Saint Nicolas comes to Nancy

The seasons are changing and winter is now with us. Matilda is ready for the cold weather with full tanks of oil for the central heating and a good supply of firewood for the fire. We will be leaving soon to travel back to Australia to spend Christmas and celebrate the new year with family and friends. This year we will first visit Sydney to stay with Peter’s sister Pamela for a few days. Then on to Melbourne to visit friends and family before a Miller family Christmas. This year it is on Elizabeth and Paul’s farm near Horsham in western Victoria. From there, back to Melbourne and plane to Perth for a week or so with more family and friends before returning to France.

For those who think three hours travelling in a plane is a long time we will be in and around airports and planes for about 65 hours - 44 hours of which, will be flying. And that doesn’t count trains, cars and buses.

Nancy is getting ready for the festive season too. As the second weekend in December is traditionally the time when St Nicholas is welcomed, we followed the celebrations in town.

In the Town Square a Brocante (flea market) was set up together with amusements for children. Parts of the exhibition were these remarkable carousels. Made from found items, mainly wood and old mechanical bits by very talented artists, they gave much enjoyment to the children of all ages.

There are many legends and folklore stories surrounding St Nicolas, none of which I will go into here except to say that he assisted a poor man with a dowry for his three virgin daughters (before they had to turn to prostitution). These girls turned up in Stan Square late in the afternoon to welcome the grand man.

The excitement was all too much and we retired to a local café for some hot wine and other refreshments.

In the meantime dusk became night and the parade of St Nicolas and his helpers entered town and made their way to the square.

The virgins in the square became exited and welcomed Saint Nick.

The crowd was overwhelming and we beat a retreat back to Matilda. After a light dinner we watched TV and saw Neil Robertson, a young aussie, consolidate his position as No. 1 in the Snooker world. He is a credit to his sport.

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We leave France on Wednesday for the Antipodes and warm weather – we hope. We believe it has recently snowed heavily in the southern alps, but then we are never too sure of the weather in the mountains.

There will be more stories to come so, we’ll keep in touch.  

  

Early start to Winter

We are settling into our life in Nancy. There always seems to be something to do or see. For retired old folk we always seem to be busy. We walked through Place Stanislas en route to somewhere recently and there was an amazing display of gardens and vegetables. Set up with an autumn festival mood, the theme was produce from vegetable gardens surrounding the stories of the fabled giant Gargantua of 16^th century stories.

The Square had been transformed into large gardens, a number of vegetable patches and some amazing produce.

And with a little freelance sculpture.

A little history: After the war of the Polish Succession in 1737, the deposed King, Stanislaw Leszcznski was given the Duchy of Upper Lorraine. Nancy was the capital of the Duchy and he made it his home. He designed an extension to the old town that included palaces and official buildings that all exist today. The Place Stanislas, lined with these beautiful buildings, fountains and wonderful wrought iron gates has been placed on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites.

The square is locally known as Place Stan - Stan Square.

The town was the centre of the Art Nouveau movement in Europe at the start of the 20^th century and we still delight in coming across buildings in this style.

We found this lovely little one in a back street.

A beautiful example of the wrought iron and glass of the time.

Nancy has its fair share of modern buildings too. This example of France’s modern architecture is taking shape close to us on the port.

The weather is getting colder and we had two steres of firewood delivered to Matilda. Unfortunately, this year we moored outboard of another barge which meant that about a ton and a half of timber had to be manhandled into its storage space on board.

We also fitted our new coach house covers giving it a loose equivalent of double glazing and protection for the varnish..

Winter is coming and we woke up to a covering of snow on Thursday morning. The double coach house covers are most effective.

It will get colder so the fire will be working hard now. We are traveling back to Australia for Christmas and it should be much warmer there.

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

Back to Nancy

We left Epernay on Tuesday October 1st. Peter M was with us still, we were headed towards Nancy on the Canal Lateral a la Marne. Our intention was to go as far as we could and drop him off somewhere to catch a train back to Paris when the time was right. We had wanted to go north on the canal de l'Aisne a la Marne and visit Reims but we realised that this would add at least four extra days to our trip. We were concerned that we might not get back before the planned closure of the canal through Nancy. As a compromise, we stopped a day in Chalons en Champagne and  took the train to Reims. We had our bikes and saw enough of the town and its champagne connections for the time being.

This dramatic tapestry is in the foyer of the Mumm Champagne house.

This Roman gate to the east of Reims is over two thousand years old.

The Reims Cathedral. One of the most famous cathedrals in France.

We continued on towards Nancy passing some delightful villages. These houses and their gardens caught our eye.

These petunias were almost black

Even vegetables are striking.

Again, the terracotta detail intrigued us.

The wild flower plantings in open space added to the profusion of colours.  

Also, true to form this year, it rained.

Through the Mauvages tunnel again and we were headed down to Toul and  the Moselle River.

We pass our old friend Kiev again. This barge is based in Nancy and is one of a number that we have seen all over the system. Obviously trading well.

Autumn is definitely in the air but this year there does not seem to be the rich colours in the hills we have seen in the past.

We moored in Toul for lunch and Peter M and Marg wandered the town and took in some sights. Peter O stayed on Matilda for a rest.

The art and skill of the stone masons and craftsmen of old, showing in the fretwork around the cloisters of this church.

And the beautiful organ inside.

We leave Toul and on to the Moselle River. We are in big ship company again and these remind us of the importance of these rivers in the European transport system.

We arrived in Nancy on Monday 14^th October, and next day on schedule, Peter M was on a train to Paris. He was on the Eurostar that afternoon for London and his subsequent return to Australia.

After visiting Frank at the Capitainerie, we moored Matilda outside another barge a little down the harbour. Not as good a spot as in the past but quite secure.

On Wednesday night Peter O found he could not sleep, he had trouble breathing. Thinking it was a bout of his old ailment asthma, he was at a doctor by 10 am next morning. The doctor had a listen to his chest and in no time Peter was admitted to a medical clinic. After many tests, the diagnosis was cardiomyopathy - with no known cause. We are fortunate that we are in the French medical system which is very efficient and treatment is excellent.

With the appropriate medication Peter now feels better than he has for some time.   

Obviously, there will be more to tell.

So we will keep in touch.