Lyon

Nancy again is settling down to Winter. We have things we want to do but it is not long before we are organised and into our winter way. Being fascinated by the architectureal flamboyance of the Art Nouveau period we do like to keep an eye open for anything we might see.

We love the surprise when we take visitors into this quite ordinary looking building.

 

It is a bank and in the main banking hall, the ceiling is a skylight of the most beautiful work. The LCL or Credit Lyonase is a French bank founded in 1863 and this building was built for them as their regional headquarters late in the 19^th century This skylight, typical of the Nouveau style is one that visitors must see.

Having little to do we thought that it would be nice to visit Lyon to have a look at the city. Our plans for next year mean that we may not get down this way.

Mid November we caught a train to the city and stayed in a hotel in the older part of town. Lyon is at the confluence of the Saone and the Rhone rivers. Because of these rivers it has always been a big inland commercial centre. Towards the end of the 18^th century it developed a big silk industry and quickly became the centre of the production of silk in Europe. During this time it became the second biggest city in France.

 

 

 

The silk industry has all but gone, but the city is full of the signs of its affluence during this period.

 

 

 

The Romans had a big influence here and these ruins of an amphitheatre and other buildings are high on a hill overlooking the city.

 

 

We found these wonderful examples of  trompe-l’oeil on a building's blank walls.

Unfortunately for us while we were on an open topped tour bus, the heavens opened up and we were caught in heavy winds and a massive downpour. A miserable end to our visit.

We have more travel in store because soon we start another holiday and our return to Australia for Christmas. There will be more to tell, so we will keep in touch.

Back to Nancy

Peter M was leaving us to visit friends in Denmark. We were on our own again and continued from Strasbourg, slowly up the Canal de la Marne au Rhin towards Nancy. (Consider this, “up” used here may not be considered correct. We were actually travelling in a westerly direction. We were going upstream along the canal, gaining height in each lock we passed. In a few days we would start to travel “down” after we crested the top of the hill. Is it correct when we say we have travelled down the Rhine, when we have been travelling up in a northerly direction? All too confusing!)

We would slowly make our way to Saverne where Peter M would join us again.

At Souffelweyersheim we cycled through the countryside and came across this fortification. It is called Fort Rapp and was built between 1872 and 1874 by the Prussian general Von Moltke. It was one of 14 fortifications built around Strasbourg after the Franco Prussian war. The very different names of the towns and villages indicated the changes in the history of this part of France. The fort is now a museum but unfortunately was closed when we were there.

We passed through some very productive farm country and were intrigued by these mounds of what looked like large roundish lumps of dirty woody roots. Potato-like but they were 20 to 30 cm long. It was sugar beet, ready to be trucked to the local mill and processed to sugar. More than 80% of Europe’s sugar comes from beet.

We moored in a small village Waltenheim-sur-Zorn which had some lovely old houses. The photo does not show it but none of the walls of this cottage were either straight or vertical. Probably been like it for years.

The corn harvest in the area was in full swing and bin loads of the grain were arriving continuously at the silos near our mooring.

Saverne was our next major stop and we found a very well run port in the harbour in the middle of town. The other side of the port was dominated by this palace, Le Chateau des Rohan. It was built in the 18^th century as a residence for the Archbishops of Strasbourg. The 140 metre wide building of red Vosges sandstone replaces the smaller Chateau Vieux on the left that was built in 1417. It is now a community building housing a school, a library and many other facilities.

Peter M arrived back on board and we departed Saverne on the 19^th October. The canal actually crosses the main street in the old town and this deep ecluse at the crossing always has a crowd of on-lookers.

We stopped at Lutzelbourg and found this shop absolutely full of magnificent cut crystal. Peter and Marg had been here before but they were still impressed with the volume of beautiful works on display. Serge Wurm, the artisan, was working at the time. It goes without saying that a few purchases were made.

The Arzviller Inclined Plane lift was built in the late 1960’s to lift barges up the eastern face of the Vosges Mountains.

It replaced 17 locks over 4 kilometres of canal which gave a gain in height of 44.5 metres. This had been a massive bottleneck and barges could take 2 days to clear them.

The lift has been out of continuous use for almost two years following two mishaps. We have been anxious for it to re-open so we could make this trip.

Compare the support structure with this photo taken in May 2012 and see the extent of the repairs and strengthening that has been carried out.

We were soon on the top of the Vosges range where the canal runs through a large series of lakes. These etangs du Gondrexange were developed in the middle ages by monks as fish farms. They cover over 700 hectares and are a haven for fish, birds and other wildlife. Some of these etangs were almost drained to replenish the canal after the failure of the Arzviller inclined plane in 2013 and the area beyond Matilda was still over 2 metres below its normal level.

As we travelled down the canal, we realised that we were passing lots of spiky bushes on the side of the canal. They were covered with little dark blue fruit. We realised they were sloes so we had to stop Matilda and bring her bow amongst them. Peter M and Margaret harvested about 2 kilos of these bitter fruit which are now mulling away in jars to become Sloe Gin!

Foraging this season has given us cherries, walnuts, figs, apples and now sloes.

We were now back in Nancy and took a quick tour through the city. We bought Peter M’s train ticket to Paris and wandered back through Place Stanislas .

There was a crafts display in the old Hotel de Ville and quirky gardens in the Square. The Town always seems to have displays like this around this time of year.

Peter M took his train to Paris next day and was on his way home to Oz.

We were alone again. Winter is settling quickly in France and we were getting prepared. Two cubic metres of firewood and a thousand litres of heating oil should see us through.

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

More of the same.

Again Marg visited the Belford – Montbeliard TGV rail station, this time to meet Ali and John who were visiting us for a week or so on their way to Galmi in Niger where they will be spending some 9 months working with their voluntary group.

Wednesday 16^th September we departed our mooring outside the VNF office and travelled approximately 70 metres before stopping again. Nothing serious, we needed to visit the supermarket before we left and as it was conveniently located on the opposite side of the canal we decided not to walk. By ten o’clock we were off again, headed to Mulhouse (pronounced Mu-looze in French). A friend of Ali and John was meeting us there and we would all spend a few days together before they departed.

There are a couple of very good attractions in Mulhouse – especially for men. The first we had to visit is the National Automobile Museum. This museum is a must for everyone even if you are not a petrolhead. It has an amazing collection of cars and John and Peter just had to go.

The entrance to the museum is imposing with these full sized cars suspended outside the foyer.

The collection was started by Fritz Schlumpf who, together with his brother Hans owned many woollen mills and controlled the whole woollen industry of Alsace.

Fritz loved cars and before the war, he bought a Bugatti and fell in love with them. He started collecting them and emptied an old mill they owned in Mulhouse to house them. He collected old cars and even wrecks that were bought back to the mill and fully restored by a complete team of mechanics and body workers. The Schlumpf companies collapsed around 1972 and the collection was taken over as a government sponsored museum. The museum houses more than Bugattis and historic  names like Isotta-Frashini, Hispano-Suiza, Maybach, Viosin, Delahaye and many more are looking absolutely majestic and elegant in the setting.

This Aston Martin was the most expensive car in the world in its day.

This gull wing Mercedes would have been every man’s dream car in the 60’s.

Pride of place was this Bugatti Veyron.

Ali and John met up with their friend from Galmi, Anne Sophie. She joined us and we took her out on the canal for a few days.

Ali, John and Ann Sophie left us on Friday 25^th September with Ali and John heading to Paris, then Galmi. Ann Sophie was spending a few days in Paris before going to the United States.

We were alone one night, then Peter M. joined us on Saturday.

As we had to spend a few days in Mulhouse, what better thing to do but the three of us visit the Auto museum again. 

The plan was now to pick up a pilot who would guide us down the Rhine river from Niffer to Rhinau. The  Rhine is a very busy river and the authorities require that vessels of our size and larger be under the control of a suitably qualified captain.

We were to meet our pilot, Maurice at the Niffer ecluse at 0700 hours on the 2^nd October. We arrived on time but a fog had come down and we could not proceed on the river.

Two hours later the fog suddenly lifted and we were under way.

The run to Rhinau was 73 kilometres with five big river ecluses. It would take all of eight hours to travel and we had to be at Rhinau before 1700 hrs as that is when the exit from the river closes. Matilda was pushed and did it well, just in time.

Peter had been worrying about the Rhine leg of this trip for some time but apart from the late start on the river, the trip was very comfortable. Thanks must go to our pilot, Maurice whose knowledge of the river and the big ecluses made things much easier. He was a very affable character and enjoyed getting involved with the handling of the ship. We thank him for his assistance.

Next day we were back in “small canal” country and relaxed as we headed to Strasbourg.

We visited a supermarket to replenish supplies and Peter M. could not resist this cheese selection.

Autumn was quickly coming as the colours around Strasbourg show. We wandered through the city and the old town before visiting the Institutions Europeennes. This is an area of the city of buildings that house the European Council, the European Parliament and Council of the Rights of Man.

On a lighter note, there was suddenly a Zoo in a park close to our mooring.

We did not find the reason but the display was fun.

Peter M. left us in Strasbourg to visit friends in Denmark for a week. We will continue on by ourselves until his return. 

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