Have Car, Will Travel

We picked up a rental car at the train station in Nancy on Monday, August 18. Trains are our preferred mode of travel while in Europe, but they weren't going to work well for our trip to the Netherlands. It's lovely to let someone else "do the driving" while being able to read, nap, or just watch the scenery go by, but four or five changes of train--taking over 8 hours and costing in the neighborhood of $800 (round trip) for the two of us--was hard to justify when compared to driving a rental car for six-and-a-half hours at a third of the cost (including the fuel).

There is another advantage to having access to a car, and that is the ability to easily visit villages and interesting sites that don't have convenient public transportation options. There was at least one stop we knew we wanted to make when we had the car, and that was the village of Domrémy-la-Pucelle, the birthplace of Joan of Arc. It first came to our attention when we made a day trip by train in mid-July to the town of Neufchâteau and we were investigating other possible sites of interest in the area. Domrémy was only about 10 kilometers from Neufchâteau, but as we had limited time before we had to return to Toul by train, and no bicycles or other means of covering the 10 km, the distance may as well have been 100 km. But now, we had the possibility to visit the village, so after we collected the car in Nancy we headed southwest for the approximate 1-hour drive.

With a bit of serendipity, we stumbled upon a bargain of a lunch at La Marmite, a roadside brasserie in the village of Greux. After lunch, another 5 minutes of driving brought us to Domrémy-la-Pucelle, perhaps the mother of all "Joan of Arc was here" sites in France. Originally, simply named Domrémy, the "la Pucelle" was added to the village name in the late 1500's in recognition of Joan's nickname, "la Pucelle d'Orleans" (the Maid of Orleans). The village, which was never large and now has a population of only about 100, is located on the border between Lorraine and Champagne, and as a result saw much warfare over the centuries.

Joan was born in Domrémy in 1412, started hearing "voices" in the garden of her home in 1425, left Domrémy and offered her services to the future King Charles VII in 1428, led the army that relieved the siege of the city of Orleans in May 1429, and was present in Reims at the coronation of Charles VII. After that, things went downhill for Joan: she failed to lift the Siege of Paris in September 1429 and unsuccessfully attempted to lay siege to the fortified town of La Charite-sur-Loire; was captured by the Burgundians in Compiegne in 1430 and turned over to the English; and was ultimately put on trial for heresy in Rouen in 1431, found guilty, and burned at the stake. An "oops, we made a mistake" rehabilitation trial in 1456 declared that the original trial was corrupt, and cleared Joan of the charges of heresy. Her reputation within France continued to grow, and particularly after the French Revolution she was recognized as a symbol of French strength and endurance. Joan was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1920, and is today one of the patron saints of France.

Joan of Arc's birthplace and childhood home. The structure of the house has undergone
some changes since it was originally built in the Middle Ages. The lintel over the door
was installed by a descendent of Joan's in 1481.

The largest of the four rooms on the ground floor of the house,
this was her parents' bedroom and, therefore, most likely to
have been the room in which she was born. The slab floor 
dates to the 19th century.

Another of the rooms on the ground floor, designated as the
"brother's bedroom." In Joan's time, the upper story is thought to have
housed a granary, and in the 19th century was briefly a museum.

An interpretive center adjacent to the home delves into
Joan's early life, the battles she participated in, and her
evolution into "legend." 

Even saintly legends can't avoid being monetized and lending their names to modern-day products:

Restaurants and beers

Cheese

The parish church of Saint-Remy, next door to the family home,
and the site of Joan's baptism in 1412.

The baptismal font said to have been in use at the time 
of Joan's baptism. Behind it is a tombstone of the
descendants of one of Joan's godmothers.

A short distance to the south of Domrémy is a small hill on which sits a large pilgrimage church built between 1881 and 1926 that bears the name Basilica of Saint Joan of Arc. The hill was previously occupied by a chapel that had marked the site where Joan is supposed to have received some of her revelations. 

The Basilica of Saint Joan of Arc.

The interior had some amazing artwork.

Mosaics were here, there, and everywhere.

The walls held a series of paintings depicting the significant
events in Joan's life.

The mosaic in the ceiling above the altar.

Joan hears the voices of Saints Michael, Catherine,
and Margaret.

It was an interesting "detour" in the rental car, and probably would have sufficed as "field trip of the day," but a quick check of the surrounding area the day before had uncovered another promising stop that was only a 20-minute drive to the southwest of Domrémy. The modern-day village of Grand, population of about 400, was previously the site of the large Roman city of Andesina, with a population of approximately 20,000. Archeologists first discovered the Roman vestiges in the 18th century, but much of the major clearing of ancient sites didn't start in earnest until the 1960's. One mystery is why a large city would be built in an area without rivers, and instead, was situated on a limestone plateau whose springs required the construction of underground aqueducts and hundreds of wells to bring the water to the surface. It is thought that Grand/Andesina was a significant religious site dedicated to the worship of Apollo Grannus, although a sanctuary referenced in various texts has yet to be located.

The largest and most impressive of the Roman structures is an amphitheater, whose initial construction dates back to the 1st century AD. Its central aisle of 148 meters puts it among the largest buildings of its type in the Roman empire. Seating capacity was estimated to be 16,000-18,000. By the mid-4th century, the amphitheater had been abandoned and was falling into ruins. 

A panoramic view of the amphitheater. The wooden stands were added in the 1990's as
part of an effort to protect the limestone arches and other exposed structures from deterioration.
The remains to the east side were left in their original state, except that stonework on the 
eastern facade was partially buried behind a retaining wall to preserve it.

An aerial photograph of the site in the 1980's, before the
protective stands were added.

The arches and other exposed parts of the structure under the
protective stands.

View from the stands toward the rooms at the east end of the arena
that may have been used for gladiator warm-up, animals, etc.

The view of the arena from the top tier of seating. The design of the amphitheater, open on
one side, was somewhat unusual and meant that the acoustics could have allowed for theatrical
type performances, not just gladiatorial combat.

The eastern walkway to the arena.

The other principal Roman attraction in the village was a large mosaic that was unearthed in 1883. At 232-meters-squared, the mosaic is one of the largest preserved Roman mosaics in France and paved the floor of a large building that had an apse. The building may have been a basilica, a place of judicial administration, but the central design that features a theater scene from a Greek or Latin comedy has led to speculation that it may have been a different kind of structure.

The building which houses the mosaic and a small adjoining
museum of Roman objects discovered during excavations in Grand.

View toward the apse. Of the central design, only 2 figures
have survived.

A side view.

From a corner.

Most of the objects displayed were small in scale. Some of the
more important and larger finds are in museums elsewhere
in France.

Blocks from the ancient foundations of the building.

We didn't have enough time to partake of the complete "Discovery Tour" in Grand, as it was getting to be late afternoon and it would take us about an hour to drive back to Toul. And, of course, there was packing to be done and the anticipation of a long drive the next day. So many places, so little time . . . 

Cruising Stats 2025

We've been back in Toul for over a week now, and don't anticipate any additional cruising this season. It was a shame that having to juggle the uncertainties around the bow thruster repair truncated the distance and the number of waterways that we were able to cover this year, specifically, we didn't cruise on the Marne au Rhin Est Canal to Strasbourg. Since it is well to remember that in the world of boating "the only constant is change," we will simply add that canal to our proposed itinerary for next season. We are incredibly grateful for the cruising that we were able to do, and that we could give some of our family and friends a little taste of what our summer "slow travel through France" life is like.

The map below shows the route that we traveled this year. We started in Auxonne (not labeled, but at the bottom of the red that marks the route), followed the Petite Saone River to the northeast to join the Canal des Vosges, got on the Moselle River east of Toul, diverted to a short section of the Marne au Rhin Ouest Canal to moor in Toul, went back on the Moselle to head north to Metz, turned around to head south to Nancy (where we were--very briefly--on the Marne au Rhin Est Canal), and finally returned to Toul.

The route, including the to-and-fro of the Metz and Nancy segments, involved the following:

Number of cruising days: 32

Total engine hours: 109.2

Distance cruised: 471 km (283 miles)

140 locks

8 mobile bridges

2 tunnels

1 aqueduct

I have finished my project to caulk all of the exterior window frames just in time for our upcoming getaway to see the tall ships in Amsterdam. Lon has made great progress on repairing the "dings" and rust spots that are a constant on a steel-hulled boat, especially one that has been actively cruising. 

With as much time as we've now spent in Toul, it's definitely starting to feel like a home-away-from-home. 

One nice thing about summers in larger towns is that they often have free
activities on a routine basis. Toul has been having a summer outdoor concert
 series. Last night's concert was in the park that is adjacent to the cathedral
 and behind the Hotel de Ville. It was a lovely spot to listen to the double-bill
 of a jazz chanteuse and a reggae band (lower photo).

In the shadow of the Toul ramparts, the landscaping sheep head 
 home after a hard day of "work" eating grass.

Visitors

We left our comfortable mooring in Pont-a-Mousson on Monday morning, July 28. A half day's cruise on the Moselle, and a few kilometers of the Marne au Rhin Est Canal, and we would be in Nancy.

We'd known for several months that Ken and Brenda, the boating friends and Michigan snowbirds we'd met while living aboard C.A.R.I.B. II in St. Petersburg, would be joining us in France on August 1 for several days. Because boating schedules are usually difficult to predict, the best we could tell them early on was that we hoped to pick them up somewhere in Northeast France. As soon as we knew that we could make our way north on the Canal des Vosges, we thought that Strasbourg would be a good site for our rendezvous. Despite the bow thruster problems, we continued to hold out hope for that scenario--until it became obvious that, given all of the variables in our situation, Strasbourg was no longer a reasonable option. And so, while they were still able to change their train reservations without penalty, we let Ken and Brenda know that we would meet them in Nancy. As boaters themselves, they were very understanding about the fact that changing circumstances is all too common in boating.

The Moselle portion of the cruise on the 28th passed without incident. As we went through the (staffed) lock that separates the Moselle from the Marne au Rhin Est Canal, we were told that there was a problem at the two lift bridges that we would have to pass through to reach our mooring in Nancy. At that time, we were led to expect that the problem would not be resolved quickly and that we would have to find a place between the lock and the first lift bridge to moor overnight. 

An intermediate port had no space for us. A few kilometers further on we staked to the bank and had every intention of spending the night. However, after seeing a cruiser pass us, and because we weren't totally comfortable with the "feel" of the neighborhood that we were in, I biked to the first lift bridge and saw that the cruiser was moored on a nice waiting quay--and there was plenty of room for us to join them. It appeared to be a much better option than where we were, so we pulled up stakes and settled at the bridge. 

Two red lights always spell trouble, but on this breezy day it was nice to have made a "soft
landing" onto a decent quay.

In the meantime, a brief discussion with the cruiser's crew, and a vnf advisory, let us know that the technical problem was with the cameras at the second lift bridge. Cameras are a critical part of the notification and safety systems of the lift bridges, so this was a definite problem for the automated opening process. Ultimately, the vnf didn't make us wait for the cameras to be fixed on the 29th, but decided that they would manually operate the bridges to get the waiting boats where they wanted to be for the evening of the 28th. Somehow, the cruiser had quietly left before us, but nevertheless, we were eventually able to continue to Nancy and were moored by late afternoon.

The commercial quay in Nancy, our first choice for mooring. We were able to tuck into the open
space along the quay. In front of us, a 6-star (I didn't know there was such a thing) hotel boat
that charges over $10,000 p.p., double occupancy, for a 6-day cruise, and behind us, a nightclub. 

The location of the port was within easy walking distance of the city center and, although without electric and water services, there was no charge for the mooring. We were a little concerned about possible noise from the nightclub boat, but it didn't appear to be open that Monday night.

However, the quay was adjacent to a public walkway, and a park bench in our vicinity became a gathering spot that evening for a group that was having a good time drinking and playing music. Poor Lon stayed up very late out of concern that "lights out" on C.A.R.I.B. would invite mischief. At some point before the party broke up around 2 a.m. he heard glass breaking at various locations along the quay, and this is what greeted us in the morning by the salon door on our deck:

Not wanting a repeat performance on subsequent nights, we walked to the Port de Plaisance in the next  basin, and were able to make arrangements for a mooring there for several nights. Worth every euro.

The public could also pass by our boat here, but the marina had a night
security guard to keep problems at bay. Given the space for maneuvering,
we weren't quite sure how our exit was going to work, but that was
an issue for another day.

The next days were spent getting the boat cleaned for our guests and exploring parts of Nancy that we hadn't had time for during our day trip in early July.

The Cathedrale-Primatiale of Nancy, built from 1703 to 1742, 
and, therefore, newer than many of the cathedrals in France. Due
to the political and religious situation, Nancy was not the seat of
a bishop until 1777, when Lorraine joined France. Toul then lost its
bishop and this church in Nancy gained the status of cathedral.

The interior of the cathedral was undergoing extensive renovations.
At left, some of the interior is visible, but the upper right photo
shows just how widespread the scaffolding was. Much of the
artwork was covered to keep off dust, and the best we could do
was read posted information about what was hidden from view.

Examples of Nancy's Art Nouveau riches.

Upper left: Place d-Alliance, the 3rd public square that forms part of Nancy's UNESCO-recognized
architectural triad along with Place Stanislas and Place de la Carriere.
Upper Right: a quiet street in New Town, "new" being a relative term applying to the 16th C.
 expansion of Nancy by Duke Charles III.
Lower Left: street art, literally.
Lower Right: New Town (Ville Neuve) has an expansive and active commercial center.

Upper: the 18th C. replacement to the original parish church of Saint-Sebastien
in the Ville Neuve.
Lower: an expansive covered market across the square from Saint-Sebastien.

Ken and Brenda arrived at the Nancy train station in the late afternoon on August 1. We'd figured out the tram system by then, so we didn't have to walk the entire way from the train station to the port. Celebratory welcome docktails--with cremant, of course!--on the aft deck were followed by dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant not too far away. We 'd considered going to Place Stanislas for the nightly light and music show at 10 p.m., but it was raining intermittently, so we deferred that particular activity and let them call it an early night after their travel day from Paris.

August 2nd was a full day in Nancy for Ken and Brenda to get a flavor of the city. We all walked to the Tourist Office in Place Stanislas, then split up to allow them to discover whatever parts of Nancy interested them the most, while Lon and I walked through Nancy's largest park, Parc de la Pepiniere. We were glad that a menagerie-type zoo no longer existed, and that the only birds and animals currently in the animal exhibition space were of the domestic variety, such as chickens and goats.

We encountered Ken and Brenda giving their feet a rest
at the park's fountain.

While we returned to the boat, Ken and Brenda continued their explorations. They saw enough in the day to be satisfied, so we planned to depart Nancy the next day and start cruising toward Toul. 

But first, Ken and Brenda treated us to a tasty Japanese dinner, and we then lingered around Place Stanislas. We had to dodge some persistent raindrops during our wait to see "Morphing Architecture," the sound-and-light show that would use video mapping to transform the facades of the town hall and the four large side pavilions (2 on each side of the square, perpendicular to the town hall). This "intersection of heritage, artificial intelligence, and artistic creation" was accompanied by an original soundtrack. 

Place Stanislas by evening, with a view toward Place de la
Carriere. This was the only side of the square that would not
be "lit up" during the light show, but the soft lighting and wet
pavements had their own charm.

Two variations in the appearance of the town hall, and a glimpse of how the pavilions tied
into the experience.

The "moment of truth" arrived on the morning of August 3. The quay we were moored against was perpendicular to the waterway, we were bow in, and we had to get the bow pointed in the direction we had arrived from. The quay didn't have properly positioned bollards which would have allowed us to use spring lines to pivot around the curved end of the quay, and the positions of the finger docks and their boats didn't give us enough space to do a "free pivot" in the available water. Because the winds were light that morning, Lon decided that we should be able to back off the quay and continue backing down the waterway until we got past the three finger docks to a more unobstructed part of the port basin. A slow pivot there would get us headed in the correct direction. A working bow thruster would have made it easier, but it was doable.

It would have been a completely non-exciting, non-event (except for Lon's excellent piloting skills, of course) had a small cruiser not decided they needed to leave their slip right after we pulled away from the quay. Apparently, they thought we were headed to Strasbourg because they pulled in behind us as though to follow us, not realizing that we were not heading in the direction they intended, but were going to continue to back up. Some energetic gesticulations on our part--and a few choice words--got them to see the error of their ways and they returned to where they started, thankfully out of our way.

Just outside of the port area was a "barge neighborhood" full of liveaboards.
Potential collision crisis averted, the captain and our guests found their
 smiles as we headed out of Nancy.
 

As we were transiting the lock that separates the canal from the river, this egret had a field
day with all of the small fish that had been trapped on the lock gate as the water dropped.

Our cruising goal was to stretch our return to Toul into 3 cruising days, so we made our first stop at the town of Pompey, mooring on a fixed jetty that the town had installed on the river. This was just past the junction where the Moselle headed north and was a new-to-us stop. Pompey is an industrial town, mainly steel, which wasn't evident in the main part of the town. It was in Pompey that Bishop Euchaire lost his head in 362 when he was massacred along with approximately 2,000 other Christians. Modern-day Pompey on a cool August Sunday afternoon was a quiet place. We strolled past the adjacent Pompey lock on the river, through the town, and rewarded ourselves with the purchase of some pastries at an open boulangerie.

Left: Saint-Epvre Church, a 19th C. reconstruction on the site of an older church.
Upper right: Sainte-Anne Chapel, dated 1633 and remodeled in the 19th C.
Lower right: a nicely maintained building in Pompey.

Ken was my hero that evening--he cooked! And we all enjoyed
the delicious lemon chicken on the back deck.

Upper: There are two bridges over the Moselle near Pompey, and when
the sun finally came out in the evening, the reflections were lovely.
Lower: the simultaneous crossing of the bridges by a car and a train leaves
the impression that the car is imagining itself as bigger than it really is.

The cruise on August 4 from Pompey to Liverdun was probably the shortest of our season at just over an hour.

Ken is at the controls!

We'd had such good luck previously with mooring to the dolphins on the river that we had no hesitation about doing so again. 

The passing of these two commercial barges gave us some excitement soon after we moored.
The barge at left was moving rather sedately; the same cannot be said for the barge at right, which was
cruising downstream at over 15 km an hour. This was fast enough that it almost seemed as though it
skidded around the curve prior to passing us. With that kind of speed, it pushed out a great
deal of water, jostling us rather violently at the mooring.

After checking out C.A.R.I.B. for damage (none) and having lunch, we tightened the lines, hoped for the best with any future barge passages, and climbed the hill into old Liverdun so that we could do the walking tour with Ken and Brenda. I'd made a comment in a previous post that I thought that Liverdun was an odd name. I still think that it is, but the name makes sense when you realize that it is derived from the Gallic Liberdunum, meaning "fortress on a rock."

Viewed from the 12th C. Porte Haute (high gate), C.A.R.I.B. III is just visible at the center of the photo.

It wasn't a weekend, so it was quiet in town. Our passage
provided a bit of interest for this cat.

The morning of August 5 was damp, so we decided to delay our departure to Toul until the last of the rain cells had passed. We took advantage of the delay to walk to what was the site of part of the old Marne au Rhin Canal, which used to pass through Liverdun. The canal required the construction of a tunnel, nearly 400 meters long, through a nearby hill. The section of the canal and the accompanying port were completed in 1851, and were closed to navigation when the canalized Moselle opened in the 1970's.

Upper left: the path of the canal, as viewed from the bridge which used to cross the canal.
Upper right: Lon walks toward the tunnel on a path through the grass.
Lower left: Pat in front of the metal gates restricting access to the old tunnel.
Lower right: the interior of the tunnel.

By early afternoon the clouds were clearing out and we were able to undertake the 3-hour cruise to Toul. The cruising day ended with more excitement than we would have liked. We had to share the lock going from the Moselle to the Marne au Rhin Ouest Canal with an 11-meter cruiser. The conditions for doing so were not optimum, although we didn't know it at the time we were asked to do so. Not enough bollards, and bad spacing for the ones that existed, meant that the line keeping us from moving forward in the lock was much too long, and we weren't able to set a spring line to keep us from moving back into the cruiser. Lon could keep the engine going to stabilize the aft motion, but the attending eclusier let water into the lock so fast that our nylon line stretched, our bow bumped up against the front gates of the lock, and then the bow started swinging from side to side. The boat movement was rather frightening until the eclusier finally slowed down the water flow. We were all tremendously relieved to leave the lock and moor in the TSNI yard. An "interesting" end to our cruising this season. Happy Hour couldn't come soon enough.

An evening walk ended with dinner at Quai 158, the 
restaurant at Port de France.

After dinner we strolled until the light displays in town came on at 9:30 p.m.
The "desk lamps" provided understated elegance in the circular center of
 town, and the lights in the cathedral cloister were as pretty as we remembered.

We expanded on that introduction to Toul the next morning, by walking to the Cathedral and climbing the stairs to the south tower.

Brenda and Ken enjoyed the view from the top.

On the descent, Lon lurked below and made the 325 stairs look more daunting than
they actually were.

After perusing the interior of the cathedral, and getting a daylight view of the cloisters, it was time to wander back to the boat so that our friends could get ready for leaving us the next day. They treated us to yet another dinner that evening and we said goodbye to them the next morning as they boarded a train to Strasbourg to continue their European vacation. The boat felt empty after they'd left.

Back to reality, however. Jean-Paul and the rest of the boatyard staff were on vacation the first week in August, so Lon started working on the end-of-season paint touch-ups, and I continued with a window caulking project that I'd started a few weeks ago. Another "Bach Festival" organ concert in the cathedral yesterday got us away from the boat for a few hours.

Although we're done cruising for the season, we have some busy weeks ahead. I'm already in "just enough, just in time" grocery mode because of all of the out-of-Toul travel that we'll be doing. Next Monday we will rent a car for a one-week Netherlands-Luxembourg trip, and after 9 days back in Toul we will leave for a 2-week African safari in Kenya. We'll wrap things up on the boat during a final 10 days in Toul before we leave on the 27th for 2 days in Paris and our flight to the U.S. on September 30. 

We will use our time in Toul to finish our painting and caulking projects, but a severe heat wave this week is going to make that challenging. As for the bow thruster? Well, Jean-Paul tells us that he was unable to rebuild it but may have located a replacement in the Netherlands. We're hoping that's the case so that we can have that repair done before we are gone for the season. Never a dull moment.