A Swan Delay and a Serial Killer

It was lovely to be greeted by the sun on Tuesday morning. We haven't had a lot of uninterrupted sunshine, so we were hopeful that we wouldn't have to dodge raindrops on our relatively short (8 kilometers and 3 locks) cruise to Joigny. 

We were slightly delayed on our departure from Migennes on May 28 due to the fact that the Migennes lock had to fill and was bringing up some "passengers" as it did so. Throughout our boating history, in all of our "CARIBs", we've been delayed at locks by everything from huge barges to very small motorboats, but waiting for a swan convoy was a first for us.

Although they displayed no cruising permit, to their credit, the swans were polite and considerate. They waited at the lock gates, ready to vacate quickly when the gates opened, and kept the children in line.

An early arrival in Joigny gave us lots of time after lunch to finish the city walking tour that we'd started during our stop there last July.

The eastern portion of the Joigny skyline, our destination for exploration. 

The umbrellas were back on the street that winds
uphill from the waterfront to Place Jean de Joigny.
It was a very quiet afternoon, with hardly a
pedestrian in sight.

A hard right turn at Place Jean de Joigny brought us further uphill to a new (to us) neighborhood, the oldest in Joigny. A castle for Count Reynard the Old was built there as early as the late 10th century, displacing a monastery. This became the core for subsequent expansions of the city in the 12th and 13th centuries. Unfortunately, thanks to a massive fire in 1530, very little remains of the structures from those earliest years.

Now converted to residential use, a marker on a nearby wall
dates this "Prison Tower"--a remnant of the old fortress--to 
the 11th century.

After the great fire, the Chateau de Gondi was rebuilt, as was the adjacent Church of St. Jean (which served as the chapel for the Counts until the French Revolution). There was also a post-fire construction boom in timbered buildings, of which Joigny still retains many.

Photos of St. Jean's Gate, which formerly guarded
the entrance to the Count's chateau. The bell tower
of St. Jean's (St. John's) church is visible behind the gate. 
Aerial bombardment on June 15, 1940 caused great 
destruction in the neighborhood. The top photo shows
the current appearance, the bottom is from a time
prior to 1940.

Church of St. Jean at left, Chateau de Gondi at right. 

One perspective of the church interior, with its unusual
and beautiful Renaissance barrel vaulted ceiling.

Upper: a 16th C sculpture of the entombment of Jesus
Lower: a 13th C tomb of Adelais, countess of Joigny

And then there was this somewhat jarring notice from the portion of the church behind the altar.

It was more like falling bricks or concrete, but in
any case, it was a stark reminder of how much is
required to keep old buildings in top form and what
can happen if the money isn't there.

The front facade of the oldest timbered building in Joigny was
destroyed during the 1940 bombardment, and rebuilt as shown
at left. It is currently an exhibition center.

One of the downsides of Joigny is that it doesn't have a great deal of mooring space for boats our size. We found quay space just downstream from a marina that houses a "Locaboat" hire base and tucked in for the night. No power or water services were available, but that's not usually an issue because of our large water tank and the solar panels. Unfortunately, the cloudy weather didn't allow our solar panels to replenish the batteries after the overnight hours, and although our generator was working to power the electrics on the boat, it didn't seem to be recharging the house batteries the way it should. To leave in the rain or not to leave? We ultimately decided that it would be best to get to our next stop of Villaneuve-sur-Yonne, with its quay where we would be able to plug into power.  Either there or further downriver in Sens (also a mooring with electricity) would be better places to try to troubleshoot the generator issue.

Although there was some rain on the way to Villaneuve,
 by heading north, we moved away from the heaviest rain cells.
Lon drove mostly from inside and my rain gear kept me
 comfortable in the locks. 

Our mooring in Villaneuve.

We had a bit of a rain break after lunch, enough so that we felt comfortable wandering into the center of town. We'd seen most of what we wanted to see when we were in Villaneuve last July--on a much brighter and warmer day--so the walk was primarily meant to escape the boat for a bit, stretch our legs, and have a wee walk down memory lane.

The roses were blooming, but sadly, the house
seemed abandoned.

The north gate of the former medieval fortress, the Porte de
Sens, is still as impressive as it was last year.

Much as I love the really old stuff, the forensic scientist in me is fascinated by the macabre. One of the "claims to fame" of Villaneuve is that, from 1926-1933, it was the home of Dr. Marcel Petiot, a French medical doctor and serial killer. Besides using dubious medical practices, his political career as mayor of Villaneuve was filled with financial mischief. His transformation into serial killer probably began during his time in Villaneuve. 

The House at No. 56 Rue Carnot, the former
residence of Dr. Petiot.

Petiot was convicted of the murder of 23 people whose remains were found in the basement of his Paris home during WWII. It is suspected that the actual number of victims was at least 60, and possibly as high as 200. The majority of his victims came from a fraudulent escape network that he operated from 1942-1944. Petiot's associates would direct would-be escapees to him for assistance in getting out of France and into Argentina. Instead, Petiot "inoculated" them with cyanide, stole their valuables, and disposed of their bodies. In 1946 Petiot was executed via guillotine. There are a number of fascinating and detailed accounts about "Doctor Satan" on the internet.

In contemporary news, the European Parliament elections are being held on Tuesday, June 9. Coming from the U.S., the land of seemingly never-ending campaigns and in-your-face advertising for such, it is refreshing to see the limited campaigning here in France. 

Right: Outside of the covered market was a numbered display area
for campaign posters. We also saw a similar display area (but without
any posters) at a local park.
Left: The Cuteness Award goes to the Animaliste Party poster,
which claims that "Animals Matter, So Does Your Voice."

On May 30 our planned 9:15 a.m. departure from Villaneuve via the downstream lock adjacent to the mooring quay turned into a 10:45 passage because of vnf staffing issues and lock malfunctions elsewhere in the system. Despite the late start, the cruise to Sens went smoothly and quickly, and we were in Sens prior to the predicted afternoon rains.

Our boating buddies for the day were Swiss couple Serge
and Jenny on their barge "Tammy."

After 5 days in a row of cruising, 3 nights/2 days in Sens will be a nice change of pace and, hopefully, Lon will be able to diagnose the generator issue. Now if it would just warm up!

A Bit of the Bourgogne

The past few days saw us cruising about 20 kilometers "deep" into the Canal de Bourgogne (Burgundy Canal for the English speakers), and then returning to Migennes at the junction with the Yonne River. The Bourgogne is one of France's longest watershed canals, covering a distance of 242 kilometers from the Yonne River to the Saone River. The initial efforts to create a water route in Burgundy to help link the Atlantic with the Mediterranean date back to the 15th century, but it wasn't until the mid-19th century that the canal actually went through from end-to-end. It took another few decades to standardize the lock sizes and create feeder lakes to complete the canal as it exists today.

When cruising from the Yonne junction toward the Saone, the canal elevation increases by 300 meters, and then decreases by nearly 200 meters before it empties into the Saone. It's not surprising then, that it requires 189 locks to accommodate those kinds of elevation changes. Locks can be an interesting part of a cruising day, but a kilometers/lock ratio of just under 1.3 can making the locking experience "old" very quickly. This was one factor which discouraged us from trying to cruise the entire canal. The main problem, however, is that at the summit there is a 3-km long tunnel whose maximum height at the center is rather low, about the same as the tops of our roof air conditioning units. Attempting to pass through the tunnel sounded like a recipe for disaster to us, so we decided to be happy with just a little taste of the Bourgogne. The section we covered had a more reasonable kilometers/lock ratio of about 3 and nary a tunnel in sight.

We spent one full day in Migennes on Thursday the 23rd for sightseeing and running errands. It's a nice enough place, but it does not have a huge amount to see. The oldest part of town was about a 2 km walk from the boat, and the main sight there was the outside of the much-restored Saint-Pancrace de Migennes Church (13th-16th C).

The church is a Listed Monument, but it's apparent that much
of the "very old" has been replaced. I can't speak to what the
inside was like, as the church was locked.

The Tourist Office displays this restored 6-meter
squared fragment of a 210-meter squared mosaic.
The mosaic was discovered in the 1970's and was originally
part of a 4th century Roman villa in the vicinity of Migennes.

The town had a movie theater, but unfortunately, nothing in English, so we will have to get our cinema fix elsewhere. 

It was a mostly lovely cruising day on Friday, May 24. We finally had some sun, and nothing says "spring" like baby birds.

One of the cygnets is hitching a ride on dad's (or is it mom's?) back.

Mama duck has her "hands" full with 8 little ones to corral.

The "mostly lovely" lasted until about 1:15 p.m. By noon we had cruised about 15 km, passed through 3 locks, and arrived at the 4th lock of the day. It was set to receive us and the gates were open, but once tied up we had to go into "wait mode" for at least an hour. Most of the locks on the Canal de Bourgogne require the assistance of a vnf eclusier (lock keeper), and due to staffing levels and the sacredness of the French lunch hour, the locks didn't operate from noon to 1 p.m. 

It wasn't a bad place to be stopped. The adjacent
former lock keeper's house was now privately owned,
and the landscaping was beautiful and whimsical.

The owner even had a garden gnome or two.

The eclusiers finally arrived about 1:30 p.m. to get us on our way. Unfortunately, by that time some rain had moved in. 

Lon was able to move inside to drive; I had a somewhat
more damp locking experience.

After passing through this lock the rain decided to let up and within an hour we were at our destination of the day, Saint-Florentin. This would also be the farthest we would cruise on the Bourgogne.

The port was in the perfect place to provide a view like this from our mooring, with the town
spread out on the hillside on which it's built.

Saint-Florentin is a former fortress town, now with a population of about 5,000. Its port used to be busy with cut timber making its way to Paris. It has retained some of its historic architecture, so it's quaint and cute, and rather quiet. The dominating feature of the town is the Church of Saint-Florentin. The existing building wasn't part of the church "building boom" in France in the 12th and 13th centuries, but got its start later, in the early 16th century. The "top" parts of the typical "Latin Cross" design of such churches--the choir and the transept--were finished relatively quickly and have cathedral-like dimensions. Unfortunately, wars of religion interrupted the building process until the early 17th century, and then the money ran out. As a result, the church was never finished, in that it doesn't have a nave (the lower portion of the Latin Cross that is typically where the pews are placed for the worshippers.) 

What the church does have is an astonishing collection of 500-year old stained glass, one of seven stone rood screens remaining in France, and a 17th century organ.

In order to get into the church one must climb some stairs . . . 

   

  . . . and gain entry to the interior with a key supplied either by the Tourist Office or the port office (our choice).

The choir, with some of the stained glass visible behind
the high altar.

The stone rood screen separating the choir from what little
there is of what could be called a nave.

It wouldn't be an old town without some timbered buildings.

One of the best views in town was from the hilltop that used to host a monastery established in the 9th century.

The church is, of course, the highest point. The turreted tower at mid-photo dates from the 
12th century fortifications, and is the last of six towers that formed part of the town's defense.
It currently houses the church bells, because the unfinished bell tower of the church is too weak
to handle their weight.

The town park and performance space adjacent to the port and the canal.

The tour around town didn't take up more than Saturday morning, so we spent the afternoon making some progress on our window cover snap installation project.

We started our return to Migennes on Sunday, May 26. We had cruised to Saint-Florentin on one day, but we split the return trip into two segments, and stopped at the halfway point in the town of Brienon-sur-Armancon. The 3-hour cruising day was relaxing--if rather cool and cloudy--and left us time to explore. 

Horseback riding along the canal on a Sunday morning, while the eclusier waits for
the lock to fill with water so that he can let us enter.

The town hall, backed up by the 16th century church--and
this one was finished, albeit in rather eclectic style.

A sunny mooring.

As luck would have it, there was a concert that afternoon at the Saint Loup church, with a performance by the Men's Choir of the Auxerrois (region). Free-will donations were to be allocated toward the upkeep of the church's organ. We've attended the occasional church concert in the past, and it's a nice way to feel "local" for an hour or so.

The choir sounded great, although the slightly echoing
acoustics didn't make the French any easier to decipher.

This presented the biggest challenge: sitting on 
hard, hard, hard pews with absolutely straight
backs. Sleeping was not an option. An hour of
those conditions wiped the smile off Lon's face. 

After two hours of cruising this morning we are back at the port in Migennes. We are looking forward to a lovely dinner--most unexpectedly--with boating friends Ian and Lisette. 

Tomorrow morning we will head back onto the Yonne River and continue north.

On the Move

We finally managed to cast off our lines and leave Auxerre on Tuesday, May 21. We were ready to go on Sunday, but another holiday weekend (May 20, the day after Pentecost) and marina employees who stretched their long weekend by leaving work at noon on Friday, meant that the port didn't have the required manpower to move the unoccupied boat that was rafted next to us. We would have to wait until the employees returned to work on Tuesday.  Just another "Hotel California" experience, where "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." The extra time in port was not wasted. We have some window cover snaps to install, so we worked on that task over the weekend and on Monday had a nice farewell dinner at one of the local restaurants.

It was great to be moving, but of course, the first few days of a cruising season are always "interesting" as we try to remember our standard processes for our cruising days. Adding another level of complexity were the heavy rains that came through the area on Monday the 20th. Just like that, high water volume and faster currents were back.

Exiting one of the first locks north of Auxerre. The water at the lock exit was turbulent, but
we were able to power through without a problem. It was a similar situation at all of
the locks we passed through.

After 10 kilometers and 5 locks we were snugly tied up at the halte nautique in the village of Gurgy.

Gurgy was a pleasant stop when we were there last July. It was a bit less crowded along the
dock this time around, although we were still glad that we arrived early in the day.

The "social season" got off to a quick start with docktails with Swiss couple Paul and Bea, who were also moored in Gurgy for the evening,  

We cruised in tandem with Paul and Bea today as we left Gurgy and continued north--we were heading for the town of Migennes on the Burgundy Canal and their destination was the town of Joigny on the Yonne. We are so glad that we are cruising north (downstream) and not south (upstream), because the current continues to be quite significant from the recent rainfalls. In fact, the Nivernais Canal (just south of the city of Auxerre) has been closed again to navigation due to high water. Going upstream would have been a slow "slog" to get anywhere; by going downstream, our cruising days are going incredibly fast.

Making the exit at one of today's locks. 

Because our proposed destination for this cruising season is the town of Auxonne, we had a basic choice of two routes to get there from  Auxerre: the Burgundy Canal, which joins the Yonne River about 23 kilometers north of Auxerre and ends at St. Jean de Losne on the Saone River not far from Auxonne; or a longer, more westerly route that travels on waterways close to the Loire Valley before heading east to join up with the Saone River south of Auxonne. We decided on the longer route, but couldn't resist the opportunity to at least be able to say that we have cruised on the Burgundy Canal, so we are making a brief side trip on the Burgundy Canal over the next few days. The timing is good, as we're happy to leave the river for a few days and give it the opportunity to "settle down" before we start cruising it again.

Approaching Migennes, where the Burgundy Canal meets the Yonne River. Our "boating buddies"
for the day, Paul and Bea, are in the boat approaching the far bridge.

Off the main channel of the Yonne, approaching the first
lock of the Burgundy Canal in Migennes.

What used to be a double lock is now a single, deep
lock (about 5 meters/15 feet deep). The attending
eclusier dropped down a hooked line to us so that
she could retrieve our lines and attach them to bollards
at the top of the lock.

My view from the front just before the sluice
gates were opened to commence the filling process.

And . . . in comes the water!

We're staying for a couple of nights in a basin just outside of that first lock. We're hoping to spend some time tomorrow on the bikes (my first attempt since I broke my hand) getting a feel for the area, and will resume cruising the Burgundy Canal on Friday.

We're able to get a pre-cruise look at the first part
of the canal by simply going for a short walk.

Faire le Pont and Fast Water

We're still not quite sure when we'll be casting off the lines and departing Auxerre. Our exterior canvas window coverings are done and in hand, although we still have to install snaps around the windows and need to buy some screws to do that.  We've also been given some hope that the new power inverter that we want to install (which changes DC power from our batteries into AC power that we can use to operate various electrical devices on the boat when we're not plugged into shore power or running the generator) can be obtained for us by next week and possibly installed by the end of the week. 

In both cases, the completion of the projects has been slowed by the number of public holidays that have occurred since we've been here. May is a month that is full of holidays in France, and this year May has four holidays: Labor Day (May 1), Victory in Europe Day (May 8), Ascension Day (May 9), and Whit Monday (May 20, the day after Pentecost). Everything is pretty much shut down on May 1, and while some businesses (mostly retail and restaurants) might be open on the other holidays, many other businesses are closed. When a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, one must be prepared for the "faire le pont" ("make the bridge") phenomenon, whereby many individuals--and oftentimes the businesses that they work for--take a day off on the Monday or Friday between the holiday and weekend, thus giving themselves a long weekend at very little expense to their personal vacation days. The business closures over the last couple of weeks have made it difficult for us to get both information and parts for our projects.

We're hoping that the full work week coming up will allow us to do everything that needs doing and that maybe, just maybe, we can be cruising by next weekend. Of course, the weather may have something to say about that. Even without project delays due to the holidays, the water conditions in the last week would have made it inadvisable to be out cruising. Last weekend it rained heavily. As a result, the Nivernais Canal just to the south of our mooring was closed over the last several days due to high water, and the water in the Yonne River (on which we are moored) was high and running fast. Everyone here in the port stayed put for a few days to let things settle down. It was only on Saturday the 11th that the current slowed and several boats left.

The second lock north of Auxerre. At mid-week, the Yonne was 
nearly at the top of the lock gate on the upstream end.

The downstream end of that same lock was more dramatic. Water was flowing fast and full
from the lock weirs. It would have made for a turbulent exit from the lock.

Finally, sunshine in Auxerre! The water looks deceptively calm, but the ripples are indicative of
the 6-7 km per hour current, which is nearly as fast as our typical cruising speed.

Standing water in a local park from last weekend's rain.

We've taken advantage of our current "relaxed" schedule to do a couple of new-for-us-in-Auxerre activities. Last year, we watched the comings and goings on the barge parked across the river from us that was being used as a bar and music venue. On this past Wednesday we finally got a look inside, attending an "open jazz" evening there with boating neighbors.

The barge on the Yonne is owned and operated by a lovely French woman named "Mathilde".

Local musicians clamored to demonstrate their jazz skills before an appreciative audience. I have
to admit that I'm not a big fan of "traditional" jazz, with its sequential solos and 50's "hipster" vibe,
but there were some talented musicians (the harmonica player particularly so). 

We also finally got to the large Auxerre covered market. Food is such an integral part of French culture that I sometimes wish--especially when I see the bounty and variety available at local markets--that I was more of a cook and that Lon and I were more adventurous eaters. But I am not, and we are not, and so we will leave the "exotic" produce and the cheeses and the seafood and the sausages and the meats and most of the prepared "goodies" to those that are.

My one purchase of the day was fresh strawberries. SO tasty and sweet, and nothing like
the huge "strawberries on steroids" with no flavor that are the usual fare in our U.S. supermarkets.

  

I'm tempted by the fish, but alas, Lon is not.

A further "silver lining" to our delayed departure is that it is giving my hand fractures more time to complete their healing. It's been a slow process to get the flexibility back, and the hand and fingers still have a tendency to swell a little at times. The good news, however, is that I've been able to get back to playing the flute and it's going pretty well.