Another house on a hill

It is Tuesday 22^nd April 2014 about 1500 hours (3.00 pm) and we are at Bignicourt-sur-Saulx. We have just returned from a small village, Pargny-sur-Saulx. We had cycled there in the hope of finding a post office to send mail back to Australia. We found the post office, an imposing building but it was only open in the mornings. So, having cycled about 4 kilometres we decided to have lunch at the town restaurant.

We left Nancy on Sunday 13^th April, slowly making our way along the canal du Marne au Rhin back towards Paris. Spring is definitely in the air and the wisteria in the Nancy water gardens was alive with colour.

We had company on board. Perry with his wife, Katy and children Ada and Owen who live on Phil’s boat Imagine and Greg who lives alone in his boat Shangri La were with us to share the trip to Toul. We had a very pleasant day leaving them in Toul at about 1600 hours to catch a train back to Nancy. We enjoyed their company and believe they all had a great day.

The weather was good and we continued up the climb from Toul to the top of the hill and through the Mauvages tunnel. This is our third time through this 4.9 kilometre long tunnel. Even though we have it sorted, it is still a harrowing hour.

The maintenance crews of the VNF were out in a number of areas dredging, shoring the banks and generally readying for the season.  We have struck a number of ecluse en panne probably due to problems over winter. This disaster was a shorted out power supply that had almost destroyed a switch box. The eclusier had to manually operate the hydraulic pumps to let us through. He was a jolly fellow and it only took him an hour to complete our passage through the lock.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon after finding that we could not fit in to the mooring in Pargny-sur-Saulx where we had planned. The mooring there offers power and water and we were keen to use these facilities. Where we are now is only an hour further on and is an ideal mooring but un-serviced. We are by ourselves and enjoying the ambiance.

The surroundings are quiet and peaceful and we are going to spend a day or so here.

On the rise in the field beside our mooring we saw this grand chateau. This morning we went and had a look at it. We were welcomed in and shown through the building. It is being restored back to some of its early glory by a dedicated young Frenchman who hopes to use it as a guest house and convention centre.

The grand front is imposing with its six ionic columns. As it is a listed building he has financial help from the French government but it appears there is a lot of his money and himself in the rebuild.  His father took us on a tour showing us through the guest suites that have been completed. Each suite was decorated according to a different historical period.

He also showed us the many areas that still need to be done.

The eye to detail is exemplary.

And there is a chapel in the grounds, restoration of that has yet to begin.

A wonderful restoration of a truly Grand Design.

We thank Fabrice Provin and his father, Ivo for allowing us the privilege of seeing their house.

You can see more at: www.chateaubignicourt.com

Tomorrow, we leave and continue towards Chalons en Champagne.

There will be more to tell so we will keep in touch.

Spring is with us.

We are now in our fourth year in Europe and thoroughly caught up with the basics of European life. Spring is now upon us and we find ourselves almost looking forward to doing those things that are done in Spring. We have removed the accumulated winter grime from Matilda, made some minor repairs, tidied up some paintwork and generally she is now spick and span. We have had a few weeks of good weather and everywhere is looking bright and colourful. Even the garden in front of the Nancy police station is almost beautiful.

The flowers just appear! We did find the Council Nursery and were surprised to find it open to the public as a showpiece and to assist gardeners and the public generally with free advice.

We had already commenced our gardening on Matilda and now have our vegies, herbs and flowers ready for the season.

We struck a problem earlier,  we had run out of the paint we used on Matilda. We are very impressed with the brand but can’t find it in France. We had bought it in Belgium while in dry dock. So, we decided to go to Belgium to buy some more!

That was our excuse. We had been to Belgium on two previous occasions but had seen little of Brussels.

We started out, leaving Matilda about 0730, catching a train to Luxembourg, changed for Brussels, changed for Antwerp, taxi to the paint supplier we knew, train back to Brussels and we booked into our hotel about 1600 hrs the same day, after a hot dog for lunch at Antwerp. As you all know, Peter has always been fascinated by trains and has always been intrigued by Antwerp station. It was originally built as a six track terminus. But in 1998, an eight year reconstruction programme added another eight tracks. As space was at a premium this was done by excavating and adding the new tracks on two levels below the first. The station now handles high speed trains on their way north to the Netherlands.

The original booking hall is considered the finest railway architecture in Belgium.


We returned to Brussels and the next day, wandered around the historic areas.

Belgium has had a very chequered history which is clear in the variety of architecture around the older areas of the city.

The building above is the Royal Palace. The family currently use it as their City Pad. While we were there they entertained Barack Obama for lunch and we suffered the consequences. All roads and public transport around the city were interrupted.

The police cleared the public away from the palace. It made a bit of a mess of our touristing but we had a good look around any way.  A part of the Palace is a museum that gives a good history of the Royal Family and the building itself.

We were surprised to find ourselves in the cellars that actually cross under the road outside and exit behind a building on the opposite side. These passageways, cellars and in some areas whole streets were part of the Coudenburg Palace. Commenced in the 11th century, it was demolished and the site levelled comparatively recently. It was filled with rubble to build the current Palace. Archaeological teams are continually working to excavate the remains of the site – difficult because of the buildings standing above.   

We returned to Nancy next morning, happy that our trip was successful. We had our paint.

Nancy declared it to be Spring on April 1. We wandered into Stanislas Square and found this:

We still don’t get it and even “local” contacts couldn’t help. But it all seemed like fun.

We start our cruising next Sunday, 13th April and will meet Jane and John in Chalons en Champagne. There will be more stories to tell so we will keep in touch.