French Connections Again

                                     
Alarms and wake up calls all worked, and I’d converted the excess sterling into Euros (you always wonder whether you are getting a reasonable rate in these transactions), so we walked over the road to Eurostar with ample time for breakfast and boarding formalities.

As we stood in the check-in line, I had this foreboding thought, along the lines “This is different to air travel, all your bags travel with you!” There’s good reason for the thought as we travel with some picnic/camping artillery in our check-in bags. This deals with the fruit, salami, and bread for when we have a picnic, rather than a ready-made or sit down lunch. However, we’re in the queue to go through check-in and we're committed.

Ann’s gear went through the X-ray fine, my back pack got hauled off and placed in the centre of the official’s area. “Is this your bag?” Yes.“ "Just wait over there please.” So we stood waiting for 10 minutes or so, while they dealt to other miscreants, then we got called over. “Is this your bag, did you pack it yourself, are you carrying anything for anyone, there’s a knife in there.” So I answered all politely and correctly as you do. “Please open the bag and step back from the counter, don’t touch the bag unless I ask you.”

Time was ticking away, Ann was mildly agitated, and the official lady then proceeded to systematically unpack and check every item in the bag. I did say “I’ll get the knife out for you” but she was on a roll. So out of the first bag comes the offending knife and my Leatherman multi-tool, into a plastic bin in the out of bounds area. Each of the three compartments in the bag got similar treatment, and all the gear went back through the X-ray. Time marches on, and you probably get the picture. So after some incompetent advice from one officious “Go to the front of the queue” only to be returned to the end of the queue by another officious, who then 30 nanoseconds later came and got us, this time holding an A4 laminated sign with our train number on it, waving it around to the crowd. We did get the train by the skin of our teeth. (No photos of this experience... we might still be in the UK had we put a finger wrong. VERY STERN TREATMENT)

The outcome? One cheap pocket knife despatched to oblivion, but thankfully the higher decision-making official looked at the Leatherman and said “This is ok” which I was grateful for….they aren’t cheap. So not a great start to the day or the 65^th birthday, I’m supposed to get stuff, not lose it! And the ridiculous thing was they did not pick up the razor sharp paring knife packed in Ann’s bag! So grateful for small mercies and secure still in our ability to hold future picnic events we were off to Paris. With our current travelling format Eurostar is unlikely to feature in the future, or, now forewarned we could use the unpublicised, $36 check-in service and send the sharps as unaccompanied baggage.

Arrived in Paris on time at Le Gard Nord, walked the 400m to Le Gare d’Est and spotted Wayne and Vikki at the appointed meeting place out in front. So mutual “Happy birthday” greetings exchanged, we chatted half an hour over coffee and hopped onto our train to Epernay. Security at Le Gare was impressive. First we saw three patrolling, very serious, highly alert and menacing looking army types with arms full of automatic weapons. In addition a group of SNCF security types, nine in one group all happily chatting to each other, and not really looking at anyone else outside their little team, then there were the Gendarmes, just a small group of three, looking alert but not as menacing as the Army types. It’s a shame that this is the way travelling is nowadays. (No photos of any of them either sorry, we didn’t want camera to go the same way as the knife.)

The Epernay trip was just an hour and a half, so that went pretty quickly. Hotel les Berceaux wasn’t hard to find but the weather was warmer than you’d order for a walk carrying bags. HLB was the chosen venue for the celebratory dinner, and after checking out the menu we headed off for a reconnoitre of the town.

Avenue de Champagne was the recommended walking route.  We passed Moet and Chandon’s grand maisons, closed for refurbishment and did our first sampling at Maison a Bergere.

 

 

Sampling was 5 Euro pp, no free wine tasting here. We walked as far as Maison Mercier, and decided not to do the tour of the underground cellars, but returned back down the Avenue to another small maison (Paul Etienne St Germain), and another sampling with the winemaker providing commentary, always the preferred experience. This time we paid the two glass (12 Euro) price and tasted at the expensive end not the base case end. And yes our relatively inexperienced palates found more is better. The Avenue de Champagne is full of beautiful mansions, there's obviously money in the stuff!

 

Le diner was booked for 7.30 pm. This was a Michelin star degustation, with a four course 85 Euro pp option and a 72 Euro, three course option. The birthday boys took the full Monty and the ladies were more restrained. Should we start with another glass of champagne? Why not? And the glass was poured from a Magnum. The courses were interspersed by little tasty offerings from the chef “for you”. Parmesan pastries, a chilli prawn on a skewer, plus much more. The food was stunning, squid and langoustines was my highlight, it was the tenderest squid I’ve ever had. The wines were superb as well. The bill at the end of the night was 700 Euros for the four of us.  That’s my first month’s pension all gone in one night - how will I manage?

 

 

Our train to Sarrebourg wasn’t departing till late afternoon so we had another day taking in the sights of Epernay, including the Mercier’s cellar tour and tasting. The tour was OK, a train ride and recorded commentary while sitting on the little train travelling through some of the 18 km of tunnels 30m underground where their product is stored.

 

There were some quite slick bits, reflecting the marketing flair brought to selling champagne by the founder Eugene Mercier who established this house in 1858. The tasting was good once the rude, loud-speaking, European neighbours had all left. We were then able to get some better understanding of the wines and the process from the serving staff. 

Our train whisked us through to Metz and then a change to take us to our overnight at Sarrebourg before our canal boating started. Saturday morning we did the usual stock up at the Supermarche for a week’s cruising. This is always a bit of an adventure, and in the past we have been successful at stopping the whole supermarket by doing something wrong, but all went ok this time. We definitely complied with Choco’s rule No 1, “if you spend more on food than grog you’ve got it wrong”. Ordering a taxi proved a challenge after a “Non” from one call and an “It is not possible” from another. So the girls retreated to the supermarket to seek assistance and we walked back to the hotel to check out and get our bags. It all worked a treat, the supermarket ladies organised a cab, and we had just got the bags into the foyer when the cab, the girls and the groceries turned up. But we had to depart maintenant as the cabbie was about to knock off. They take lunchtime seriously these Frenchmen. So no pic of the taxi, but visualise 4 big bags, 4 back packs and two trolley loads of shopping and of course 4 people and the driver in one car.....  . Hesse was just 5 km away so we arrived before the cleaners left for lunch and so were able to access the boat. We loaded up our Pennichette Etang Du Stock and waited for the Locaboat people to turn up with our contract and a briefing. The lift on the Arzviller incline is out of service so we could not leave from the Locaboat base at Lutzelbourg. Etangs by the way are ponds, generally man-made, many hand-dug by monks as long ago as the 12 century to provide breeding areas for fish. In later years they have also become important storages for recharging the canals. Our cruise this time is on La Canal de la Marne au Rhin.

 

We were cruising westwards by about 2.30 pm, happy to be the first boat checked out. Our first lock was France’s highest, L’Ecluse de Rechicourt, dropping us some 16m in one hit and taking 3.6 million litres of water to achieve this. The locking up on the way home was even more impressive as you sit dwarfed in this giant chamber as the water takes about 30 minutes to fill. Signage includes German as this past of Lorraine was once a part of Germany

 

 

We found a nice spot just downstream from Rechicourt and tied up for the night. Sunday morning we moved a short distance downstream, tied up again, and unloaded the bikes. Village 1 was Bataville, a place that looked like someone had at some stage tried to set up an industrial estate which failed. It did have a store but we thought we could do better so cycled on to Rechicourt Le Chateau, about 5 km away. We passed lots of fat cattle, harvested crops and winter crops planted, but the village was closed and had no patisserie or boulangerie or coffee place. So on to Moussey, another 5 km, which looked promising. On the trip we foraged walnuts, apples, tried some purple berries and released some sheep with their heads trapped in the fence netting.

The village couldn’t provide bread or a coffee, so back across the canal to Bataville again and we picked up our pain and topped up on the misses from our grocery shop yesterday. Added chestnuts and blackberries to the foraged list and back to the boat. Ride was about 15 km, so at least we were well-exercised but not caffeinated.

We cruised along at 8 knots past interesting villages, rural views, gradually improving locking and driving skills.

Finally found a coffee at Lagarde, a little harbour with lots of boats parked up  for the winter and then headed to find a nice view to tie up for the night after a spot more foraging, from the boat this time! 

The on-board food and wines were exceptional for this trip. We enjoyed a roasted lamb saddle, a roast poulet, a saucisson de pays, roast boeuf, a roast pork stuffed loin and a final night tidy up frittata. Desserts tended to be influenced by the couple of bushels of apples we gathered (three different sorts), plus the raspberries.

 

We also had mint (for mint sauce as well as G&Ts), grapes, walnuts and other local provender that all added to the boating lifestyle. Choco even made raspberry jam which enhanced our breakfast options, and I delivered plenty of French toast whenever required, French bread is fantastic for day 1, very ordinary for day 2 and inedible for day 3, so daily shopping for le pain is essential. There are tricky bits, France is closed for Monday and on the other days everyone closes for lunch. Some of those are significant closures (noon to 2.30 pm and often longer). So when travelling at 8 km/hr and with places to get to, timing of shopping is an art. Frequently villages have no commercial activity.

Our wines were generally all local, sometimes from other French regions, except for a couple of bottles bought on our last night, which claimed only to be product of the EC. One was drinkable.   

On with the journey. Day three we stopped for another cycle at Parroy, a lovely little village with very pretty houses, but no shop, no coffee. An interesting memorial, with interpretive signage celebrating the liberation of the village by the American 79^th Infantry division in Oct 1944. Our knowledge was improved but little else. The raspberries were the find of the day, and so on to Einville au Jard, for le pain and a meal for tonight. This is another little port but we arrived in the lunch hours so left empty handed, rather than waste a couple of 2-3 hours cruising time.

 

 

We decided to do the trip through to Nancy, through some industrial countryside and more rural Lorraine. We went past a couple of places, saving the visits for the voyage back.

 

Nancy has some superb buildings, lots of squares, and Art Nouveau buildings. It occupied us with sightseeing for the next day and a half.

Place Stanislas is the most ornate, a large square surrounded by beautiful stone buildings, lots of gilt gates, and currently  a large war commemoration constructed in the middle of it.

We did our food shopping in the market, our purchase of the lamb saddle caused a bit of hilarity when they realised we were from New Zealand. Kiwis buying French lamb! Again there was surprise when we bought the whole saddle. John Dory (40 Euro for 2 kg) gave us our fish and chip night. Smelly cheese and smelly meats made up the rest of the purchasing.

There was also a commemoration of the Liberation of Nancy by the American 3^rd Army on Sept 15 1944, in some very good interpretive signage.

Time to head back east and we departed in cloudy weather, the team had to settle in to “locking up” as we go back upstream. We made our first stop at St Nicholas au Port, where the church with two towering spires had attracted our attention on the way down. Onto the bikes and into the ville. The church is huge, but has narrow streets and houses each side of it. So it looks quite bizarre. Joan of Arc visited here and is commemorated in the church, St Nicholas is the patron saint of the bargemen who used these canals for hundreds of years.

Then down the road to the museum of brewing, in the factory closed down in the 90’s. The plant is largely intact and the audio guide on the process was well done. Price of entry included a post tour beverage. Beer is still made regularly for the friends of the brewery, in a small scale plant making about 35L.

We stayed that night near the forest of Crevic, and headed on next day with the cloudy skies now turned to drizzly rain. Not good for the frequent locking, however the very effective heaters were turned on that night to dry out the boat and the wet weather gear.

We decided to travel east past the base at Hesse to look at the out-of -ervice boat lift on the Arzviller incline. Had this been operational we would have started our trip in Lutzlebourg. Our last lock for the trip was the aforementioned Rechicourt. Going upstream this is was an eerie experience, buried deep in the empty chamber prior to the large guillotine gate grinding and groaning its way closed and our ride up the 16 m column of water. Our stop to buy dinner and le pain in Niderviller, generated another blank even though we were there outside the official lunchtime slot. We spied a small shop open and slipped in, and were able to buy beer, the wine made in the EC and some eggs, as our final night’s dinner became a frittata.

 

The lift at Arzviller is a very impressive piece of construction, a giant tub that will take three boats of our size (11.2 m) and rails to run it up and down the slope. It must have cost millions to build, and a fellow traveller told us it’s looking like costing millions to fix. The trip up there took us through two tunnels one 650 m and the other an impressive 2300 m, so all added a little to the canal boating experiences.

 

In the morning it was just a 30 minute cruise back to Hesse, our taxi turned up and we were off to the Gare in Sarrebourg. So endth the third canal boating. Probably the best yet. The foraging was very successful, and we extracted some very good meals out of a very basic boat kitchen. We farewelled Wayne at Vikki in Strasbourg and travelled on by train to Colmar.