Boat Time + French Time

As of May 24 we have been in Europe for a month. One might think, given that we came here to cruise rivers and canals, that it's taking us a lot of time to get going on that aspect of things. Actually, our plan always has been that it would take until the end of May or the first part of June to accomplish the boat projects and "life activities" that absolutely needed to be done before cruising could start. Our two week trip to Italy and Switzerland also had an impact on the time frame.

The second week of June is our new estimate for starting the cruising. Blame "boat time" and "French time" for the delay. "Boat time" in this case encompasses a variety of factors: a "new to us" boat on which we are discovering a number of items we need to fix as well as equipment or furnishings we need to acquire (e.g., bicycles, a sewing machine, an area rug for the salon); and the general truism that any boat project ends up taking 3 times longer than you'd think it should (things don't work right the first time, needing to make multiple trips to boat stores or do-it-yourself stores--bricolage--for random parts that you didn't anticipate needing).  "French time" is the increased time it takes us to do things, in part due to the way French society operates, but mostly because of our learning curve regarding all things French. Many small stores are closed over the lunch hour--if you realize at 12:30 p.m. that you need a part from the local hardware store you may as well relax, because the store won't open again until 2 p.m. A big challenge for us--probably the biggest--is simply dealing with the French language and the need for translation to get things done. Translation takes a LOT of time. Reading is actually going fairly well and our vocabulary increases daily, but it still takes me quite a while to work through an understanding of some of the labels in the grocery store, for example.  Hearing and speaking French is a higher level of difficulty and a whole other issue, and activities that require personal interaction, e.g. banking, take a lot of time to get through and sometimes a lack of clarity causes us to miss important details that then result in needing "do overs." We are still trying to make arrangements for our French phone plan because--surprise!--the mobile phone company doesn't accept our U.S. Visa card as payment (so back to the bank to arrange for a carte bancaire--bank card--to go along with our checking account.) Despite the frustrations with the language, the people that we have met have been invariably kind and eager to assist us. One of the best pieces of advice we received came from the book "French for Cruisers." The authors say not to take oneself too seriously when trying to communicate in French. Just get out there and TRY, and realize that " . . . your mission is to amuse the locals with your attempts to speak French." Based on our experiences here to date--Mission Accomplished!

In any event, the combination of "boat time" and "French time" is the perfect recipe to blowing a schedule to smithereens. So it's a good thing we're not really on a schedule.

The photographs that follow give more glimpses into what we are experiencing in our little corner of Burgundy.

I finally found celery at a local market--and it

was huge! 

Springtime (printemps) in Pont de Vaux. A bit

grey most days, but the last few have been

gloriously sunny!

We got bikes this week and took a short

jaunt along the Saone.

Elgise Saint Pierre in Macon. Built in the

mid 19th C.

Through the years we have--either with intent or 

accidently--found assassination sites during our travels.

This assassination occurred in the city of Macon, France.

(Significant to the French Resistance in WWII)

After resisting the idea for several days, I finally decided to

channel the legacy of my "1973 Centennial High School

 Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow" award and

 create some much-needed curtains for our salon.  

The finished product

One of Lon's projects: making the bimini useful on the back deck.

Blown Away in Geneva

And I mean that literally. From the time we arrived in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, May 13, until just before we left on Thursday, May 16, the wind howled  across the city from the NE at 20-30 MPH (35-50 KPH), with considerably higher gusts. The "bise" made for some interesting walks.

Lon is truly windblown along the lake.

 The windchill was probably

 close to freezing at the time.

Flags were flying straight out and the water was rough in the Rhone
 River. But at least the sun was out and the sky was
 brilliantly blue and clear.

The wind necessitated some changes of plan on our part as far as sightseeing activities. See the Jet d'eau--a major symbol of Geneva-- in Lake Geneva? Nope--the fountain gets turned off in high winds. Use the "get 4 free hours of rental bike" deal to travel further afield along the lakeshore? Don't think so--not that crazy. Boat trip on the lake? Didn't look like the best idea. So we adjusted our expectations and still had a wonderful time. 

Geneva lies at the far southwestern tip of Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman), which is one of the largest lakes in western Europe. It's a relatively small city of approximately 200,000 people, but has quite an international influence. Geneva contains the European headquarters of the United Nations. It is the headquarters of the International Red Cross, which is only appropriate given that the Red Cross was founded in Geneva in 1863. During the Reformation in the sixteenth century, Geneva was the center of Calvinism. And of course, there are lots of watchmakers and lots of banks.

We spent midday of our first full day on a 2-hour guided walking tour of Old Town and a few other "significant" spots close by. The buildings provided a sufficient wind block to make it a comfortable outing.

Opportunities for chess and checkers in the Parc des Bastions

The Marronnier de la Treille, said to be the
world's longest bench. 120 meters long and originally
built in 1767.

L'horloge fleurie, or flower clock, undergoing seasonal
maintenance and planting 

Reformation Wall, an homage to individuals significant to
the Protestant Reformation--most prominently featuring
Calvinists. Martin Luther has a mention apart from the main wall,
but was considered too "catholic" by John Calvin.

Have tower, will climb. That has been our motto through our years of travel and Geneva was no exception. St. Pierre Cathedral, in Old Town, was built as a Roman Catholic cathedral in the 12th century. During the time of the Reformation in 1535, the cathedral became a place of Reformed Protestant worship and John Calvin's "home church". Under the austere form of Christianity that was Calvinism, the interior of the church lost its altars, statues, paintings and just about anything decorative.

A side view of the exterior of St. Pierre Cathedral.
5 francs and 157 steps up provided stunning
views of Geneva

View over Old Town from the North Tower

View over Old Town and Lake Geneva

And yet another perspective on Geneva

In the afternoon we visited the Patek Philippe Museum--everything you ever wanted to know about watches but were afraid to ask. I love watches--interesting watches--but there was so much there that we went into mental overload after about an hour and had to leave.

It was still windy on Wednesday, so we strolled up to the neighborhood that houses the United Nations just to say we were there. Forty-five minutes to go through security for an inside tour held no appeal, so we settled for the exterior view.

The front of the UN headquarters in Europe

The "Broken Chair" sculpture, designed and built as a statement
against the damage caused by land mines

Mont Blanc is somewhere there in the white on the horizon.
Geneva is not as close to high alpine peaks as other Swiss cities.

As our final activity of the day we decided that we would do Movie Night!!!!!  Weekly movies on Tuesday are part of our life in St. Petersburg, often with friends Jon & Renea (and snowbirds Ken & Brenda when they're in town), and it's something we're missing. OK, so this was Wednesday, not Tuesday, and the price per ticket was around $20, not $5 (ouch!), but it was fun to be back in a movie theater.

Got to see the English language version
of the movie. We just had to overlook the
French and German subtitles.

 We are now back in France and picking up where we left off with boat preparation.

Arrivederci, Italy

The Ischia experience in a nutshell: Practice sessions. Coach concerts. Sightseeing. Camaraderie. Performances. Some sun-some clouds. Another night in Naples.

The Castello Aragonese d'Ischia. Building on the islet first

occurred in the 5th Century BC. The current name comes from

the dynasty that most influenced the current appearance of

the castle, Alfonso I of Aragon (a region in Spain) in the

15th century AD. Connected to mainland Ischia by a causeway.

One of the beaches at Ischia Porto on Ischia. The color of

the sand is fairly typical of volcanic origin. Not quite like

the white sand beaches we're used to on the west coast of Florida.

Lon performing with "trio mates" Brian (French horn)

and Lisa (bassoon)

Pre-dinner prosecco with (left to right) Annette, Brian, Pat,

Michelle, Paul (and Lon, who is taking the photo) seaside at 

restaurant Cava dell'isola near Forio, Ischia.

Sunset from Cava dell'isola

On Saturday, May 12, our festival group travelled to the small neighboring island of Procida, which is situated between Ischia and the mainland. That evening the chamber music festival orchestra performed in concert with the Coro Polifonico San Leonardo (a women's choral group from Procida) in the historic Abbey of St. Michael Archangel.

Leaving Ischia on a grey and cool Saturday morning

Looking toward the mainland from the heights of Procida

View of Marina di Corricella and its multi-hued homes

Ischia in the distance

Orchestra and choral group practicing in the Abbey

on Saturday afternoon in preparation for the evening's concert

Back to reality: the signs say it all in the Procida

port of Marina Grande, as we prepared to depart for
the "cruel world" away from Procida

Naples was "hopping" on Sunday afternoon

It wouldn't be Naples without pizza.

Time to slowly start working our way back to France and the boat. We left Naples this morning and will be in Geneva, Switzerland until Thursday morning.

(Not So) Sunny Italy

For our trip to Ischia we flew from Lyon, France to Naples, Italy on EasyJet, one of Europe's low cost carriers. Lyon has a beautiful and quite modern airport, but you wouldn't know it by the terminal and the gate to which our flight was assigned.  I guess that the price you pay for getting a great airfare is to have to deal with the "Walmart" of airport terminals.

The sterile, industrial appearance of the EasyJet gate

reminded us of every Walmart we've ever seen

We arrived in Naples on Thursday, May 2, to spend the night and leisurely make our way to Ischia via ferry on May 3. It's culture shock coming from quiet, rural France to big-city Italy, but Naples is always entertaining. We were booked into a clean and very modern B&B on the 7th floor of a residential building that fronted the Bay of Naples and the Molo Beverello ferry terminal. From our room we could see cruise ships and Mount Vesuvius, and the island of Capri on the horizon.

HUGE cruise ship just departing; Mount Vesuvius

in the distance--but no danger of a repeat of the eruption
that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79

Entertainment from our balcony--watching the

"ballet" that is Naples traffic. The motorbike

drivers are especially crazy, weaving in and

around the cars.

The island of Ischia is located about 20 miles from Naples.  It is the largest of the volcanic islands in the Bay of Naples and can be reached in about an hour by fast ferry. It is particularly known for its thermal spas that are fed by natural hot springs.

A depiction of ferry routes from Naples, showing

the approximate location of Ischia (not to scale)

The Ischia Chamber Music Festival has been held annually since 2003. It's a small-scale festival, with perhaps 30-35 participants, which makes for a casual and congenial atmosphere. I first attended the festival in May 2017, at which time it was held at the small resort of covo dei Borboni just up the hill from the seaside town of Lacco Ameno. The resort had beautiful views over the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately, in August of that year, an earthquake centered near Lacco Ameno caused substantial damage to the resort and the surrounding area. As a result, the festival moved to the Residence Aegidius near Ischia's capitol of Ischia Porto.

It was not exactly "sunny Italy" the first couple of days we were here. It was unseasonably rainy, windy and cold. Hallelujah! The sun returned yesterday and we're all feeling a lot better now.

View from our apartment toward Ischia's central "spine"

We've now completed 4 days of the festival. As a full participant I was assigned to 6 different chamber groups of variable size and instrumental composition, as well as to the orchestra. My days require 5-6 hours of group rehearsal as well as orchestra practice.  Lon requested partial participation, so was assigned 3 chamber music pieces and orchestra. By the time dinner is finished in the evenings we are exhausted, but it is a lot of fun and a great musical experience.

Lon at orchestra practice

Pat and half of her double wind quintet group playing

Emile Bernard's Divertissement, Op. 36, 3rd movement

Thank goodness tomorrow (Wednesday, May 8) is a rest day. In past years we've gone sightseeing around Ischia. This year we're planning to take it easy and keep our outing to a stroll to and through Ischia Porto.

Best Laid Plans

We've had a busy week on C.A.R.I.B. III in Pont-de-Vaux, although things didn't go quite as we'd anticipated. As the Yiddish proverb goes, "Man plans, God laughs." Lon had his list of priority projects, and I had mine, and then Monday morning happened. Sometime during the night on Sunday the water pump decided to give up the ghost. We knew from the boat survey last year that it would probably reach the end of its useful life sooner rather than later, but we'd hoped to have more time. Just that quickly priorities changed, and the installation of navigation equipment was put on the back burner. Instead, Monday and Tuesday were spent running around to various stores to get a replacement pump and all the other necessary constituent parts.  Clothes that needed cleaning prior to an upcoming trip to Italy couldn't be washed aboard, but had to be schlepped to the washing machine in the port captain's office.  It was a healthy hike to use the marina's showers--and the water there took forever to warm up.  (At least water buckets in the head for flushing allowed us to avoid 2 a.m. walks in 45-degree temps.) However, we now have a nicely functioning water system.

The old water pump and accumulator tank

The new water pump and accumulator tank. "Shrinkage"

gives us a lot more space below deck.

We were ready to hit it hard today (May 1) to make up for getting behind on our to-do list. We thought to work on our French phone questions and maybe try to get the bikes we're going to need for cruising.  Too bad we forgot that today is a major French holiday--Labor Day. Just about all stores were closed, so we'll have to deal with those issues later. We didn't notice any Labor Day picnics for union members, just lots of people relaxing and enjoying the outdoors.

Up until the past two days the weather has been mostly cloudy, rather breezy, and rainy at times. Highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s have had these Florida transplants wondering about the wisdom of starting our "Europe summer" in April. However, the world looks and feels better after two days of sun and temps in the 60's.  We strolled through Pont-de-Vaux's Wednesday market and finally were able to comfortably sit outside for "happy hour."

A little girl is fascinated with chickens at the market

Main street Pont-de-Vaux is busy for Wednesday market

Same perspective as above, but now quiet on this holiday evening

Tomorrow we're off to Italy for a return to the Ischia Chamber Music Festival.  I've participated the past couple of years and really enjoyed it.  Lon is leaving the ranks of observers and will be participating this year.  He's been taking trumpet lessons for several months and working hard to get in shape for the intensive playing.  Eleven days in Italy will be followed by three days in Geneva, Switzerland, with a return to Pont-de-Vaux on May 16.