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!