matter.   We have had a few days of lovely weather and our best mooring, so far, in the little town of Revin.  On a secluded backwater of the river with lovely flowers and grass and quiet – yet 2 minutes walk to the supermarket.  It is popular with the season’s cruisers returning home – mainly Dutch and Belgian – and very friendly and helpful.  Even a washing machine.  What more could we want?

It seems that diesel fuel on the river is very rare in France and when you can get it, quite expensive, so today I invested in two 20L jerry cans and trekked back and forward to the supermarket gas station with by little hand trolley four times.  Here you fill up and the drive to the little kiosk to pay – it was weird to be standing in line with my trolley in a line of cars, and then I had to crouch down to see the cashiers hand to pay.  We didn’t need the fuel now as we have a good sized tank but you never know when it will be as easy to get or a reasonable price.

The Meuse now is beautiful – steep wooded hillsides right down to the river which wends it’s way around hairpin bends.  We motor along at a stately 8.5 kph and just soak it all in.  A couple of days of this and then we get to the twin cities of Charleville-Meziers and maybe even internet.  The other cruisers have given us good tips on where we might leave the boat for the winter but we now need to get a full list of “chomages” (canal closures) to figure out where we can actually get to.  Seems that this time of year they like to close some of the canals to do maintenance for up to 3 weeks at a time so it helps a lot to know where they are – and sometimes they just have lock failures that can have an unknown effect. Two leading contenders are Nancy if we keep going straight up the Meuse or Sillery) near Reims if we turn right.  It is good to find a harbour that is isolated from the rivers by a lock in case of floods.

This morning was beautiful and we had our first lunch out, but while we were there the sky clouded over and now it has turned grey and windy, which is a shame because we are now in a lovely secluded mooring with free water and electricity and it would be so much prettier if the sun where out.  Oh well, it was great while it lasted.

In France

3 September 2010

Today was our first day in France  Well, technically we arrived yesterday but our mooring in Givet was mediocre and we were tired and had spaghetti for dinner, so we are counting from today.

So today we:  went to the town market, did grocery shopping, put all Armida’s covers down, went through our first tunnel (500m long – we probably didn’t need to take everything down but better safe than sorry), used the remote control they gave us to operate the locks, had the river virtually to ourselves, had good weather, had even better scenery, moored at the cute little town of Fumay, had bubbly and Paté on the back deck to celebrate being in France, watched the local band parade through town and listened to them play the Marseilles'  – and that’s it pretty much.  Can’t complain. 

Happy Birthday Tess.

Oh yes, had no Internet - seems to be the way in France so this may not get posted for a while – these towns are too small for even a McDonalds.  So if you need to contact us quickly you can call, or better, text our French mobile at +33 630 818 417.