A holiday in the snow

After the excitement of entertaining the family over Christmas, Marg and I agreed that we had earned a holiday, so we recommended to ourselves that we have a week in the snow. We were going skiing.

We contacted the Office du Tourisme at La Bresse to find accommodation for a week. La Bresse is the town that services the Hohneck ski fields. Not as well known internationally as the French or Swiss Alps, this area is in the Haute Vosges – a part of the region of Lorraine. It caters very much for the French at a family level as well as being very popular with the Belgians and Dutch being only a two and a half to five hour drive away for them. We booked a semi- detached apartment that comfortably slept four. It was on the road between La Bresse and the snow fields.

While window shopping the "after Christmas" sales and being full of enthusiasm for our trip, we just happened across a sports store clearing some skiing gear. Lo and behold, new outfits and skis appear. For those who don't know, we donated our old skis to a charity on our last trip to New Zealand and both Marg and my suits were getting scruffy. We did very well price-wise but we will have to ski a little bit more to really be in front (if you get my drift).

We headed out on Saturday 28^th.  Nancy was having a cold day with the odd snowflake. An hour and a half later we arrived in La Bresse and moved in to our cottage.

On Sunday we hit the slopes and very soon found our ski legs and settled into some fun.

On the mountain there were "post card" opportunities everywhere.

The weather was not kind as it was overcast, lightly snowing with a temp about minus 12 degrees This was continuous till Friday when it dawned a clear day. Still very cold at minus 17 on the mountain top but perfect weather and conditions for our last day on the snow. Too cold though to take too many pictures with bare fingers!

Next day was Saturday, our departure day, We were packing as our landlady, Marie-Agnes arrived to finalise formalities re the rent and such like. She was intrigued by us and was keen to expand her faltering english. She and her siblings (a brother and a sister) had taken over the family home and each had an apartment. The sisters rented theirs while the brother, a sculpter in timber, used his as a workshop and storage for his craft. We thank Marie-Agnes for a comfortable stay.

Our return to Matilda on Saturday afternoon found that Nancy was experiencing the same temperatures and the canal was frozen to a depth of seven to ten centemetres. An ice breaker had been used to keep the canal open making for a dramatic surface.

This was to be the norm now until the spring thaw. We have learnt that as a result of the extreme conditions the VNF have given up and closed the canal to shipping.

 

The scene above is Matilda alongside a similar boat, Nilaya which works as a hotel barge for four guests http://www.bargenilaya.com/ They are not in a sea of soap suds, that is 7 centimetres of snow on 12 centimetres of ice.

We will be returning to Perth, Australia for a month from the end of February and it might be a relief to get some warm??? weather for a while.

There will be more, so till then, keep in touch.

After Christmas

The next day dawned overcast but calm and clear. Marg and I had been hoping for such a day and we were pleased tell our visitors that we were going to take Matilda out on the canal for a day’s cruising. Everyone was called on board and we set out at 10.00am We were not going far but we wanted everyone to experience something of Matilda under way.

We travelled upstream through three ecluses, turned at a town called Varangeville where a largish commercial harbour allowed us to turn Matilda in one sweeping turn. We had lunch as we returned. The visitors experienced many things, passing a loaded freighter in a narrow canal, waiting for access to ecluses, experiencing the problems of an “ecluse en panne” and the challenge of putting Matilda backwards into her berth.

Another almost impromptu outing that we all greatly enjoyed was a night at the Opera. A neighbour living on a barge nearby was in the chorus at the beautiful Nancy Opera House. Lucy organised our tickets and we were in a box and two seats on the balcony to see Die Fleidermaus. An operetta by Johann Strauss. It was sung in German and presented with French sub titles. Quite a mixture but the evening was a wonderful enjoyment for all.

Outside on the way home the Square was still alive with people enjoying the evening.

After this very big evening, we were all keen to have a quiet night. We walked back to Matilda and the hotel keenly discussing the performance. With little to-do we all retired.

Two days later we planned a trip out of France. We were going to Luxembourg to see the sights there. John did the negotiations and we hired a Mercedes Vito “People Mover” which suited us perfectly. The tom-tom was fitted and Ali navigated as John drove.

Luxembourg – known as the Gibraltar of the North has been strategically important since its establishment in AD963. Always an important trading centre it has been fortified more and more by a succession of occupying powers. The Burgundians, French, Spaniards, the Austrians and the Germanic Confederation all added to transform the city into one of the mightiest military encampments in the world. These encampments were mostly dismantled and destroyed after the Treaty of London in1867. An amazing history and the remaining buildings and battlements – huge as they are, represent only 10% of what was here. Everything in the old city has signs of defensive works.

The more modern parts of the city show the signs of the very prosperous history of this Grand Duchy. A wonderful collection of traditionally historic and modern buildings form the current city.

The weather was cold and threatening rain and a local market attracted us for a healthy snack.

The weather was closing in and we made our way back to our vehicle. As we came out of the car park the rain came down. We drove back to Nancy, returned the vehicle and retired to Matilda for dinner and drinks.

One of the surprises in our neighbourhood was that just across the road from our mooring was the factory of a chocolatier. Alain Batt Chocolats was a tourist attraction for our group. They opened their doors and showed us what they made. Their manufacturing was on hold for the Christmas break but we saw a lot of their products, usually marketed through a shop in the centre of Nancy. These included beautiful chocolates, lovely fudges as well as an amazing array of “Wedding Cakes”

Our first outing for the new year was to travel, this time by car up the Canal de la Marne au Rhin. We borrowed a Smart car – a two seater, offered by the hotel that Peter, Ali and John stayed in. Our Renault Scenic took the other five of us. We want to get to the high  point where it crosses a hill, there are two tunnels and a structure, the Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane ecluse,  that replaces 17 ecluses that used to take over a day to get up or down. We might be able to take Matilda this way next year and we would know what we were facing.

The now derelict canal and 17 ecluses

And the inclined Plane that replaces them.

An amazing piece of equipment. We did not see it work but the operation was fairly obvious. Even so, it would be fantastic to be on for the four minutes it takes from “In” to “Out”.

The day was gone and we came back to Matilda once again for a wonderful dinner. This time with a slight seafood touch.

The last supper, as next day people started to depart. Liz, Peter, Ali and John were on a train to Paris at about midday. We went to Paris with Jane on Thursday, put her in a taxi to the airport in the afternoon and then took a few days taking in the sights.

We returned to Matilda which seemed slightly lonely after the enthusiasm shown by our visitors over the past weeks. 

We leave our story here and will return with more soon.

Till then, we will keep in touch.