Fisherman DNA

If I were still working in the DNA field, I would be tempted to conduct some experiments to try to determine the truth of the following hypothesis that Lon and I have developed after numerous encounters with fishermen during our boating years in the U.S. and Europe: those who possess a "fishing gene" (enjoyment of fishing) have an associated gene that can turn off their common sense when around boats, and makes them believe that a 21-meter, 35-ton boat constrained by trees on the bank, water depths, and the laws of physics with regard to how quickly it can slow down, can maneuver with the agility of a Formula 1 race car.  This leads them to the further belief that it is much easier for said boat to deftly steer around fishing poles and lines extended over and in the waterway than it is for a fisherman to reel in his line or lift his pole out of the way. The majority of fisherman are perfectly polite when we cruise by their fishing spots, so it must be a recessive gene that only manifests itself in the small, but significant, minority of fisherman who get upset when they need to stop drowning their worms in the middle of the canal for the 30 seconds it takes a boat to pass them by. Well, no lab experiments for me, but we do continue to collect anecdotal evidence on this subject nearly every day.

It's been nearly a week since the last blog post, and in that time we cruised to the city of Amiens, where we stayed for 3 nights. On Friday the 12th we turned around and started back east on the Somme. As of today (Sunday, Aug. 14) we are in Cappy again. 

We had originally planned to stay in Amiens for at least 4 nights, but on Wednesday we received a somewhat disquieting waterway update from the vnf. Due to the continuing severe drought, the vnf announced that they were going to start a program of grouping boats going through locks on the commercial waterways of the Canal du Nord, Canal lateral a l'Oise, and the Oise River. All of these are waterways that we need to travel on in order to get to our winter mooring outside of Paris. This will primarily affect pleasure craft, and means that, where possible, the vnf will always try to have multiple boats in a lock during the locking process. Minimizing locking is a water saving measure, and it can mean some waiting at locks in order to "gather" a sufficient number of boats. This doesn't shut off navigation, but it certainly makes us wonder what could be coming if conditions don't improve, and we don't want to find ourselves in bad location should waterway closures be the next step. Therefore, we thought it wise to get off the Somme and start working our way south sooner rather than later.

Drought anxieties aside, we've really enjoyed the Somme and had an interesting stay in Amiens. Its main claim to fame is its magnificent cathedral, built almost entirely from 1220 to 1270, with an interior maximized to reach toward heaven and let in a lot of light. It's the largest cathedral in France, and could fit two cathedrals the size of Notre Dame de Paris in its interior.

We were moored in a great spot: the cathedral is visible in the upper right, and just across the 
bridge seen in the right of the photo is the Quai Belu, the restaurant row of Amiens

The cathedral looms over lower Amiens and a bridge that leads
to Quai Belu and the Saint-Leu neighborhood

The soaring nave in the cathedral

The western front of the cathedral. Many of the statues
that originally surrounded the portals were damaged or
destroyed after the French Revolution; renovations in the
mid-1800's replaced what had been lost

16th century depictions from the life of John the Baptist.
Important because . . .

. . . in 1206 a relic said to be part of the head of
John the Baptist was purchased in Constantinople
and brought to Amiens. This turned Amiens into an
important pilgrimage site. The relic resided in the
cathedral until it was destroyed during the French Revolution.
These days, the cathedral has to make do with an 1876 re-creation

The 1506 paintings of sibyls uncovered in one of the chapels.
Sibyls were female seers from the ancient world whose prophecies
were thought to foretell the coming of Christ

During the early 1990's, evidence of medieval paints on the west facade was discovered during laser cleaning. Lighting techniques were developed to project these colors onto the facade with precision, and without damaging the stone surfaces. From this a sound-and-light show was created that is performed nightly during July and August, as well as during festival times like Christmas. Lon and I attended one evening, and it was stunning.

The audience gathers for the 10 p.m. show

A 3-D effect with the interior nave projected on
the exterior

The show ended with the cathedral being painted in the colors that supposedly were on the building in the Middle Ages.

The central portal

The western facade

It has been really hot over the past week. Most of the time we tried to limit our outdoor activities to the morning or the evening so that we could stay under the shade of the bimini in the afternoon. One day we had to bicycle to the commercial shopping center to get a new water pump for the boat, but the heat basically put a stop to any recreational bike trips we might have wanted to do. However, a good thing that happened was that for the first time since we left the Netherlands, we located a movie theater that had a feature film in English. We enjoyed the escapism of "Thor: Love and Thunder", but the price of the tickets made us long for our "movie Tuesdays" back in St. Petersburg.

Amiens has other things going for it besides the cathedral, but in many ways, it has the feeling of a newer city. Thanks in part to being heavily damaged in the two world wars, very old buildings are few and far between.

The Saint-Leu neighborhood has small canals running
through it. Since the Middle Ages it was an industrial
area and the home of tradesman such as tanners 

Looking toward Quai Belu, the busy restaurant row on the waterfront

Another canal in the old Saint-Leu neighborhood

The Amiens home of novelist Jules Verne for 18 years

One of the old places that needs a little TLC

With our early departure from Amiens we had to skip a hoped-for cruise through the gardens on the outskirts of Amiens. Nice views from our boat, however, so we'll be satisfied with that.

The proximity to water seems to really help these gardens avoid the effects of drought

"British soldier and his wounded horse", a war memorial
in the village of Chipilly 

We had a passenger--briefly--on the boat 2 days ago. Valerie watched us
ascend in a lock that was about 1 km from where we were intending to
stop for the evening. She asked if she could ride with us to that stop 
and was thrilled when we said yes. Just doing our part for 
Franco-American relations

The current weather forecast holds some promise for rain off and on over the next few days. It would be great if that were the start of breaking this awful drought cycle.