Hunters or Gatherers?

We are continually amazed at the differences between the U.S. and France.  The River Seine is an extremely important thoroughfare!  Not only is it used for pleasure craft (such as ourselves), but it plays an important role in commerce.  The river is filled with commercial barges transporting goods all thru Europe, bringing supplies (grain, sand and gravel, scrap steel, etc) to and from as well as thru Paris.  Then there are the hotel barges also going into Paris.  The only way these large vessels can move thru Paris is on the River Seine.  Consider it the 101 and 405 freeways of France!  Yes, you can avoid Paris, but only by adding 6 weeks of travel to your schedule.  When we heard that the Canal du Loing and Seine (to get in and out of the southern end of Paris) were to be closed for the month of September, we weren't pleased but decided we could deal with it. We only had to slightly modify our schedule.  When we arrived in Montargis, we thought we would only have to wait a few days and then head for Paris.  We soon found out there were many more boats here with the same idea.  Unfortunately, this being France and the VNF, the organization that controls the waterways, decided to keep the Seine closed thru the end of October (or possibly even longer)!  Why the work couldn't have been done off season is beyond me.  Worse, the canal we are sitting in closes mid November.  We do not want to winter in Montargis!  We have been chatting with the various hotel barge owners.  They are all scrambling to change their schedules, keep guests happy, and figure out where to put their boats for the winter.  As we tell our friends who join us on Rabelo, you must be flexible.  That goes for us as well.  My dream of spending 2-3 days in Paris sank.  The good news is we still have plenty of wine to drink and cheese and baguettes to munch on.  It's a tough life but that's what suffering on Rabelo is all about.

Marketing in a foreign country can be challenging, and not speaking the language makes it that much harder.  I needed butter for my apple crisp.  I spent at least 10 minutes trying to figure out what butter was right for baking.  I have never seen such a large selection of butter to choose from.  They have butter made from pasteurized creme fraiche, spreadable butter, with no salt, a little salt and more salt.  Butter for baking and butter for eating.  Needless to say I was very confused and unable to ask for advice.  Where was Tom during this?  He went on a wild goose chase trying to track down wax paper for me.  In the end, I was successful, he wasn't and friends will bring me the was paper I need.

I think some of us are programmed to be hunters and others gatherers.  Tom and I are both.  We love hunting for fruit that we can gather.

After docking the boat we took a bag and a long stick back to where we had seen apple trees along the canal.  So far I've baked apples and made apple crisp.  It's almost time to try my hand at tart tatin.

It's fall and I need to share some of the views we see during our walks.  We wonder sometimes how some buildings remain standing.

Canal de Briare

We wandered thru the town of Rogny.  Tom wondered at the disrepair of the town.  Looking closely at the dates above some of the front doors we could understand thee buildings looking a little tired.

Yes the sign 1585 is the year one of the buildings was constructed!

Another building was 1781

I wanted to see what was behind the old church.  The Leaning Tower of Pisa has nothing on this guy.

People were a little shorter back in the old days.  But 5 foot doorways?  Check out the carvings on this building.

Some people go to great effort to make their recluse (lock) look nice.

The main attraction in Rogny is the 7 ecluses which have been shut down and replaced with 6 new ones.  Here they are from the bottom looking up.  Construction started on these in 1605.

Here we are looking down towards the Canal de Briare.  Rather than turn these into swimming pools they are a tourist attraction.

The view from Rabelo when we were tied up in Rogny.

With fall upon us the trees are starting to gently drop their leaves leaving a blanket over the canal.