Fall Cruising in France. Coming to the end of the Season.

Enjoying a meal out with my honey.

No dishes tonight.

It's the end of our 6th season on Rabelo.  We had an amazing time and loved everything we did, saw, ate and explored.  Because of where we cruised this year there was less getting off the boat, getting into the car, lets go exploring types of experiences.  Instead we relished the beauty of the canals and rivers we cruised.  It was quiet.  It was peaceful.  The birds were happily singing.  These areas are less traveled by other bargees possibly because getting supplies is much more difficult without a car.  The areas we cruised were also unaccustomed to seeing boats our size which resulted in Rabelo getting stuck in 6 locks along the Canal du Vosges.  But it's all part of the fun and gives us more to talk about.

I was able to buy some sparkling wine from a lock keeper.

La Saone, Rupt-sur-Saone

Cruising along La Saone River

Fall in France can be dramatic with magnificent colors as well as the starkness once the leaves are gone.

Seveux, Franche-Comte

Cleaning up the cut trees in Savoyeux

Savoyeux, Franche-Comte

Rabelo tied up at Savoyeux, Franche-Comte

No moving Rabelo on the river with visibility like this.

The best French Toast ever!

This is it.  The season has ended.  Thank you for joining us on our adventures.  Next year we return to France in early spring.  We have an exciting travel itinerary planned.  I hope you'll come back and join us.

Au Revoir.

Enjoy your winter and have a happy, healthy, well travelled and delicious food filled year.

Fort de Villey-le-Sec, Savoyeux and Seveux, Lorraine, Franche-Comte

Picturesque window in Villey-le-Sec

Quaint town Villey-le-Sec along side of the Fort

Fort de Villey-le-Sec is a fortification of the 19th century and is one of the defenses of Toul.  Much of the fort has remained intact.  The day we visited there was a car show outside the Fort and a Craft show inside.

The Craft show was well attended.

Part of the fort built in 1890.

Some of the fort was in ruins.

The car show had some cute old cars on display.

Not all of our cruising is beautiful pastures, happy cows, overgrown rivers and quaint villages.  Industry and commerce is also along the rivers and canals.  The waterways provide transportation of goods throughout Europe.

An old factory

The industrial views of cruising.

The canals continue to play an important roll in the moving of materials around the countryside.

These locks are extremely tight for Rabelo and have extensive vegetation growing on the walls on one side.

Cruising along the river

It's always amazes me when we are on a canal crossing over a river. 

Our favorite meal "grazing."

A beautiful wine to accompany our meal.

Reflections

Paris: Jacquemart-Andre Museum, L'Arome restaurant and Port-sur-Saone, France

Enjoying my Sancerre wine with Tom 

Dinner at Seb'on

Don’t you just love it when chance becomes something wonderful?!?  After my girlfriends left for home Tom joined me in Paris for one night.  We wanted to see something new and decided on the private museum of Jacquemart-Andre.  By the time we walked there it was lunch time and we were hungry.  Wandering the streets around the museum we chanced on a restaurant that had excellent reviews.  L’Aroma.  Little did we know it was a Michelin starred restaurant filled with men in business suits.  The staff was gracious and never blinked an eye over our attire which was American Tourist sweatpants and athletic shoes.  Our meal was incredible and we intend to return for a dinner.

Fish Carpaccio

Poultry stuffed with foie gras.

Tiramisu with dry ice foaming out of the bottom.

 The Jacquemart-Andre Museum was owned by banking heir Edouard Andre, 19^th century collector and his artist wife Nelie Jacquemart.  The collections have remarkable works from Flemish and German schools, detached frescoes, refined furniture and tapestries. The building has maintained its mansion atmosphere with  ceremonial rooms, monumental stairways, winter garden, private apartments, etc.  The elegant ballroom was equipped with collapsible walls operated by then state-of-the-art hydraulics, that could hold 1,000 guests. The first floor is devoted to Italian art of the Renaissance period in Florence and Venice.  Some of the artists represented in this museum are Fragonard, Botticelli, Van Dyck, Vigee-Lebrun, David and Uccello.  We admired the paintings by Sisley, Corot, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, and Gauguin.

Magnificent decor

Imposing exterior.

Elegant staircases

I loved this statue.  The boys face is precious.

Le Garage des Bataux-mouche by Alfred Sisley

After our quick visit to Paris it was back to Rabelo and we were on the move again.

At Port-sur-Saone someone left furniture out by the lock for people to enjoy.  The weather was spectacular and it looked like the whole village was enjoying the last of the good weather.

Furniture by a lock

Rabelo at Port-sur-Saone

Warm weather for early fall as we walked along the canal.

It is fall and the foliage is changing colors.

It is peaceful cruising.

Ville-sur-Illon, Fontenoy-il-Chateau, and Besançon, France

We've been framed.

Our friends Jon and Cherolyn arrived for a visit.

We made them suffer through champagne and appetizers.

The next day a very jet-lagged Rocky showed up.  We picked her up at the train station.

An abandoned building Tom and I found on a walk.

Rabelo is just cruising along.

The nice thing about barging are the beautiful walks we get to take.  Jon with the ladies.

 The area we were cruising in Lorraine had beautiful scenery but not much in the way of other sights to see.  We read that there was a war memorial worth visiting in Ville-sur-Illon.  We found it.

War memorial in Ville-sur-Illon

Like kids, we had to climb up on the tank to pose for a picture.

 After looking at the tank, we wandered around the little town but there wasn't much else to see.  We walked up a country road to get some exercise.

We found friendly cows.

Nice scenery on our walk 

We had nice meals in various towns.

Enjoying a night out with our friends.

We also did some cooking while on board Rabelo.

Rocky got her turn at the helm of Rabelo.  Do we now call her Captain Rocky?

 Fontenoy-il-Chateau had some ruins for us to explore and then remains of an old fort.

This artillery tower is the last remaining edifice of the military defenses that were built during the 14th century to protect the town.

 I had been waiting for the opportunity to revisit Besançon, the capital of Franche-Comte.   There was so much I had missed the first time and I wanted Tom to see the Citadel.  Taking Rocky, Jon and Cherolyn provided the perfect excuse. It has a graceful 18th century old town and France's first public museum.  The Citadel de Besançon is a UNESCO World Heritage site and offers sweeping views of the River Doubs and the city's rooftops.  The Citadel has three museums, an insectarium, an aquarium, noctarium and zoo.  It is a remarkable example of the military architecture of the 17th century.

 The citadel is large and we climbed all the stairs up to all the viewing stations.

One of the views of the River Doubs from on top of the Citadel.

Showing one part of the fort of the Citadel.

 There are various museums and exhibits inside the citadel.

There was a building filled with bugs.  Some were creepy and others were colorful and beautiful.

Giant tarantula

Colorful bugs.  They would make beautiful pins, yes?

It's the season for cabbage.  I've never seen them this large!