Off to Luxembourg

We arrived back on Matilda on Saturday 27^th September and Peter and Helen were to be with us for a few weeks yet, so we decided we would visit Luxemburg. This meant taking Matilda up the Marne au Rhin canal to its summit then down the Canal des Houilleres de la Sarre, This would take us on to the Sarre river and into Germany. Then we would turn left into the Moselle River and back upstream to Luxembourg.

We had a few days relaxing in Nancy before we were to leave and Peter and Helen enjoyed some of the sights of our adopted home city. These beautiful houses detailed in the Art Nouveau style are always an attraction.

Helen and Marg admired the floral arrangements on the bridge at the port which were still in excellent condition so late into the season.

We departed Nancy on Wednesday, Oct 1^st in lovely autumn weather.

Next morning we were stopped when the fog came in and we could not see more than a boat’s length in front.

This finally cleared and we continued on.    
The following day we arrived at the last lock before the summit of the canal’s route to the Rhine River. This lock, Rechicourt is the deepest on the French narrow gauge canal system and was built in the 1960’s to replace a ladder of six smaller locks. It is 15.7 metres deep and uses a huge amount of water (Peter worked out,  3,768,000 litres). Consequently when possible the lock keepers put as many boats in as they can for each operation.

We were put in behind a hire boat with a German family on board, and we just fitted.

 We were soon on the canal lateral to the Sarre (des Houilleres) and admired the open farmland that this canal goes through

 

 Fortifications like these were along the canal as it was part of the Maginot Line, defences that were built after the first world war to protect France from the possibility of another German invasion.

We have been this route before, the last time with Bill and Rhos. That time we stopped at Sarralbe too but we were pleasantly surprised this time with the new moorings that the local authorities have provided.

 

We spent a pleasant evening catching up on mail and generally just relaxing.

We were soon in Sarreguemines. Poor Helen had come down with heavy cold and we spent a few days there for her to recuperate. The weather was not the best so it was easy to do nothing. We were finally underway, on to the Sarre River and in to Germany.

 The Sarre  River (as we are now in Germany we will spell it Saare) is a working waterway and ships such as this collier of 3,000 tonnes were the norm.

 

 These vessels are around 110 metres long and we shared locks with them.

 

We are in an area of Germany that produces some exceptional white wines, both still and sparkling and all the south facing hills were covered with vines. Some of the slopes were so great that workers would have had trouble maintaining their footing. The tractor and trailer with the green buckets are on level ground.

We turned on to the Moselle and in a few days were moored at Remich, in Luxembourg. A short bus ride and we could tour the city and see its attractions.

 The ever present guard at the Royal Palace

Amongst the modern buildings on the city’s perimeter we found the remains of these fortifications, part of a system which in the 18^th century made Luxembourg the most heavily fortified city in Europe

Wherever you look there is evidence of this throughout the city. These were taken out of action in 1839 under the Treaty of London when over 90% of the fortifications were destroyed. Considering what has been left intact there must have been stone walls and cannon everywhere.

We had stayed in Remich before and enjoyed it, but this time we found the people of Luxembourg a little aloof and the quality of service wanting. We ate out twice and had bad service and food both times. Not really impressed.

What did surprise us though was what we found in Germany, on the other side of the river. We went for a stroll following signs that implied there were roman ruins in Nennig and were very surprised with what we found.

 

It had been known for some time that these old walls were part of a very old construction. While working his land around these ruins in 1852, a farmer  uncovered part of a mosaic depicting  a lion. Subsequent archaeological work has established that this amazing floor was in the entrance hall of a palatial building that would have had a frontage of almost 140 metres. The complex included bath houses and a 250 metre colonnade and gardens. The mosaic has been dated to the beginning of the third century AD and was fully restored in 1960.  

It was time for Helen and Peter to head back to Australia and on the 20^th  October we put them on a train in Luxembourg, to Paris to begin their trip home. We have seen a great variety of France and Europe and will have good memories of it all.

We were off now, back to Nancy to settle down for winter.

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