Frogs Legs

Having left Reims we are now pushing hard to get to Chaumount where we meet our next group of friends.  I need to spend more time on deck, or at least looking out the windows.  The scenery changes continually and we find interesting sights along the way. 

It is a good thing that we have an automatic ice maker on board.  The temperature is now 95 degrees with terrible humidity.  The pilot house with 4 walls of glass (that don't open) doesn't have air conditioning yet.  I'll bet Wilco gets the air installed once we reach Chaumount!  Meanwhile, we are going thru a lot of ice and drinking gallons of water.  

We spent a night tied up along the canal with nothing around.  I watched the iridescent dragon flies hovering just above the water along the canal's edge.  Frogs were climbing up the slender reeds coming out of the water.  Let me tell you about those little frogs.  I have never heard frogs that sounded like these.  They are a cross between a cat, a bird, and maybe even a monkey.  They may be small but their voices are mighty!  The air was filled with their sounds.  Completing the chorus were the birds.  Believe me, we may not have the sounds of the city out here, but it is noisy!  Tom says French frogs sound like they do so the French won't eat them.

After a 12 hour day cruising in the intense weather, when dinner was done I persuaded Tom to take a walk with me.  It was beautiful.  The light was magical.  When we came around a bend we saw mist rising from a large field.

The storms here are like nothing we have in Southern California.  I sat in our pilot house admiring nature's show.  Lightning was streaking across the sky which was being lit up every second.  The air went from calm to trees being lashed by the wind.  First there were a few drops of water that sounded almost like hail, then came pounding rain that deluged everything.  The canal went from totally still to looking like we were in a storm.  Oh yes, we were in the eye of a storm.  This show went from in front of Rabelo, to directly overhead, and then drifted off taking its thunder and lightning along to soak another town.

We spent a long weekend in Saint Dizier while Wilco had some days off.  We went on a very long walk (in the heat and humidity) to a supermarket and restaurant in search of wifi.  We passed a cemetery dating to the 10th and 11th century that was being dug up.  It is amazing how well the bodies are preserved (the bones) with no caskets.

We see little bits of color lining the canals, contrasting with the brown, blue, green water and greenery on shore.

I rushed up on deck with camera in hand when I heard the roar of jet engines.  We sailed by a French air force base where the fighters were practicing touch and goes.  That means they would take off, circle around, come in for a landing and immediately take off again.

We have passed by many lifting bridges and came very close to some of them.

Dig:  10th and 11th Century

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there.  I hope you are enjoying yourselves!

We are still moving along in the direction of Burgundy.  We stopped in Reims, the Champagne capital of France where we met our friends Sandy and Alain.  Since we've been here twice before and visited many champagne houses, this trip we focused on the local sights and history.

There are always such happy faces when our friends see us at the train station

Alain showed us both his culinary talent as well as doing a wonderful job of helping with the dishes.  

The Cathedral of Notre Dame has an absolutely magical light show three nights a week giving us a visual history of the Cathedral.  26 French kings were crowned there.  With magnificent rose windows and windows by Chagall as well as flying buttresses, it is worth admiring both inside and out.

Tom chose sausages from an outdoor market.

We went to see the Museum of Surrender.   World War II buffs can see where the Germans signed the documents ending the war.

Gates of Mars shows the last vestige of Reims' ancient Roman heritage built in 200 CE

This sweet mommy duck kept her babies under her wings thru rain, heat, and tourists with cameras.  Hence the expression...in case you ever wondered where" keeping one under ones wing" came from.

Chasing Dandelions

     What a beautiful day!  We tied up the other night by a pond filled with happily croaking frogs.  We woke up to birds singing, blue skies and white cows lazily grazing in bright green pastures.  I painted and cooked all day.  Finally when all my work was done, I got off the boat for a gorgeous walk along the Canal des Ardennes.  We did 27 locks and travelled only 32 kilometers.  The locks were so close together that we literally did one after another after another.  For the person steering it takes tremendous concentration.  For the person up front handling the lines it is physically exhausting work.  It was a long, hard, hot day for Tom and Wilco. 

     It is definitely Spring here in France.  The wildflowers carpet the fields and line the canals. There are baby ducks, geese and swans everywhere.  Young animals are following their mommies.  We hear the sounds of waves gently lapping against the sides of the canals, while watching gnatcatchers gracefully diving back and forth across the water chasing their next meal.  A soft breeze caresses Rabelo helping to keep us comfortable.  Dandelions are floating everywhere, rising and falling thru the air, swirling their way down into Rabelo to drift across our floors.

     I saw a bright light coming thru our hatch and thought a light had been left on outside.  I got out of bed to investigate.  The moon was brilliant and the sky looked like someone had thrown huge fists full of stars up into the air to wink at us.  No light pollution here in the countryside of France.

      It turns out that our 2 ½ week late start in leaving Holland was ok.  Because of the flooding we would have faced delays along the way because the locks were closed.  One cruiser said they had been waiting 8 days for that particular lock to reopen.  The water was flowing OVER locks instead of through them.  We saw evidence of how high the river and canals had been just before our arrival.  Many summer boaters turned around.  This may make it easier for us to find places to tie up along the way.

Mommy and her goslings

Tom found a friend

White cows enjoying a mid day break

It's a tight squeeze for Rabelo coming out of a lock, but we do create a show for the locals 

A typical tow path with a lock coming into view

Mustard Fields

Wilco has discovered he can steer seated on top of the pilot house and enjoy the sunshine.

Tom and I went for a nice walk.

There are White Caps and Waves on the River Meuse!

 After spending a long weekend in Namur it was time for our friends Fran and Ed to join us.  In 6 nights we started in Namur, Belgium and visited Dave, Dinant, Givet, Fumay, Montherme and ended in Charleville Mezieres where we took them (sadly for us) to the train station and bid them a fond farewell.  We had all our meals on board except a 50th anniversary lunch in Charleville Mezieres which was amazing.  Fran and I were cooking fools.  It was great fun having her helping me in the galley.

In case you were wondering, the engine works, we have running water, the new pilot house goes up and down beautifully, and the biggest challenge was the river running at 5 kilometers per hour.  I'm not kidding when I say this morning there were waves and white caps on the river.  Because of all the rain the canals and rivers are overflowing.  There has been flooding in parts of France.

Once the weather cleared up, this is a sample of what our views are like.

Fran and Ed were all smiles upon arriving at the Namur train station and we were there to greet them.

The town of Dinant honors Mr Sax who invented the saxophone.  The bridge has saxophones painted by artists from countries around the world.  Mr Sax came from the town of Dinant.

Dinant has a beautiful chateau and fort which provides a dramatic background to the town.

Sailing thru tunnels is always a challenge.

We tied up one night across from our favorite chateau owned by Queen Fabiola in the town of Dave.

It is always interesting what we come across on our walks.

Everyone was very excited when we finally arrived in France.

The currents were so strong that this little baby hitched a ride on Mommy's back.

Tom's favorite lunch.  What could be better than a freshly baked baguette, pate, a selection of cheeses, salad, fruit and more!  Delicious.

Charville Mezieres has one of the most beautiful squares in France 

Montherme in the background.

Ok Fran, you will be invited back!  Mopping floors on your 50th anniversary?!?  You definitely get the Excellent Guest Award!