Low Bridge, Everybody Down: Barging in Europe: February 2016

Auxerre which has received the classification of a protected Historic Town in France is beautiful. The skyline of Auxerre is punctuated by the Cathedral St Etienne of gothic style as well as three churches.

Auxerre

I love visiting old cemeteries and crypts whenever the opportunity arises. In Auxerre we visited the Abbey of St Germaine which is known for its frescoes found in the crypt dating from the 9th century. These 1000 year old fresco's are the oldest known church frescoes in France.

Fresco found in the crypt

Part of the crypt of Abbey of St Germain

More of the ceiling

The architecture of the crypt is beautiful.

Another treat for us is being able to attend concerts held in churches. The acoustics are always fantastic. In Auxerre we attended an organ concert.

These organ pipes are a modern addition

Auxerre is much more than churches and it's crypt. Walking around the town we found delightful sculptures.

Auxerre has well preserved timbered buildings.

There were amazing bakeries

View of the cathedral from across the Yonne River

Night view from Rabelo

The town is beautifully lit up at night. View from the bridge.

From a cruising point of view we were concerned that we had reached the end of the Yonne River because of our size. According to the charts we wouldn't be able to fit under the Pont Paul Bert. We measured, remeasured, and checked it even again. Kevin was positive we could fit under the bridge and continue along the Yonne River. We made it!

Going under the Pont Paul Bert

Captain Kevin had us tie up in Bailly. There wasn't much there except Bailly Lapierre Winery which we walked to from the canal! It was an amazing treat! The winery is completely underground. Even the parking is underground. It started as a quarry in 1186 when the stone was used for building the Pantheon, Notre Dame Cathedral and much more. From 1927 to 1970 the caverns were used to grow mushrooms. In 1972 it was turned into a winery. This place is so large it can hold up to 9 million bottles. We bought a case of their cremant which is a lovely sparkling wine.

Underground entrance to Bailly Lapierre Winery

Aging bottles

We were told to stand back from the giant stacks of bottles. Occasionally a bottle will explode pushing other bottles out of place.

There were statues throughout the winery

We are enjoying meeting fellow cruisers.

These new friends rowed over from their boat to have dinner on board Rabelo

Not all wineries are fancy. Some are small businesses where they sell right in the middle of their working area. This winery in Irancy grows a grape called Cesar as in Julius Cesar which we had never heard of before. Up to 10% of the Cesar grape can be added to the other grapes. There was a long line of people waiting to sample and purchase this wine.

Irancy winery Domaine Colinot

We never tire of this beautiful scenery

Lovely sunset from the deck of Rabelo

Wine tasting whenever the opportunity arises.

Lady bugs outside of the winery.

After a brief but pleasant stay in Paris we were off again. We arrived in Samois sur Seine where we bumped into someone we had met 12 years ago when we had our previous barge. It's always fun catching up. Steve is an amazing cook and invited us aboard his beautiful barge for appetizers which turned into dinner. It was a real treat.

A short walk from where we tied up in Samois sur Seine was a lovely restaurant. It was warm so what better way to beat the heat than with a lovely Rose.

My first course of smoked salmon was delicious.

Tom showing off his new watch. This is unusual in that he never buys himself things like this.

We tied up next to an Italian restaurant. I could go up to the bow of Rabelo and check on the meals being served.

I'm still doing a lot of cooking on Rabelo. This is my Langres Tart just out of the oven.

When we arrived in Muret sur Loing we bumped into our new friends Pete and Amanda on their boat Piglet. The interesting thing about meeting and making new friends when cruising is that you develop a closeness much more quickly than when home. They invited us to come over for dinner and we had a great evening with them, another cruising couple and our captain Kevin. Good food, good friends and a great time was had by all.

Muret sur Loing is a charming town with water flowing everywhere.

It was dark when we left our friends on Piglet. The Mayflies were out and they were everywhere! They only live one day so the next morning there was a huge mess to clean up. Dead bugs everywhere there had been light.

There are various ways to travel the canals of France

This was a new style of fishing for us. We are accustomed to seeing the fishermen of France sitting along the sides of the canals.

We cruised on to the town of Sens. There we attended a violin concert in a church. The violinists were great but they had to compete with a rock concert a few blocks away. Unfortunately the rock concert won.

We discovered a new kind of lock while on the Yonne River. The locks had sloping sides which made it difficult to stay in the center. We can't understand why they didn't do straight sides like everywhere else we've been.

A new kind of lock with sloping sides.

There was no way to stay centered in these locks.

The charming town of Pont sur Yonne

In the town of Pont sur Yonne we tied to a Dig Dab. Tying up was free. Getting off the boat was challenging.

Meeting local people always makes the visit more memorable. While in Pont sur Yonne we saw a community garden with a gentleman working on his plot. When we admired the vegetables he gifted us with two beautiful zucchini.

Sailing into the town of Joigny

It was warm enough that we went swimming in the river.

Narrow street!

Beautiful old timbered building with amazing wood carvings on the front.

Tom decided to surprise me with a special treat. We moved our boat across the river and tied up in front of the restaurant/hotel a la cote St Jacques. After swimming in the river, we cleaned up and headed ashore for a two star michelin rated dinner.