Christmas is coming......

Christmas is coming…….

We arrived in Nancy on the afternoon of November 2^nd about 1600 hours. Our immediate plan was to get to know the area, check out the shopping, supermarkets, boulangeries (bread shops) and the like. We then took in the sights hoping for a variety of places and activities so that we could entertain our Christmas visitors. The weather was cooling rapidly and it rained more often than not, so we cycled where we could but used public transport when necessary.

Our visitors started to arrive. Jane was first. Marg, having a bit of business with the Australian Consulate in Paris, met her there and they spent a few days “doing” the town.

 

They were soon back in Nancy followed by Peter and Elizabeth. We hoped for a White Christmas and there was snow in the air and on the ground as they arrived. Sadly it did not last and our wish was not fulfilled. Ali and John arrived on the 21^st completing the party. Liz and Jane stayed with us on Matilda while Peter, Ali and John took rooms in a local hotel. 

We all took quick tours of the City and its attractions. Most notable were Place Stanislas and the old town.

For the History oriented, King Stanislas of Poland was exiled and came to Nancy after the war of Polish Succession in 1737. His real name was, Stanislaw Leszczynsky. (Stan for short.) He completely re-designed the town for its then present and future development and this square with the buildings and avenues around it were the centre of his design. The square has been a UNESCO World heritage site since 1983. 

These buildings, all in the same basic style include the Opera House, the Hotel de Ville, a large private hotel and others occupied by smaller businesses and restaurants.

The Opera House by night in the foreground.

The Arc de Triomphe gives access to the square from the Palace du Gouvernement at the end of the Place de la Carriere

 

Nancy is well known for being the centre of the Art Nouveau movement and there are many fine examples of buildings in the style throughout the town. An area to the south west of the centre of town has a number of examples.

Another dramatic product Nancy has always been famous for is artistic glass. The Art Nouveau artists developed techniques for making beautiful stained glass in windows and other panels while sculptors worked glass for all manner of products. Drinking glasses, vases, decanters and pure pieces of art. The skills still survive with amazing articles still being produced.

It was Christmas Eve and a tree had appeared in Stanislas Square.

But, no snow.

Christmas day and we all gathered at Peter’s apartment in his hotel (120 metres across the canal from Matilda) for a croissant breakfast at a civilised hour. We all managed to contact our various families via the ‘net.

Later in the morning we  returned to Matilda and the traditional giving of gifts.

Our Christmas Dinner followed which was French – with a touch of Oz. The entrée was Salade au Chevre Chaud (Salad with hot goat’s cheese) with yabbies from Horsham (bought over by Liz), the combination was delicious. This was followed by Duck a l’Orange and finishing with Crème Brulee

 

An absolutely wonderful meal and everyone was unanimous in their thanks to Marg for its production in Matilda’s galley. As the meal was completed, the moment came for the handing on of the Christmas Champion’s baton. Liz accepted it and the next “Miller” Christmas will be at Jalumba, her home in Victoria in 2013

The evening was quiet and we all relaxed and retired early. There was a lot more we were to do – but more of that later.

Till then, keep in touch.

From the middle of nowhere

The southern branch of the Canal de l'Est from Epinal to the Moselle River is busy with commercial craft, they move all manner of bulk goods. We found one that is familiar to us loading bright orange maize. 300 tonnes of cattle feed.

The canal is going downstream and has been following the Moselle since Epinal. It travels through some beautiful wooded country. Autumn colors are everywhere.

At Flavigny sur-Moselle the canal crosses the Moselle via a pont canal.

The river is becoming rapidly larger and the canal and river soon merge and the river becomes the main route. The size of the ecluses suddenly become very large.

The geography changes too as we travel through some very hilly land. The river valley is lined with some quite steep hills. Beautiful villas abound and the villages are very attractive. On one bank we were accompanied by a disused railway line that seemed to be mostly supported on this beautiful stone viaduct that followed us for more that 5 kilometres.

We are approaching Toul and must leave the Moselle River as the appropriate harbour for Matilda is on the Canal de l'Est, (branche Nord). Access to the harbour is via a beautiful lifting bridge and around the battlements of the citadel.

Imagine having a couple of twenty four pound cannon balls coming at you from the fortified bridge in the background.

This type of structure really bought home to us just how long these canals have been used in Europe and their importance to trade.

A few days in Toul then Wednesday 2^nd November we are out on to the Moselle again for the final run to Nancy. The river was again in quite hilly country giving rise to some wonderful scenery. It takes a horseshoe bend around the village of Liverdun. This beautiful bridge and a second one almost the same, carries a railway line across the river and through the town.

The Chateau de la Flie a Liverdun looks out over the river.

We are in the waters now occupied by big freight barges and ones like this are seen all the time on the big rivers. This one is filled with about two thousand tonnes of processed scrap metal. It is being taken to a processing plant further up river that we passed a few days ago.

Early afternoon and we leave the Moselle. The Meurhe River meets the Moselle at the town of Frouard and we take the branch. Immediately we enter the canal de la Marne au Rhin via a 10metre deep ecluse. Nine kilometres later and we are in the Port of Nancy. Entry to the port from downstream is regulated by two bridges, this one lifts vertically, enough for us to pass underneath.

For the mechanically minded just look at the size of the three-stage ram that is lifting the roadway - there are two if them.

A half an hour later we are moored, rafted up, stern to the wharf where we will stay till next cruising season.

Christmas is coming up and we have family joining us. There will be stories to tell then.

So, we will keep in touch.

Epinal and beyond

Sunday 23^rd October at 0830hrs we left our mooring on the Canal des Vosges downstream of Ecluse 8 where we had to stop the day before. We were on the way up from the Saone, headed for Epinal and about to have the hardest day working Matilda to date. Eight ecluses to the summit pound which is 10 kilometres long, then fourteen down (including one “en panne” (broken)) to the embranchment d'Epinal and then 3.3 kilometres to the port of Epinal, a shallow winding canal. Taking Matilda through 22 ecluses was a huge day and at the end of it both Marg and I were absolutely bushed.

The port has recently been completely rejuvenated. Old warehouses and hard-stand areas have been removed and wonderful facilities and parkland established in their place. A number of boats were moored here and shut down for winter and we were fortunate to moor along the main town wharf, easy walking to the centre of town.

Epinal is a good mixture of the old and new. The cathedral has the evidence of about three rebuilds and in some places the old walls and battlements are very obvious.

And just across the road, an ancient stream through the centre of the town has been turned into a white water course for modern canoeists.

All these modern sporting activities proved rather boring for this old fellow guarding the historic library.

An interesting little sidelight to our visit, we were approached by two media studies students from a local college who wanted to include our home – Matilda, in one of their projects. We were interviewed and photographed as part of their paper on the different living environments of various people. We hope they did well!

Wednesday 26^th, off again. The canal des Vosges is now following the Moselle river through a wide and open country of rich pastoral soils. The plains are a result of ice age glacial activity and the soil is under laid with massive deposits of rocky gravel. This is quarried and used for many building products and industrial purposes. Barges on the canals are used for it's transport in many places but this is the first time we saw some purpose-built ones specifically for a particular run. Looking as though they were designed by a committee they looked strange but did their job very successfully.

That afternoon we moored at Nomexy, for a late lunch. A good mooring so we stayed the night. In the afternoon we wandered to the other side of the river to Chatel sur Saone, a village built on a high vantage point. There has been a castle and citadel here for over 1000 years. Finally derelict, it was all covered with a car park for a nearby government building in the 50's. It is now being excavated and it's history unfolds.

We stopped at Charmes for lunch and in the afternoon we explored the town. This poor town has had a tragic history through the centuries with war and famine right up to its near destruction (again) in the 2nd WW. The church showed signs of damage from the second world war. The steeple had been rebuilt with a modern concrete structure that was already showing the ravages of time. A sorry sight. However other parts of the town were very pretty especially with the autumn colors. 

We moved on in the afternoon and finally moored on the edge of the canal virtually in the middle of nowhere

From the middle of nowhere we will leave you. 

Till next time, when we get to Nancy, so keep in touch.