French Canals and Food

Rabelo and Apres Tout met on the Burgundy Canal.  It was only a gentle kiss.

The canals in France are narrow!  Very narrow!  After all, they were dug by hand starting back in the 1600's.  Why make them any wider than absolutely necessary!  Some were made originally to develop the grain trade and reduce food shortages.  Now they are still used for the transportation of goods and people.  The Canal de Briare is one of the oldest canals in France.  They used between 6,000 and 12,000 workers to construct this canal in order to connect the River Loire and the River Seine.  By the mid 18th century wine barges were being used to transport wine from the various wine regions around France.   We enjoy cruising the Burgundy Canal with its verdant hills, contentedly grazing charolais cows, great restaurants, amazing wineries, chateaux and more.  Of course, so do many others which makes it popular with the hotel barges.  Rory and Caroline own and operate the beautiful Apres Tout, a high end hotel barge.  We knew our paths were going to cross.

Alban was holding a bumper between the two boats to avoid any damage as our paths crossed.  We were aground and couldn't get any closer to shore.  Apres Tout draws more than we do so they had to be in the middle of the canal.

This was how barges  originally travelled along the canals.  Sometimes women and children pulled the barge.

River cruising offers different scenery from the canals.  

Here we see contented charolais cows and happy birds along the river.

We also see beautiful homes as we cruise along.

To get from the Saone River onto the Canal du Centre we had to use this huge lock which took us up 35 feet!

Getting together with our chief friend Alex Miles and his wife Elizabeth is always fun.  This time Alex drove us to Nesle-et-Massoult to see the artist Karin Neumann at her Atelier.  We found her work interesting.  The one painting we were contemplating purchasing had already been sold.

Tom, Elizabeth, Karin and Alex in front of her Atelier

 After the long drive to see Karin's art it was time for a snack. We stopped for coffee/tea and a small bite to eat at an interesting curio shop.  The owner has been collecting dead things since he was a small child running around his parents farm finding curious objects, many left over from WWII

View from the patio of the curio shop.

A small part of the collection.

The collection has been expanding.

More found objects.

Food seems to be a recurring theme in my writings.  Perhaps because so much time is spent searching for food, purchasing food, preparing food, eating food, as well as going out to eat.  Most of the time we eat on board Rabelo.  That means I'm preparing 2-3 meals a day.  For some reason I can't keep things simple, quick and easy.  

In Dijon we tried a new restaurant which was in a crypt.  Great atmosphere.

The wine was decanted into this giant wine glass.

 There are certain restaurants that we keep going back to.  In Burgundy we return year after year to Au Clos Napoleon.  It has a traditional Burgundy menu with some changes to go with the season.  One thing that doesn't change are their escargots which I always order.

Escargots

While I love their oeuf en meurette (eggs in red wine), having that is a meal for me.  But Tom enjoyed it as his first course.  He didn't even save me a taste.

I'm trying to be "good" so I had their fish with a delicious sauce and vegetables.

Tom decided to try their goose.

My dessert was heavenly.  I'm in France...I can't skip dessert.

This was my neighbor while I dined.

 We returned for a night to Santenay.  From where we tie up we could easily walk into town.  This year they added flowers on the bridge.  We even treated ourselves to a dinner in town.

Santenay with beautiful flowers on the bridge.

The train runs right by the town.

 I've been trying new recipes this season.

We were very pleased with this layered vegetable tort from the NY Times.