Barging is Always a Challenge

Rabelo tied up for the night

After Louhans it was time to move on.  Barging is always a challenge.  Sometimes it is more challenging than others.  Canal du Centre was enough to keep Tom and Kevin on their toes. Originally designed for 30 meter boats, the locks on this particular canal were rebuilt to handle 38.5 meter boats.  That’s good except the canal itself wasn’t altered. This meant the lovely gently winding canal had curves that were too tight for us.  There simply wasn’t enough room for us to maneuver around the turns we were facing.  Moving very slowly we occasionally wound up with our nose against the side of the canal, or we would move forward and then backwards as we put our big baby through her paces to get thru this charming picturesque valley.  More than once I heard grinding that told me we were aground and pushing our way hopefully through mud and not taking too much off the bottom of our hull.

Entrance to Chateau de Santenay

The night we arrived in the village of Santenay we all went for a walk.  We didn’t pay enough attention to the weather and got caught in the rain before we were able to return to Rabelo.  I always find it amusing when that happens.  The next day we went with Jerry and Arlene to the Chateau de Santenay.  There we were given a tour and did a wine tasting.  We were fortunate in the timing of our tour.  Apparently wine evaporates through the wooden barrels where they are aged.  Too much air in the barrel would result in vinegar instead of the beautiful wines that are produced.  In order to keep the barrels full the bung (the cork or stopper on top of each barrel) is removed, more wine is put in to top off the barrel and then the bung is reinserted.  We were able to witness this being done.  Just so you know a bung is inserted into a bunghole.

Talking a walk in Santenay with Jerry and Arlene

Topping off the wine barrels

Original manner of filtering wine after the press

Chateau de Santenay

Three star Michelin restaurant Lameloise 

Tom and I decided to have dinner at Lameloise, a 3 star Michelin rated restaurant.  We’ve eaten at one and two star restaurants but this is our first 3 star restaurant.  It would be a huge splurge!  Was the food good?  Absolutely.  Creative, innovative and different for sure.  Beautiful presentation.  The service was impeccable!  We did the price fix meal.  Normally portions for a price fix meal are just the right size so you aren’t stuffed when you leave.  In this case even Tom was too full at the end of the meal.  Not that it’s their entire fault.  The bread was delicious.  Especially with their freshly churned salted butter.  That was hard to resist.  Surprisingly there were many Amuse Bouche courses between the main courses.  We had to eat everything!  The restaurant was full and enjoying its elite status.  Reservations are required in advance.  Would I eat there again?  Maybe not.  If I were to return I would order off the a la carte menu. But that’s just my opinion. My all time favorite Michelin restaurant (2 stars) is still Chapeau Rouge in Dijon.  And it is much more affordable as well.

L'amuse bouche

 

Fish course

Lovely wine from a winery we were introduced to and given a tasting last year.

No explanation needed

The food kept coming...

Dessert L'Amuse Bouche

The grand finale: Crepe Suzettes for dessert.  And then another few bites of sweets.

What a sight we saw the other day.  First we heard a dog barking for our attention.  The owner of the dog felt that wasn’t enough so he started ringing his bell.  That got our attention!  He was almost stark naked!  I say almost because he had a little “leaf” held on by some string to cover his little French flag.  Ok, he was also wearing dark socks and shoes.  He kept ringing his bell and waving as we cruised by.  In case you were wondering, he was not young or fit and I’ll bet he had a major sunburn that night.

We went for some lovely walks

Another walk

We love our country walks

We saw these guys

We found fields of poppies

We bought from this vender at an open market

Then we bought cheese from these guys.

 With 3 sets of guests coming in a row we thought we had to be out of Paris by the time our third group arrived.  After putting in 10-12 hour days and not having any fun we decided to rethink what we were doing to ourselves.  We put on the brakes!  We aren’t moving every day.  The days we do move are shorter.  We’re back to having fun, exploring, taking walks and finding some time hopefully to relax.

The Louhans Monday Market

Anyone for olives, garlic, sundried tomatoes...

I love the local open markets.  Some of the villages have their streets filled with goodies for everyone.  Some towns have smaller markets, and others go crazy with what they sell.  The venders have a circuit.  After a while we recognize the venders in the different towns.

You can find anything and everything at some of the open markets we visit.  Plants, herbs, flowers...

Maybe you need a new mattress?

Or some new shoes?

There are venders selling a variety of cheeses.  Look for the longest lines to find the best products.

I've never seen such huge loaves of bread

The asparagus is beautiful.  We had to buy some.

Mondays are a special day in Louhans.  We’ve seen many outdoor markets, but this one was exceptional!  Not only were there the normal fruits, vegetables, clothing, and household items, but then came the special treat.  LIVE animals!  Chicken doesn’t get any fresher than this!  You can buy chickens, ducks, pigs, rabbits and all sorts of animals for eating, breeding,  producing fresh eggs, milk or cheese.  Then there were horses, goats, sheep and even puppies if you are looking for a new pet.  Besides the food which was growing, live, fresh picked, cooked, or ready to eat, furniture and the rest of the miscellaneous items that are too numerous to mention…there was a carnival!  It was a holiday that Monday so there was a huge carnival for the children to enjoy.  Louhans was crowded and the traffic so heavy that we decided to park about a mile from the center of town and walk. It was a wise choice as there was no parking near the market. 

Delicious looking prepared foods.

Chickens for sale

Really?  Not even in a box?

What a beauty

If you don't want to kill it, pluck it and cook it yourself, you can get it already prepared.  But not as tasty as Costco.

Handsome guy

 You would think they’ve had enough of barging on Rabelo but here they are back for their 5^th visit in 4 years.  My brother and sister-in-law Jerry and Arlene are excellent guests!  They help with cooking, do dishes, and make themselves as useful as possible.  No wonder they keep getting invited back.  We had hoped to be in a new area of France when they arrived, but barging is so unpredictable.  Even though they recognized the area we were cruising through, we were able to show them some new sights and give them new experiences.

Jerry and Arlene are enjoying their champagne welcome.

The carnival came to town.