Fontenoy-Le-Chateau, Hautmougey, Lorraine, Epinal, France

Fontenoy-le Chatau

It’s always exciting when we tie up in a new location and hear there is a chateau for us to explore.  While exploring Fontenoy-le-Chateau we learned that this was the first paved town in Lorraine in the middle of the XVI century.  They are claiming that it is certainly the last paved town.  At the beginning of the XX century the sandstone paving stones in the main road were completely replaced by granite paving stones.  We’ve seen paving stones being replaced.  It’s a long tedious process as each heavy stone is placed by hand.  Once all the stones are in place the space between the stones are filled with sand.

A piece of the ruins left of the Chateau.

View from Fontenoy-le-Chateau looking down on the town.

In the town of Fontenoy-Le-Chateau 

,Anyone can have a boat with a little ingenuity, some creativity, and a few inexpensive materials.

Someone's cheerfully painted yacht.

We knew we wanted to explore Epinol but it was an extremely warm day.  Our first order of business was to find a place to eat...without having made reservations.  Fortunately TripAdvisor came to our rescue.  We had a phenomenal meal at the restaurant In Extrimis.  I must show every course we had so you can see that our feast fed all our senses.  Since lunch there we have tried repeatedly to make reservations for dinner.  It is such a tiny restaurant that it's been booked every single time we have been remotely close to the town.  Fortunately, we have succeeded in making reservations for the first week in October.  We are looking forward to sharing the experience with friends who will be joining us.

Amuse Bouche which was perfect for a hot day

Appetizer with Tomato, shrimp, basil...Beautiful and delicious!

I had the seafood plate.

Tom had the filet mignon with black bean puree.

My dessert had lemon and so much more.

Tom had the chocolate dessert.

Epinal

At the entrance to the ruins.

View from one side of the chateau looking across what was once probably a bridge.

Entering the remains.

Inside the ruins.

While we walked around the ruins of Epinol we had a view of the surrounding area.  It was interesting viewing the contrast between old construction and the new construction currently taking place.

We have no idea why these guys were dressed like animals.  Considering the heat and humidity I felt sorry for them.  Birthday party?  Or promoting a cause?

The weather was humid for a while, but it didn’t prepare me for the tropical flora and fauna we found on our walks.

Miles of these pink flowers that look like miniature orchids.  I'd love to know what these flowers actually are.

Ferns also lined the canal.

The scenery as we walked along the canal was lovely.  With the miniature orchid looking flowers, ferns and a river running along the tow path we could have been in so many different places in the world.  But here we are in France.

It's great when we find a little restaurant and I get a night off from cooking. At a curve in the road near where we were tied up we saw Auberge du Coney in Hautmougey.   The first night we wanted to eat there they were completely booked.  How is that possible when the town of Hautmougey has a population of 158 people.  They must be the only decent food for miles.  We got in the next night and had a nice dinner.

Pizza with scallops.

Pork, beef and lamb.  The pork was amazing.

Besides the beautiful scenery and quaint villages, we get to see the industrial side of France.  The canals for centuries have provided a means of transporting goods around the country.  We see factories still in operation or left to decay.

Not all our scenery is beautiful.  

Some of the buildings we see are more interesting than others.

Reflection of clouds in the water.

Barging in Franche-Comte and Lorraine, France

It's getting close to that time of year.

 We went searching for Roman Ruins that we heard were in the area.  The signs weren’t clear. We found a parking lot with some cars in it so we parked, and started walking up a muddy road.  The ruins weren’t there but the scenery along the ranch road was worth the walk.

Cows watching us watching them.

Grapevines at the end of the road.

Back in the car we started driving up and down the road searching for the ruins.  Tom figured out that a barn set off the road might hold the ruins. The excavation of the Gallo-Roman site was started in 1968.  It appears that the site was constructed at the end of the 1^st century.  Along with these Gallo-Roman baths there once existed a ceramic workshop.  One was for pottery and the other for tile.  In the museum we saw many objects that have been found on the site including utensils and tools.  We were able to get a good idea as to the daily life of these people.  We saw the museum first then explored the ruins.

Gallo-Roman coins and jewelry.

Ancient Gallo-Roman pottery

Old bones that were excavated and displayed.

We saw the boiler room, dressing room, cold room, hot room, and the prize which is a magnificent design made of tiny multicolored mosaics.  The center medallion consists of four fishes, with flowers, dolphins and more.

Gallo-Roman ruins protected from the elements.

Beautiful Mosaic

In another building is an exhibit of the tools from the last two centuries used for agriculture and handicraft, as well as a reconstructed cheese-dairy, which shows the different production stages of Emmental cheese.

Old farming equipment.

Showing how Emmental cheese was once made. 

Continuing along the Vosges Canal was challenging with its twists and turns.  Being as narrow as it was we certainly didn’t want to meet anyone coming from the other direction.  Tom was blowing our horn quite a bit to warn anyone who wasn’t within sight of us.

Garden on the lock wall.

Repairing the tow path.

We find beauty everywhere.  We even see wild flowers stubbornly clinging to a crack in the lock wall.

Cruising the Vosges canal provided us with dramatic views and a twisting, winding waterway.

The beauty of the Vosges canal.

Bridge we cruised under to enter Fontenoy-le-Chateau.

Repairs on the ancient walls to keep them from collapsing.

The vegetation along the canal is trying to grab us.  The turns were extremely tight for Rabelo.

This canal doesn't get barges our size these days, so the vegetation is overgrown.

Workers repairing the wall along the canal.

A sign warning of falling rocks.

The rocks just missed us.

Port-sur-Saone, Corre, La Rochere and Exploring France

Walking around Port-sur-Saone

When do you take time to explore new areas?  For us it happens when we travel.  One of the perks of cruising is having the opportunity to check out all the little nooks and crannies of France that most tourists never see.  We are often delighted, sometimes surprised, and always pleased with what we discover.

Friendly Llama in the park in Port-sur-Saone

Sweet deer in the park.

Part of the beautification program at Port-Sur-Saone.

Exploring beautiful Epinal with friends and buying our baguette and dessert.

Reflection

Our view while walking along the Petit Saone River.

Cruising along the Petit Saone we never tire of the scenery.

In Corre I was impressed with the vegetable garden this gentleman was growing.

I love my walks along the canal.

This lock house should get a prize for their flower garden.

Cheerful flowers by the lock house.

Sunflowers

A garden growing on the inside of the lock wall.

Wood pile

We took a drive one day in search of La Rochere, a glass blowing factory.  Our GPS (Peaches) gets confused sometimes.  In our search, at one point she put us in the parking lot of an empty building in the wrong town.  While trying to find the factory we drove through an area gaily decorated with bicycles and yellow shirts.  The Tour de France had come through.  The rider that led the pack the day before gets to wear a yellow jersey.  The Tour de France is a big deal in France.  One year we will be in the right place at the right time, and have the opportunity to cheer the riders as they speed by.  For now, all we saw were the remains of the celebrations that took place.  I had Tom stop the car numerous times so I could jump out and take pictures of the clever decorations people had.

Giant bicycle suspended

Clever decor

Interesting use of a bicycle wheel

A bicycle statue

Once we found the glass factory La Rochere we saw two people blowing glass.  The factory is the largest active Art Glassworks in France.  Founded in 1475 it is situated in the Haute Saone, on the borders of Lorraine, Franche-Comte and Champagne.  We saw the glassmakers’ gather, shape with a shaping block, blow, and form the glass.

Forming the heated glass on a block

It can take two to blow and form the glass.

The glass factory 

This season I've been constantly trying out new recipes.  The Goat Cheese Tart was a success.