Hurry Up and Wait

Well, we thought we were going to cruise to Toul on Thursday, June 26, but the weather had other ideas. We had quite a thunderstorm overnight after the intense heat of the 25th--amazingly strong winds as the storm approached made us glad we had 4 lines attaching us to the quay. The aftermath on June 26 was a much cooler day, but also a very breezy one. Knowing that the final stretch to Toul would involve entering small locks in the final stretch, going through narrow bridges, and maneuvering in possibly tight quarters in a port--not that easy with a barge and no bow thruster, even in light wind conditions--made us reconsider the wisdom of leaving a perfectly good quay. We OK'd our stay with the vnf lock keepers and rescheduled our arrival with Port de France in Toul.

We took advantage of the "off" day to do some advance scouting in Toul. It was only 10 kilometers or so by bike, about a 30-minute ride. It was really helpful to get an early look at the junction where we would leave the Moselle River and enter into the lock taking us onto the Marne au Rhin Ouest (West) Canal, as well as the mooring situation in the port. We saved all other sightseeing for when we were resident in the port.

The photo is a distorted, but that's what happens when trying to photograph a 110-meter barge
that was staring us down on the quay upstream of the Villey-sur-Sec lock. 

The winds were much more reasonable on the 27th, and as we were advised by the port captain at Port de France to arrive by late morning, we got a fairly early start at 8 a.m. The river cruising was easy. The canal cruising--not so much. The initial lock was fine, but the next lock was out-of-order, and we had to call for assistance. The canal has a lot of weed, which made it necessary for Lon to apply a lot of power to move us out of that second lock. We then had to wait some minutes for a lift bridge to be opened. What was interesting is that, during the final stretch, we cruised under the shadow of the old city ramparts in what used to be the city moat. The final lock was apparently acting up, so an eclusier was already there to assist us, and after a slightly tricky entry into the lock following a twisty-turny approach, we finally made it to the port. It took "only" (sarcasm intended) an hour-and-a-half to cover about 3 kilometers of canal.

By this time, we had already decided that the weather forecast was showing way too many hot days in the near future, and that a longer stay in Toul would be prudent. CARIB has RV-type air conditioning units, and they can work from our solar power during the day. In order to have AC at night, however, we would need to be plugged into shore power, hence the advisability of staying in port during the heat wave. We knew we could fit in our sightseeing during the cooler morning hours, and "hunker down" on the boat in the AC during the intense heat of the latter part of the day. That first afternoon in Toul was used for taking care of business--some long-delayed grocery shopping for me, and a visit by Lon to TSNI Marine, a boat repair business not far back down the canal, to discuss possible bow thruster repairs. Sunday through Wednesday mornings saw us completing short sightseeing expeditions.

Present-day Toul is not a large town, with a population of about 17 thousand, but it has a very important past. It has been a fortified city for 15 centuries, the first ramparts being installed at the end of the 4th century as part of the "castrum" of a settlement in Roman Gaul.

All that remains of the 4th century castrum is this section of rock behind some apartment buildings.
It's a rather sad, neglected site, one the city doesn't see fit to include on their walking tour.

Walking through Toul leaves an impression that most buildings are of fairly new construction, that is, going back decades rather than centuries. Much of this is probably due to the fact that, due to its strategic location, Toul has been subject to numerous military operations over the years. Most recently, it was heavily damaged in WWII bombings. Despite this, some vestiges of the past have managed to survive, and we paid due attention to them on our city walking tour.

One aspect of the historical city layout that is very obvious is the city wall. Throughout its history, military architecture has made its mark on Toul: the Roman castrum noted above was followed by 12th century walls, which were then followed by bastioned fortifications built by Louis XIV's military engineer Vauban in the early 1700's, which were followed by further fortifications after Toul became a French border town when Alsace was lost to Germany in 1870. Toul is the only city in the former administrative region of Lorraine to retain a city wall.

The ramparts of Toul.

The Metz Gate, the only original gate in the enclosure created by Vauban. It was
closed due to ongoing restoration.

Will work for grass--the city maintains a flock of sheep as an
"environmentally friendly" landscaping team for portions
 of the ramparts.

Also in the 4th century, Toul was evangelized, and became the episcopal seat of a huge diocese. The bishops of Toul held supreme ecclesiastical and political power as counts in the 10th century, and the town ultimately became linked with the dioceses of Verdun and Metz. Toul went under French protection in the mid-16th century and later became part of the kingdom of France. It lost its standing as a bishopric to the city of Nancy in the late 18th century, when Nancy became part of France. Saint Stephen's Cathedral, under construction from 1221 to 1496, is a continuing testament to the power formerly wielded by the bishops of Toul. 

The cathedral is currently owned by the city of Toul. Its roof,
a large rose window, and the organ were destroyed during 
WWII bombings in June 1940. Most of the exterior statuary
 of saints was removed during the French Revolution.

The relics of the Cathedral in a Renaissance-era 
chapel: Saint Gerard, Saint Aprones, and a companion
of Saint Ursula. 

Restoration work is still ongoing, but the Cathedral in general
seems to be in decent shape. The restored vault in the
nave was given its original colors.

The cloister, built in the 13th and 14th centuries, is
one of the largest Gothic cloisters in France. 

The stuff of (my) nightmares: not all is peaceful and contemplative
when exploring cathedrals. This bad boy was huge.

Adjacent to the cathedral was the former bishop's palace. The
original building was commissioned in 1739. After the French 
Revolution and the abolition of the bishopric of Toul, the building
was confiscated and sold to the city of Toul to become the city
hall. The current building is a restoration following a 1939 fire.

Saint-Gengoult's Collegiate Church was a second very
large catholic church in town. Construction started in 1240 and
ended in 1510, leaving the facade unfinished. Its construction
was financed by the wealthy citizens of the town who wished
to distance themselves from the power of the bishops.

Saint-Gengoult's was badly in need of restoration, but it
still maintained some 12th-century stained glass.

One of the old survivors was this former apothecary's house.
The carving above the large window contains a mortar and pestle,
the instruments used for the preparation of medicines. 

Morning coffee and conversation is a favorite French pastime,
especially on a Saturday morning.

The former Cafe de la Comedie (1903) and the city theater (1892).
The buildings were preserved, but not their original function.

The Place des Trois-Eveches (a reference to Toul's religious past), which feels like
 the city center--four streets run from it to the four gates of the city's fortifications. The
fountain was constructed post-WWII on the site of a district destroyed by the 
bombings in June 1940. The desk lamps are temporary installations that are part of a
summer light show at several spots in Toul. 

The aforementioned light show, Rayonances, consists of illuminations and music at several sites throughout Toul. It started on June 28 and continues to the end of August. It is free to the public, and was an interesting way to get a different perspective on a few places we'd seen during our daytime walking tour. Twilight comes very late to France this time of year, so we couldn't start our wandering on June 30 until after 9:30 p.m., but at least the air temperature had dropped by then.

Left: a view of the cathedral cloister's garden in the day.
Right: a view of the cloister garden with its illuminations.

Another perspective on the cathedral cloister. The colors of
the lights kept changing.

Give him credit for trying, but Lon still wasn't
as scary as the spider.

The front of the cathedral and the artistic butterfly motif. 

The lights in the garden behind the Hotel de Ville (city hall).

Our "we were here" moment.

Saint-Gengoult's Collegiate Church had a lovely, albeit smaller, cloister than the
 cathedral. At left, the stork certainly seemed to enjoy the view.

The music playing at the Saint-Gengoult's Church was
very New Age, very melodic. It was definitely good for
promoting a contemplative spirit.

On the morning of July 1 we were as early as we could be to get another perspective on Toul--from the top of the south tower of the cathedral. Every year, our knees complain a little bit more about being forced to climb stairs, but the views are usually worth it. At 10 a.m. the air temperatures were already oppressive, but the thick stone of the building kept things relatively cool on the climb.

Was this really graffiti from 1734, or a modern-day prank?

Left: some very interesting creatures populate the upper regions of the cathedral.
Upper right: a bird's eye view of the cathedral cloister.
Lower right: looking over the fortifications toward the Moselle.

I was happy to see that the circular stairs weren't
claustrophobia inducing.

Our final "tourist moment" came on the morning of July 2, when we went to the Toul Museum of Art and History in the former Maison-Dieu, a historic monument with elements from the 12th and 17th centuries. Unfortunately, most of the collection was not available for viewing because of restoration work being undertaken in the building. Only the Lapidary Room was open, with an eclectic combination of exhibits.

Lon looking at exhibits.

The Maison-Dieu.

A 15th C stone carving, the Adoration of the Magi,
originally part of Saint-Stephen's Cathedral in Toul.

A Roman-era dugout canoe found near a village just to
the southeast of Toul. 

Wednesday, July 2, was the last really hot day of the current heat wave. The timing was good, because we had an appointment the morning of July 3 at TSNI Marine to have the front of CARIB lifted out of the water so that the bow thruster could be removed and evaluated for the parts that would be needed. We already knew by this point that the motor was likely an issue as well, as that had been delivered to Jean-Paul at TSNI earlier in the week to determine if it could be repaired or would have to be replaced.

Waiting for the trailer and its hydraulic lift to be brought
to the boat ramp.

The bad news was that our motor was "toast" and would have to be replaced. Finding a reconditioned or new one that fits could be a challenge. As for the bow thruster seal, we were told "next week" for the parts to be here, so for the time being we are moored against a large residential barge amongst the collection of boats at the facility and we will wait. The dry weather continues, and cruising conditions are deteriorating throughout the canal system in France. Several canals are now closed to through navigation, but not yet the waterways that we are intending to travel after our maintenance issue is resolved. Still, it's a bit of "deja vu" from our 2022 season. 

Timing is Everything

Call it a coincidence, call it luck, call it a Guardian Angel at work, the fact is that today, on the day we left the Canal des Vosges and entered into the Moselle River, the VNF issued the following advisory:

It states that, due to the insufficiency of water resources on the Canal des Vosges, there is a significant risk that on July 2--one week from today--the canal will be closed to navigation between Lock 24 on the part of the canal that flows toward the Saone River and Lock 14 on the portion of the canal that flows toward the Moselle River. In the blog post of June 13, I discussed our concerns about water depth and our fears about possible canal closures on the Vosges. It seems our concerns were well-founded and, to use a phrase that is probably all too American, we have "dodged a bullet." 

A week should give most boaters (and we didn't see many on the Vosges) time to get to whatever end of the canal they want to be at, but it's not a great time to have to be thinking about long cruising days and lots of locks. A significant heat wave is approaching, and temperatures are forecast to be 90-degrees F. or above from Saturday through next Wednesday. 

We left Charmes around 8 a.m. on Sunday, June 22, because the daytime high was forecast to be in the early 90's F. (low 30's C.) and we were hoping to use the cool of the day to get to our mooring before the heat really hit. As we were moving away from the quay, our bow thruster stopped working. Bow thruster issues seem to be an annual occurrence for us--we just can't seem to get through a boating season without losing the bow thruster at least once. Frustration aside, it has made Lon really accomplished when it comes to maneuvering the boat without a thruster. He didn't want to do any mechanical work at the campsite in Charmes, so we just "carried on carrying on." Thirteen kilometers and 7 locks later, we pulled into our mooring near the village of Roville-devant-Bayon.

A perfect mooring for a hot day: just upstream of
Lock 38, we were under trees and in shade for
most of the day.

Preliminary troubleshooting of the bow thruster wasn't too informative. It wasn't a repeat of an earlier problem with a loose link on the drive chain (which was easily fixed). The motor noise when engaged does not sound healthy, but whether it's a motor issue or a prop issue or something else could not be determined. Lon wanted to be able to snorkel for a quick look into the bow thruster tunnel, but the water wasn't nearly clear enough to make that an option.

We did not get off to an auspicious start on June 23. A cold front had come through overnight, which was great for the air temperature, but it was also accompanied by rather stiff winds. This made it difficult to get CARIB away from the quay. Having finally managed that, Lock 38 decided to malfunction. It filled, but the gates would not open to let us in. Back to the quay we went while I telephoned the vnf and we waited for an employee to show up for the repair. After a delay of approximately an hour, and a slightly "exciting" entry into the lock because of wind gusts, we were through Lock 38 and into a nice and shady passage to Lock 39--which also decided to malfunction. The lock filled and the gates started to open--yay!--and then one of the gates decided it didn't want to open all the way. Cue the double red lights and another call to vnf. 

The recalcitrant gate at Lock 39. It took several tries before the vnf employee could get
that left side door to open all the way.

The delay at Lock 39 was only about 15 minutes. The subsequent lock pound was lovely and green, and Lock 40 worked without any problems. By this point, however, we decided that it might be a good idea to stop for the day, earlier than intended, to regroup and not have to fight strong winds at every lock--especially given that we didn't have a working bow thruster. We gratefully pulled into a decent "middle of nowhere" mooring about a kilometer downstream of Lock 40.

There are a lot of lakes left over from old gravel pits in the area. It made
for scenic cruising.

The water at our mooring was relatively clean, and the sun was shining brightly, so Lon had hopes that if he snorkeled, he might be able to see into the bow thruster tunnel and get some insight into the problem. He encountered a lot of crustacean growth in the tube, and couldn't see much, so he spent some time scraping what growth he could from the tunnel and from the keel cooling tubes on the hull. Given our earlier run-ins with fishermen, he also spent a bit of time with the prop checking for fishing line.

Upper: Lon in the water. It was relatively clear, but the sun wasn't 
in the right spot to illuminate the bow thruster tunnel adequately.
Lower: fishing line removed from the prop. Unfortunately, there is still
more to be removed, but it was a little too murky to work safely with 
a sharp knife.

In mid-afternoon we took a short bike ride to the nearby village of Neuviller-sur-Moselle. It was very quiet, as most of these villages have been. It did have a castle, which was the primary reason it seemed worth cycling to. An 11th century castle had been replaced by a 16th century castle, which had also been dismantled. The current property contains what remains of a mid-18th century castle, as well as outbuildings and fortifications from the 15th and 16th centuries. It is private property and was not open for visits.

Some of the older outbuildings and fortifications.

Upper: the upper story and roof of the 18th C. chateau
were all that we could see from the street.
Lower: the oldest buildings need a lot of restoration.

The Saint-Pierre Church in Neuviller is one of the oldest we've encountered along the canal.
Its various parts range in age from the 12th to the 19th centuries, and it was originally
a monastery church. The square bell tower is Romanesque, and there are a number
of Gothic and Renaissance windows and decorative elements.

The wind died down substantially by June 24, and the 3-hour cruise to a park-like quay near the village of Richardmenil--not far from the city of Nancy--was blissfully shady and pleasant. The water in the canal pounds that we've passed through has been deep compared to our earlier days on the Canal des Vosges, so we've not had any problems with potential grounding. The landscape is quite hilly and substantially wooded. Very pleasant.

The Moselle River crosses under an aqueduct during our approach
to Lock 43 near Flavigny-sur-Moselle.

Richardmenil is up the hill to the left; we're parked on the canal. We were later joined
by two other boats, the first boat traffic we'd seen since we left Charmes. This allowed us to
have "docktails" with Dutch boaters Veem (phonetic spelling) and Helen. They're just starting
to head south on the Canal des Vosges; we hope they hear about the potential closures in time
to make appropriate decisions about their cruising season.

Upper: the view toward the "sandpit" lakes and the canal from the churchyard.
Lower: view toward the village from canalside.

Our biggest disappointment about Richardmenil was that there was supposed to be a hamburger food truck in the center of town during the evening. We were looking forward to a meal away from the boat. Sadly, the truck was a no-show. Our fallback was to purchase a pizza from the vending machine across the street. This was the second time we've purchased pizza that way, and like the first time, the food was surprisingly good.

June 25: another day, another early departure to try to "beat the heat." We left Richardmenil just after 8 a.m. We had to call the vnf to remotely activate Lock 46--that was the first time our telecommande couldn't activate the lock sequence--then continued to the last lock of the Canal des Vosges before entering the Moselle River.

Top: approaching Lock 47.
Below: getting ready to leaving the Canal
des Vosges and enter the Moselle River.

Now that we are on a river, the bridges are higher, so we can raise our bimini to shade us from the sun. There is some commercial traffic in this section of water as well, so the locks are bigger, we can cruise at a faster speed, and we may encounter commercial-size boats. 

There was a working harbor just prior to the first big lock.

We passed through one of the large locks today. They can 
accommodate boats up to 110 meters long and 12 meters
wide. We were alone during our descent and were dwarfed
by the size of the lock. The drop was just over 7 meters
(about 23 feet).

It was a nice change of pace to cruise without a worry for depth or stopping every kilometer for a lock. 

The Sapeur-Pompier first responders were out on the river doing training exercises.

We stopped early again today due to the heat. At this point we are about 10 kilometers from the city of Toul, our destination for tomorrow. It's not an especially large town, but it is a historic one. We had thought to spend three nights at a marina there, but may stretch things out longer if the heat wave comes as expected.

Our visitor to CARIB over lunchtime. 

On Our Own Again

We said "adieu" and "bon voyage" to Frank yesterday at the rail station in the town of Charmes. He was on his way to Switzerland for a few days so that he--as the family's great investigator of its Polish and Ukrainian genealogy--could spend some time discussing family history and reviewing pertinent photos and documents with a distant relative. After we got through the shallow stretch of the Canal des Vosges, we were able to relax our pace through the next several days until we got to Charmes, where trains north to the city of Nancy are common and would therefore be an appropriate location from which Frank could begin his rail journey to Switzerland.

A last bit of cousinly camaraderie while waiting for Frank's train to arrive.

We celebrated accomplishing the stretch of 14 "down" locks on June 13 by going out to dinner at "Pizzeria Le Capri", adjacent to the next lock downstream of us and just a short stroll from our mooring location.

Left: Relaxation after a busy cruising day--and relief to be through the shallowest stretch.
The food--pizza and pasta--was absolutely delicious.
Right: The lock was immediately adjacent to the restaurant, a real convenience given
our energy levels (low, very low) after the multitude of locks and the warm temperatures.

Our June 14 cruise to the town of Thaon was very short, and within 2 hours we had completed 5 kilometers and 5 locks and were moored at a halte fluvial near a campground and a city park. It was immediately evident during our cruise to Thaon is that we were no longer in a mostly natural stretch of canal. The region around Epinal is industrialized, and that has spread to encompass the nearby villages, including Thaon.

One of the businesses in the area is the mining of aggregate. Some
of the lakes that we can see adjacent to the canal are former
gravel pits.

Remnants of habitation in Thaon stretch back a millennium, but it's all fragmentary, and throughout most of its history the village was simply a tiny outpost of civilization in the region that often changed hands according to the political winds and usually suffered destruction when it did. The heritage buildings that do exist as part of a city walking tour date back, at most, to the industrial era of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most striking building in the village is known as The Rotunda. In the early 20th century, it was the social center for the workers at the textile factory BTT. It is currently government owned, contains a theater with over 800 seats, and in conjunction with the city of Epinal, has become the Cultural Center of Southern Lorraine. 

Top: The Rotunda; Lower Left: War Memorial
Bottom Right: the parish church of Saint-Brice

Perhaps Thaon's biggest claim to fame was that it was the location of a cafe operated by a famous French bearded lady, Clementine Delait, and her husband Paul, a local baker in Thaon. Born in 1865, she shaved until 1900, when she went "full beard" to win a bet. The novelty of it all was great for attracting customers. For a time, she toured Europe, and was said to have attracted large crowds in Paris and London.

The most unusual bit of village history: The Cafe of the Bearded Woman.

While not a hotbed of ancient historical sites or events, Thaon-les-Vosges provided a welcome respite from cruising for us on Sunday. It had a supermarket that, while not particularly large, was good enough for the restocking that needed to be done. The promised thunderstorms came through on Saturday night/Sunday morning; the initial round at 3 a.m. was rather loud and the amount of wind made us glad that we had four lines attached to shore. Rain continued off and on through the day on Sunday, so it was great to be moored and not feel as though we had to move on that day. 

The aftermath of the storm was this downed tree in the adjacent
park. It took down a power line, which had the effect of disabling
Lock 19 (behind us). 

The lack of much boat traffic on the canal had continued. On Saturday night a small sailboat pulled onto the quay behind us, its operator exhausted after a long day of single-handed cruising through the heat and multiple "up" locks. We invited him over to share our docktails, and as the weather and a "dead" lock kept him in port on Sunday, we repeated the experience that day as well. 

As we were preparing ourselves to depart Thaon on Monday morning, June 16, a commercial boat passed us heading downstream. We had read that between locks 17 and 21 we would have to be on the lookout for barges hauling gravel Monday through Friday. As we had already transited locks 17, 18, and 19 on Saturday--good timing on our part, as doing so avoided commercial traffic--we only had to be concerned about getting through our current pound (the area of the canal between two locks) and the next. 

Our timing at the locks was pretty good. We triggered the lock prep mechanism at Lock 20
just prior to a gravel barge on the other side of the lock that wanted "up." We had to wait
a few minutes at lock 21 for this guy to ascend, but it only delayed us a few minutes. More interesting
was the effect when he passed us--because of his weight and momentum, he pulled water with him
as he passed, which had the effect of lowering the overall water level and we scraped bottom briefly.

It was a short cruising day on 18th to a mooring at the twin villages of Nomexy (on the left bank of the canal) and Chatel-sur-Moselles (on the right bank). We weren't in a particular hurry to move on, so we stayed on the quay for 2 nights, giving us another day of "rest" away from cruising and time to explore the two villages.

Nomexy, like Thaon, has ancient origins, and like Thaon, wasn't able to maintain much evidence of those origins. An abbey and its mill existed there in the 13th century, but of the abbey only a few ruins of a tower remain on a farm outside of town. Nomexy was heavily damaged in WWII, so most of the buildings are of more modern construction. Like Thaon, it had an industrial past and present. 

The local Nomexy cemetery had a section for its WWI dead, most lost during
the Battle of the Marne in September 1914.

The church, Eglise Saints-Calixte-et-Julien.

The main town square, with the mayor's office at left.

A group of local youth used the canal as their local "swimming hole."
On both days we were there, they asked to use CARIB as a jumping
(it really wasn't diving) platform. It wasn't the jumping that was so
brave, it was that they were willing to go into that murky water.

The main attraction of the stop came on Tuesday, June 17, when we walked across the bridge to the neighboring village of Chatel-sur-Moselle. It was a renowned stronghold of the Lorraine region in the Middle Ages. Founded in 1072 with a relatively simple castle keep and surrounding wall, it was modified often in the subsequent centuries in response to changing ownership and to protect against the evolution in armaments. During the Thirty Years' War in the 1600's, it came under siege nine times, but never fell. It finally met its end in 1671, when it was captured and ordered dismantled by Louis XIV. For centuries it lay buried. Capuchin monks settled on it for a time, beginning in the 18th C. In the early 1970's an association was created to begin clearing the ruins and over the decades it has developed into the site it is today. It has fascinating surface ruins, but to access the three subterranean levels, one needs to be part of a guided tour. We were fortunate to be able to arrange one. Even better, our guide, Thomas, spoke English and we essentially had a private tour. He was an engaging young man with a wonderful sense of humor. 

Pointing the way to the main fortress site.

Upper: a small section of the above-ground foundations
Lower: our "Gang of Three"

The museum had a number of models to demonstrate the 
layout during various construction eras.

Left: Pat, Lon, and our awesome guide Thomas.
Upper right: a well accessible from an underground chamber.
Lower right: 20th C. stairs were constructed to allow for
movement through the underground levels.

Not all of the development overlaying the fortress could
be undone. The painted lines in the street show where
various buildings and walls previously existed. The 
colors indicate when that portion of the fortress was built, for
example, yellow = 11th-12th century.

Thomas and Lon between the 11th/12th century fortress walls
(at left) and later 15th century walls and a dry moat (right).

In general, the present-day village of Chatel-sur-Moselle contains only a few remnants of older construction, but it suffered over 80% destruction in WWII, so most of the buildings are post-war constructs. The 15th C. church was damaged, but retained many of its original elements. It was locked when we got there, but we were able to obtain the keys from the mayor's office and were able to have a quick look around.

L'Eglise Saint-Laurent and an 18th C. wood polychrome Saint Anne.

It was time to move again on June 18. Frank was scheduled to travel to Switzerland on the 20th, so we wanted to make sure we had enough time to see what Charmes had to offer before he left us. The water levels had been good during our cruising days, and that continued on the 18th. We were still not seeing much other boat traffic; one, maybe two boats per day at most. Today we were away from the boat for about an hour around midday, but in our time on the boat we've not seen any pleasure boat traffic pass. 

We are moored in Charmes on a quay by a camping car park.
The campers nearest us may not have been too happy that
 we blocked their view of the water.

Charmes began as the site of a castle and fortifications in the 11th century, but it hasn't, for the most part, been a happy history for the town. Plague, famine, pillaging, massacres, burning the town. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. The town finally had a period of prosperity in the 18th century when it was part of France, but the dismal cycle began again during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. Prussian occupation, town burned, citizens killed. Charmes battle in WWI, citizens killed. In 1944, the retreating Germans burned the town and deported 160 citizens to concentration camps. Most buildings are of modern construction, but some older remnants do remain that survived the carnage over the years.

A bit of the 11th century castle ramparts provides a backdrop for the rose garden.

To the left is the surviving portion of the Maison du
Chaldron, where in 1633 the Cardinal Richelieu and 
Charles IV signed a treaty which marked the beginning
of the unification of France and the Lorraine Region.

The interior of the Church of Saint Nicholas.
Left: The Chapel of Saint John and the Holy Sepulchre from 1516 is also known as the "chapel
of deportees", due to the commemorative plaque on the wall and stained glass windows.
Right: Chapel of Savigny from 1537, classed as a Historic Monument, contains stained glass
from 1493 and a 1538 baptismal font, among other treasures.

The Church of Saint Nicholas was finished it 1493. The bell
tower was rebuilt after having been bombed in WWII, but most
 of the rest of the church retained its older constructions.

The War Memorial. At the base is a plaque from the
U.S. Army 75th Division to acknowledge friendship
between the United States and Charmes.

Reminders of Charmes' industrial past.

The Moselle River has been running nearly parallel with the
canal since the Epinal area. It's easy to see why a canal was
needed to make water transportation possible.

The first two days here with Frank were all about sightseeing and enjoying meals out at local restaurants (thanks, Frank!). Since his departure, we've been doing the "fun" stuff like laundry and grocery shopping. We are now preparing to depart Charmes tomorrow, June 22. We estimate two more cruising days until we reach the end of the Canal des Vosges and enter a new waterway.