And . . . It's a Wrap!

We have now closed the door on the 2023 boating season and are back in Florida. It's always "fun" the first few days, trying to remember where everything is, and of course, having to do way too much grocery shopping in order to get the cupboards replenished. Our sleep cycles are slowly adjusting to the time change, although staying up later has been easier than sleeping past 4 or 5 a.m., which means that most of our nights are a bit short on sleep at the moment. This, too, shall pass.

We collected a few more photographic memories of Auxerre on September 30 and October 1 while preparing C.A.R.I.B. III for its long winter nap, then headed to Paris on the afternoon of the 1st.

The Auxerre riverfront by night.

Late summer "fireworks" at sunset.

A last selfie by the boat prior to departure.

Locking up and walking away.

When we can, we like to work in a final day or two in Paris prior to leaving France. In addition to just soaking in the atmosphere, we try to do at least one new thing during those short visits. The big draw, and our new activity, for this end-of-season time in Paris was an invitation from boating friends Jonathan and Jeannie on the barge "Aleau" for a cruise through the Saint Martin tunnel. The south entry to the tunnel is located at the basin of Port Arsenal, where we spent 3 weeks in June. From our mooring we had watched numerous tour boats enter and exit the tunnel and experienced the "bounce" of waves created by the release of water from locks at the other end of the tunnel, but hadn't purchased the permit required to cruise the Saint Martin Canal. Jonathan and Jeannie live in the Arsenal on their boat during the winter months, and as they were planning to arrive at the Port on October 1, they offered to use their pass and their boat to give us the "Saint Martin Canal Tunnel experience."

A canal cruise requires sustenance beforehand, so we met up with them at "Breakfast in America" on October 2 in order to get our "Bottomless Cup O'Joe" and a breakfast that would do a U.S. diner proud.

Jonathan (in the mirror at right) photographs Lon, Jeannie, and
me at BIA.

The Canal Saint-Martin links the Seine River to the Canal de l'Ourcq. The original canal was built in the early 1800's as a source of fresh water for Paris. 2.5 kilometers of the canal were enclosed by a tunnel at the end of the 19th century during Baron Haussmann's monumental "re-do" of Paris.  It's a popular tourist day cruise, but also provides an alternative to the Seine as a way to exit central Paris.

As Jonathan drives from the back, and Jeannie crews at the front, Lon and I find ourselves
in the unusual position of being able to enjoy a cruise without having to work at it.

The middle boat occupies the slip that we were in during
our June stay in the Arsenal.

Just entering the south end of the tunnel.

The tunnel is lit by electric lights, but also by skylights. If you're on the street above, you can see
down into the tunnel. If you're in the tunnel, you can see out to the world above.

Upon exiting the tunnel, you're immediately greeted by
the first of two adjacent locks.

Boat transit through the locks of the Canal Saint-Martin
is a spectator sport.

The lockkeeper wasted no time in letting water into
the lock.

We went "up" through two locks, then turned around in the basin, went "down" through the same two locks, and re-entered the tunnel to head back to port. The timing of our return cruise was such that the position of the sun resulted in shafts of light through the skylights.

The lights created some lovely effects.

Jeannie and I at the front of Aleau had an unobstructed view.

After saying our farewells to Jonathan and Jeannie, we stopped for visits at a couple of additional boats in the marina. One boat was that of an Australian couple we met at the DBA barge rally in Auxerre who were planning to spend this winter in Paris aboard their boat. Our other stop was at the boat of one of our French boat neighbors in June, a musician who we hope to see in Sarasota in November as he makes a musical "farewell tour" in the U.S. 

October 3 was our day to travel to Charles de Gaulle airport for a night at an airport hotel prior to our departure to the U.S. on October 4, but we were in no particular hurry to get to the airport. Instead, we kept our luggage stored at our Paris hotel, and used the available time for two more new (to us) Paris experiences.

The first item of the day for us was another subterranean activity, this one following in the footsteps of "Les Misérables" hero Jean Valjean to the sewers of Paris, via the Paris Sewers Museum. We'd been aware for years that such an "attraction" existed and had often thought about visiting, but it had never exactly been a "bucket list" item for us. From 2018 to 2021 the museum was closed for renovation, but with the renovations complete, we decided that this year was as good as any to satisfy our curiosity. It was--OK. The museum shows just a very tiny portion of this "city beneath the city," and the purpose of the museum is to educate, not to shock or titillate, but it nevertheless felt a bit "flat" as an experience. 

The only rat to be seen was in artwork on a wall.

This was the smelliest part of the museum, a demonstration
of the equipment used for straining trash out of the 
wastewater, which is a combination of water from
sanitary sewers and storm sewers.

A replica of a side tunnel. The sewers do have street signs
 posted reflective of the location in the city above.

Just across the river from the Sewer Museum is the "Flame of Liberty", an exact
 replica of the flame on the torch of the Statue of Liberty. It was a gift to the city of
 Paris in 1989 by the International Herald Tribune. It is now a de facto shrine to
Princess Diana, since it stands above the underpass that was the location of the car
 crash that took her life in 1997.

After lunch we took a meandering route towards the Louvre Museum area to catch the Metro back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and then head to the airport. In doing so, we walked by the Petit Palais, a building constructed for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, which now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. We'd never visited it, and after seeing that admission was free to the permanent exhibitions, we made a spur of the moment decision to stop inside.

The interior was gorgeous. When we have more time it
is probably worth revisiting so that we can see more of
the artwork.

 The gardens in the interior courtyard of the Petit Palais.

Public art in the Tuileries Garden. The statuary would 
probably be banned in Florida these days.

Although it was October 3 it still felt like summer,
and the Tuileries Garden's vegetation looked like summer.

After non-eventful flights--the best kind--to Tampa-St. Pete, we immediately started our fall/winter activities. It feels like we were never gone. We already have an idea of where we would like to cruise during the 2024 season, but as "aspirations" (rather than "plans") worked so well for us this year, we think we'll stick with hopes and aspirations in 2024 as well. The blog is now on hiatus for a few months.

Cruising Stats 2023

It probably shouldn't have surprised us that the end-of-season nerves associated with making sure that everything that needs to be done does get done has removed our urge for last-minute "field trips" this week. So, we're using the available time to get things done in a leisurely and relaxed manner. Using up our remaining groceries with little waste always makes me feel a sense of accomplishment, and we're enjoying dinners at local restaurants to fill in the culinary gaps.

Last night's dinner was crepes on the terrace of Creperie du Pont. We could see
 this intrepid cat using the open window for a bird's eye view of its surroundings.

We're not unhappy about getting back to Florida, but we will miss the view from the boat.

Herewith, some statistics from our 2023 cruising season:

We started cruising on May 3, 2023, from Port Cergy, west of Paris. After completing nearly a full circle to the north and east of Paris, we arrived in Paris the first week of June and spent 3 weeks there. Time in Paris included a Seine River cruise. We left Paris on June 27 and arrived in the city of Auxerre (a little over 100 miles to the SE of Paris as the bird flies, 126 miles by boat) on July 10. A short, maintenance-aborted cruise on the Nivernais Canal and an afternoon cruise out of Auxerre with family were the only cruising we did from mid-July until now. In hindsight, it would have been nice to have cruised a bit more during the latter part of the summer, but a number of factors--such as intense heat waves intermixed with periods of rain--worked against that. All in all, however, it was a great summer and we met the major milestones we'd hoped for prior to the start of the season--with nary a "Plan B" in sight.

Number of cruising days: 38

Total engine hours: 144.1

Distance cruised: 735 km (441 miles)

132 locks

1 swing bridge

3 tunnels

Saturday will be a busy day, with loads of laundry to wash and a final cleaning of the boat. We're spending Saturday night in a local hotel so that we don't leave the boat with "slept-in" sheets for 6 months. After the final tasks of Sunday morning we'll be on a train to Paris Sunday afternoon, and will spend a couple of days in central Paris before heading to an airport hotel on October 3 in preparation for departure back to the U.S. the next day.

Field Trip Time

One of the effects of having had the boat painted last year has been the substantial diminishment of time needed for end-of-season work projects. In 2019 we spent days and days repairing and prepping and repainting the roof of the salon. Last year--and this year--paint touch-ups have needed to be done to cover up small scrapes that are a natural result of cruising, but the effort required is nothing compared to what would be required had we still needed to repaint the entire exterior of C.A.R.I.B. III. We've been happy to turn the available time into a few "field trips".

On Thursday, September 14, an hour on the bicycles got us to the village of Pontigny, about 20 km to the northeast of Auxerre. Pontigny is the site of the largest intact church of the Cistercian monastic order in France. It is a remnant of the abbey that used to exist there, but which was mostly destroyed during the French Revolution. 

At 108 meters long, the 12th century Romanesque-Gothic church dominates the skyline of
the village of Pontigny. It is a stop along one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela,
and was a place of sanctuary from 1165-1166 for the exiled Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury.

The abbey church. 

Left: the 17th century organ is undergoing repair.
Right: Lon in a side aisle of the interior. The white stone interior is mostly unadorned, and the
light this provides enhances the sense of the immensity of the church. Austere, but lovely.

Left: Dividing the front part of the nave from the rear of the church.
Right: The worship area in the front of the church.

On our way to Pontigny we had a brief, but amusing, encounter.

In the middle of a field was this fenced-off area for free-range chickens. When I approached
to take a photo, the chickens must have thought I was coming to feed them, because they starting
running toward the fence--all the while clucking softly. They were adorable.

We had one other slight detour on this day. On the way to Pontigny we saw a sign for "Pont Romain" (Roman Bridge) posted by the church in the village of Rouvray. It sounded intriguing, but with no distance given, we didn't want to risk ending up 30 kilometers out of our way, so we continued on to Pontigny. On the way back to Auxerre we took a slightly different route, and encountered another "Pont Romain" sign, this time by the former train station of Rouvray-Venouse.

Signs that tantalized us with possibilities.

This time we took the bait, and headed off down a road bisecting a farmer's field. Our "bravery" was rewarded about a kilometer or so later.

We think this was the object of our search, but darned if
I can locate any info about it. It is probably too small to have
excited the kind of interest that would lead to published articles.

The next day, September 15, we stayed closer to Auxerre. Although our destination was only a 4-kilometer bike ride away, the hills along the route made it a more challenging ride. The "Monument to the Shot of Egriselles-Venoy" is located in a former French firing range that was used in WWII by the occupying Germans to shoot resistance fighters that they had arrested and sentenced to death. In total there were 43 victims over the years of 1942 to 1944. 

The tree trunk to the right is a concrete replacement for 
the vestiges of one of the original three trees on the site to which
the condemned were tied before being shot. The real tree
used to stand there, but was vandalized and burned in 2018.

We had a good view of Auxerre from the hilltop as we
made our way back to port.

The weekend of September 16-17 was a busy one in Auxerre. It was "European Heritage Days" in Europe (and, therefore, throughout France), with its attendant program of free admissions to many museums and historic sites. Saturday was also the celebration in Auxerre of the 800th anniversary of the granting of a charter of emancipation to the citizens of the city. With the charter of 1223, inheritances would no longer be taxed and seized, serfdom was abolished, and residents could come and go freely out of the city. 

Medieval city for a day: A lady on horseback and her knight escorts, musicians roamed the 
streets, sword fights, playing with fire.

There were a few places we'd wanted to visit as part of the Heritage Days, but most required advance reservations, and as we were in Norway when the program was announced, we weren't able to contact the tourist office early enough to reserve spaces. Nevertheless, there were a few interesting things we were able to see: the Romanesque crypt of Auxerre's cathedral; the house of poetess Marie Noel, and the former medieval prison tower by the abbey. 

The crypt in the Cathedral of Saint Stephen is not a burial vault, but a small church under the choir of the cathedral. It was built from 1023 to 1030 and served as a base for the original Romanesque cathedral. The crypt was retained when that first cathedral was razed to make way for the current Gothic cathedral.

The central nave.

Lon stands in one of the side passages, waiting
to serve as our tour guide.

The "Trinity" chapel at the east end of the crypt retains some amazing frescos.
 Left: the chapel and the frescos adorning it.
Upper Right: A fresco of Christ in Majesty (13th C.) Lower Right: The triumphal coming
of Christ (11th C.)

We also visited the home of the poet Marie Noel. It is currently administered by a group that also has interests in the natural sciences--which maybe explains why they have the item below displayed in the entryway. 

Ewwww! Poor foxes--I remember that one of my grandmothers
had a fox stole. This is worse.

Sunday was more of the same, but in the morning, a party came to the port.

A group of owners of classic Volkswagens was in town and made a brief stop at the port. We
(CARIB in lower right of photo) had a front row seat to this collection of vans, "Beetles", and
 dune buggies. To avoid bruising, the game of "slug bug" was suspended for the duration of the visit.

In the afternoon, we had a quick peek inside the last remaining medieval tower of the fortifications that had surrounded the Abbey Saint Germain. It was used as a prison up to the revolutionary period. An adjacent building hosted an exhibition regarding the visit to Auxerre by Buffalo Bill in 1905.

Left: prison tower interior, separate floors no longer exist.
Right: Tower and city wall.

                          

Our final "field trip" took place on Tuesday, September 19, to the small medieval town of Avallon. We chose to go there because it was relatively easy to get to on the train, and it sounded as though it had retained some of its historic charm. We'd never heard of it before we started looking for possible "day out of Auxerre sites." It turned out to be a lovely day.

Avallon is situated on a granite spur that overlooks several valleys. This gave it an important military role for several centuries, the first fortifications appearing in the 9th and 10th centuries. Approximately half of its ramparts, the oldest parts of which date to the 15th and 16th centuries, survive. The "good old days" it was not. Like many places in France--and elsewhere, for that matter--rulers came and went, the rise of various movements caused the town to be burned and plundered from time to time, and the inhabitants were ofttimes massacred or died from plague. Good old days, indeed.

Avallon's main street, and the clock tower from 1456.

The Collegiate Church of Saint-Lazare. Most of the current
structure is 12th C. Originally a "Notre Dame", the current name
comes from a donation from one of the Dukes of Burgundy of part
of Saint Lazare's skull. The church was an important pilgrimage
 site, as Saint Lazare was said to have the power
to heal leprosy. 

Looking toward the choir of the church, the oldest
existing part of the structure. Unusually for the churches
we've been in, the interior floor is "stepped down" from
back to front, as it follows the natural elevation of the
granite on which it is built.

Some large remnants of the old frescoes remain, but are
badly in need of renovation (which is currently taking place
in the church).

Walking the pathway which winds between two
levels of fortification walls.

I was enjoying the sun and the overlook with its view
of the Morvan forest to the south.

Miscellaneous Avallon. Just one comment: in the upper left
is a statute dedicated to Vauban, the genius military engineer
of Louis XIV. Vauban was born close to Avallon, and the town
 has chosen to honor him in a variety of ways.

The "Hostellerie de la Poste" is notable--not for its
architectural beauty, not for its age (1707), not for its
gastronomy, but because . . . Napoleon slept here! (In
 1815, on his return from exile in Elba, he spent a night,
 and appeared several times on the balcony above the gates).

The French often allow pets in restaurants. Usually it's dogs, 
but this was the first time I'd seen someone bring their cat on a 
leash. The cat had done really well walking on the leash on the
approach to the restaurant, but wasn't too crazy about all of the
people on the terrace--or the dog at the table next to us--so the
owner had to pick up his huge Norwegian Forest Cat in order
to enter l'Horloge (which had great food, by the way).

The remainder of our week continued to be pretty low-key, with the usual day-to-day and winter prep activities. The end of the week was stormy and rainy, so we did what we could indoors. Next week--our last week on the boat--will likely be more of the same, although if time and energy levels permit, we may try for one more "field trip" before leaving Burgundy until sometime next April.