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

We had lunch (with wine) at La Nation in Cluny. After all, this is france.

We are fortunate to live six months a year in France. This allows us to explore new areas as well as revisit favorite sites from previous years. We decided to see Cluny for the first time. I recommend visiting the Cluny Abbey and town. You should allow plenty of time because there is so much to see and explore. If you get a chance check out the National Stud Farm where 50 thoroughbred stallions reside.

We found this cat watching us from his rooftop in Cluny.

Window shopping we saw beautiful and tempting window displays. Here are bouchon - chocolate corks.

It was hard not biting into one of the cute faces. Wouldn't these be wonderful for Halloween?

Now for a brief history lesson about Cluny, which William the Pious founded in 910. The abbey grew considerably until the 12^th century, was the mother house for around 1000 monasteries and priories across Europe and became the headquarters of the largest monastic order in the west: the Cluniac order. By 1100 it was the headquarters for 10,000 monks. This abbey once vied with the Vatican as the most important power center in the Christian world. In the XII century the mother house of the Order had seven towers, two transepts, five naves and was the biggest in all Christendom, second only, by a little to Bramante and Michelangelo’s church of Saint Peter. The site was almost two football fields long (555 feet) and covered 25 acres. The monks lived to fight against the Devil. When people were convinced that the devil did not exist, Cluny lost all of its significance. At that point the abbey was pulled down. The Wars of Religion in the 16^th century hastened the abbey’s decline. It was not until the 18^th century that a reconstruction program began restoring the abbey to something of its former glory. In 1862 it was listed as a historic monument. The Cluny Abbey was the largest Christian building in the world until St. Peter's Basilica was rebuilt in Rome in the 16th century.

We climbed up the tower to admire the views.

The climb is worth the effort.

There are many photo ops.

The museum has wonderful original carvings.

Another relic that was dug up.

Photographs can't do justice to the original size and glory of Cluny at its zenith.

Remaining tower.

Looking up at the ceiling.

18th century monastery buildings form a U shape around the gardens.

Graceful hallway.

Magnificent stairway with intricate wrought iron and gold leaf.

Detail of one of the corbels which originally made up the base of a statue.

Corbels ringed the whole room. You can see where the status originally resided.

Example of remaining windows.

Excavation continues

There is an engineering school on the premises of the abbey with a museum. The engineering students all wear grey robes, which are unadorned the first year, after which they each personalize their robes, which seems to express their personality (and possibly their particular engineering interest).

- Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Cluny is an engineering school that has been installed in the famous Abbey of Cluny, Burgundy since 1901. The Arts et Métiers Cluny Campus has a tradition of teaching and research. Today the Cluny Campus promotes innovation in several different engineering domains of mechanical and production engineering but specialises in high speed milling, wood engineering and 3D virtual reality, linking undergraduate, postgraduate, life long learning, research and economic development.

Engineering students.

Example of an engineering student's jacket.

Carved wooden keys in the engineering school's museum.

Electrostatic machine in the museum

In the museum is an example of an engineering student's robe.

I can't publish a blog without mentioning food. We decided a dinner out was in order one night. We drove a long way on pitch black curvy roads to find this restaurant.

The french love their dogs and frequently bring them into the restaurant while dining.

Dinner was delicious. My first course was escargot on puff pastry with a cheese sauce.

I had frogs legs for the first time. They were a wonderful excuse for eating garlic and butter.

Dessert wasn't bad either!

Enjoying lunch on deck with Edy and Sal

We schedule our Rabelo guests normally two years in advance. Unfortunately we all know about the best laid plans. Our dear friends Fran and Ed had to cancel the night before flying to Europe. We were still fortunate enough to have Sal and Edy join us. Our goal was to introduce them to a part of France beyond Paris and the big museums everyone visits. Barging is about peaceful canals and quaint little towns and villages. It is also about drinking wonderful wines, feasting on the many cheeses and overdoing the breads and pastries.

Someone got creative and used a Scania truck cab as a pilot house for a barge.

When Edy and Sal arrived we started with a proper french Miller reception along with a bottle of champagne. It's what we call grazing...cheeses, pate's vegetables, salads, and more.

Sunday morning it was time to go sightseeing. Having gotten off to a slow start, when we arrived in Le Creusot we wanted lunch. The problem is that in France very little is open on Sunday. This town was no exception. We found a couple of places that were open but either full, or about to close. The only place we could go that was open was a Chinese buffet. Honestly, how could we take our friends out for Chinese food their first day in France?!? We don't even eat Chinese food at home. It was embarrassing. But we were hungry and decided to make the best of the situation. The food wound up being good, plentiful, and fresh.

Edy showing off her first course at the Chinese restaurant we went to for Sunday lunch.

Sal looks like he is trying to decide where to begin his meal

An option was stir fry. Pick your vegetables, fish, meats and have it cooked to order.

A small sample of the Chinese buffet

In Montceau Les Mines is a church which had a beautiful display of priests robes, an Ostensorium plus various other religious objects.

Montceau-les-Mines church displayed a Ostensorium (also known as a monstrance) is the vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and Angelican churches for the more convenient exhibition of some object of piety

One of the beautiful robes on display

The stained glass windows were modern. This one looked to me like a patchwork quilt.

Another lovely stained glass window

While walking around the town we found a Russian shop with this in the window. How about a shot of vodka?

Chateau de la Verrerie

Always searching for new things to see we took Sal and Edy to The Chateau de la Verrerie in Le Creusot. It was originally a crystal factory in Sevres, which was transferred to Le Creusot in 1784 because it was closer to where they could obtain coal. In 1833 Baccarat bought the factory but never operated it. Eventually it was sold to the Schneider family who made it into their home. Various foreign heads of state visited the chateau while it was the Schneider home. Unfortunately during the Second World War it suffered significant damage during the German occupation and the Allied bombing. In 1969 the city of Le Creusot bought the chateau and its park and turned it into a museum.

At Chateau de la Verrerie in Montcenis the old furnaces for making glass were left standing.

Chateau de la Verrerie

The chateau which was originally a glass factory but is now a museum had a beautiful display of the crystal they once made.

Another example of what was once made here.

A drawing of the factory in its day.

One of the rooms showing the furniture of when the Schneider family lived there.

We wanted to give Edy and Sal the complete barging experience which includes a walk in the country.

We took Edy and Sal for a walk and introduced them to the beautiful Charolais cows of France.

Fishing is a popular pastime in France.

Chateau de Germolles

In 1380 Phillip the Bold gave to his wife, Margaret of Flanders the stronghold of Germolles. She transformed it into a luxurious and rustic home. It is the only palatial and princely residence of that time in France but also the only country estate of the Dukes of Burgundy that has been preserved so extensively. We were fortunate enough to be given a tour by one of the owners. We viewed the entrance towers, the chapel, the XIII Century storeroom, the ducal family's living environment in the cloakroom of Marguerite de Baviere with XIV Century mural paintings. It isn’t far from Beaune and Chalon-sur-Saone.

Chateau de Germolles two entrance towers

The owner of Chateau de Germolles showing us the storeroom. When his family purchased the chateau this storeroom was filled with rubbel. He gave us a wonderful tour of his family home.