Day 10 - Pontailler to Paris

Before we went to bed we packed everything up.  We had to wake up very early because a taxi was taking us to Auxonne and then we had a train to Dijon and then another train to Paris.  The cab came on time and flew down the narrow, winding country roads at about 70 mph!  As expected, the train came exactly on time.  There was only a one hour layover between trains or we would have had time to explore Dijon.  On the train to Dijon, we could see a rainbow through the window!  The trains are very fast, quiet and comfortable.  Each seat has a small table that comes down (like on a plane), an individual light and a small garbage can.  And no one checked our tickets!

At the Dijon train station

Paris train station

When we arrived at Dijon, we found a cafe in the station that had free wifi, so I had a cafe au lait and a pastry with my computer.  David went out to buy us something to take for lunch on the train, but the sandwiches there were unidentifiable, so he found a Subway and got us food there.  We got the train to Paris (this time they did check tickets) and two people were in our seats.  We took two other seats then the people who had those seats came so we got our original seats.  I slept all the way to Paris but David stayed awake and took pictures.  We arrived in Paris, got directions to our rental apartment and found our way here 15 minutes later than we'd said but Luis, the landlord, wasn't here.  We waited for a while and tried calling the number he gave us but I'm having trouble dialing French numbers on my phone.  I finally walked into a few stores till I found a girl willing to call Luis for me on her phone.  He arrived shortly after and took us to the apartment.  We dropped our things and left for more sightseeing.

We started with the Jardin des Tuilerie, famous gardens which were lovely, and then went to the nearby Musee de L'Orangerie.  At the Museum, we saw paintings by Renoir, Cezanne,  Picasso, and of course the massive Monet waterlily paintings.  Some of these were over 20 feet wide and spectacular!  Then we walked by the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais although we didn't have enough time to go in.  We took the train to a place called La Defense which is nicknamed Le Petit Manhattan - all modern skyscrapers.  They have this giant arch called La Grande Arche which lines up perfectly with the Arc de Triomphe far in the distance.  It seems you used to be able to go to the top of the Arche but no more, so we were a bit disappointed.  Then we headed back to our new neighborhood and wandered around the streets going to stores and just looking.

Le Jardin des Tuilerie (above and below)

Grand Palais

Petit Palais

Eiffel Tower in background

Grande Arche (Notre Dame Cathedral could fit underneath) 

View from Grande Arche - Arc de Triomphe is in the far distance 

Sue and David in Paris!! 

Day 9 - Auxonne to Pontailler

 We got up this morning and showered in the very comfortable and spacious facility at the marina.  I stopped to chat with Carol and Roy (dockmasters) about places to go in Paris.  We’d been hoping to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but sadly it was sold out for Friday, the only day we have left in Paris.   We decided to walk up into town to see if we could eat breakfast out, but couldn’t find a place selling any kind of breakfast food.  We did have café au lait there.  We also stopped into two bakeries and bought a fresh, still warm baguette and some pastries.  We (mostly I) ate half of the baguette before we got back to the boat.  I tried the pastries as well – best I’ve ever had!!!  Our new friends and boat neighbors were all up and about so we chatted with them and exchanged email addresses while I uploaded pictures on my computer.  Then we had to sadly bid them all adieu.

Last look at our marina in Auxonne 

Pastries bought in Auxonne - YUM!!

We headed north on the Saone again for our final destination, Pontaillier Sur Saone where we will spend the night and then head back to Paris.  We need to take a cab back to Auxonne and then catch a 9:30 train to Paris, changing trains in Dijon. We went through only one lock today, and we were in it with two other boats.

Heading towards Pontailler - traffic on the river

We're heading out of the lock and the boat in the picture is going in. 

Inside the last lock of this trip (above and below)

Shortly after, we arrived in Pontailler Sur Saone, our final boating destination.  Just before the entrance to the small canal where the FPP marina was, the current became very strong.  They way it was set up, it was hard to see if another boat was coming out before we pulled in, so David steered past the entrance, made a U turn in the wide river and then turned back into the small canal.  We docked in the FPP marina and were met by Irwin, who works here.  He was very nice and answered all our questions and also allowed us to go on some of the other FPP boats that were here so we're already picking out boats for our next adventure!  Then we took a walk from one end of the town to the other, which took about 15 minutes.  There are not even too many stores, and only one restaurant open for dinner tonite.  No restaurants were open for lunch so we just ate all the food we had left on the boat for a lovely lunch!

On the bridge over the entrance to the small canal in Pontailler 

WW2 Memorial with a rooster on top.  No explanation.

All the leftover food for lunch 

Then, we were just relaxing on the boat and we got into a conversation with another boating family from Germany.  The husband, Markus, invited us on their boat and we chatted with him and his wife Gitta for about two hours while we drank champagne!  Again I have to say, we've met the nicest and most interesting people on this trip!

Markus and Gitta 

We all decided to have dinner together, Markus, Gitta and their two lovely daughters, Anna-lea and Katharina.  We went to the only restaurant in town and had a wonderful dinner... and David finally got his frogs legs!  The food in the restaurant was delicious but there were only two other people besides the six of us!  We walked back to our boats, said good bye and promised to keep in touch.  Then David and I packed our stuff for our early morning departure.  I think we must have "grown" some new clothes because there is so much left to pack!

In the restaurant with Gitta and her daughters - these are just the appetizers!

My steak (with some kind of sauce)

Markus' frog's legs

David's frog's legs in a cream sauce with puff pastry

Markus with DJ  (you can bring dogs into restaurants!)

Day 8 - Dole to Auxonne

We woke in the morning to the lovely sound of pouring rain.  Again.  Sigh.  We had paid 3 euros for a shower at this facility so we were determined to take them.  We packed our towels, soap, clean clothes etc. and hurried to the shower at the other end of the marina.  At least the showers were hot and roomy and there was space to keep our dry clothes dry.  We each have waterproof jackets and water resistant hoods and as we got ready to pull out the rain had mostly stopped.  Hopefully it won’t pour all day because today is the same as yesterday for the first 3 hours – lock after lock – which requires both of us to be outside as we go through them. 

One section of the trip on the canal between Dole and the Saone River is through an industrial area.  There are warning signs that there is closed circuit TV and other warnings if there’s any problem to basically, get the hell away – don’t linger!  It’s not very pretty and doesn’t feel especially safe.  Luckily, it’s only about a ten minute span of traveling time. 

On the canal

a house at one of the locks

The lock at the entrance of the canal that led to Dole

The weather cleared up early in the day, so we weren’t standing in the rain too much.  We reached the Saone just around noon and then got to the turn off toward Auxonne a little after 1:00.  There was a lock there with two boats going in and one boat waiting in front of us and a large barge behind us.  After the two boats went into and through the lock, a boat came through the lock in the opposite direction.  After this, the boat ahead of us and we moved into the lock.  Someone from the other boat got off to turn the pole that opens the lock door but it wouldn’t work.  Then the girl from the other boat pulled the emergency pole. Then the captain from the barge came along screaming in French at all of us but neither we nor the folks in the other boat (whom incidentally we met in Chalon) could understand him.  Fortunately,  both they and he also spoke German so they explained what happened to us. We then had to wait for someone to come to reset the lock – about a half hour we were told.  

The boat ahead of us waiting to get into the lock 

The barge behind us (three times our length) 

Waiting for the lock to open

The small boat on the left came out of the lock

The barge captain’s wife came over to talk to us.  She spoke English and she and her husband were Dutch.  Apparently, the lights on the locks go from red,  to red and green, to just green.  Since no one was in the lock, both our boat and the boat in front of us went in on the red and green, when you’re supposed to wait.  That triggered a mechanism that stopped the lock from working at all.   And it started raining again.  Also the barge, being a professional boater, has right of way in the lock, even though we were there first.  We finally got through the lock after the guy came to reset it. 

The guy in the blue jacket resetting the lock and the barge captain

We traveled the short distance to Auxonne and docked at the recommended marina, H2O.   As we were pulling into our space, a woman from the beautiful boat next to us got off her boat to help us dock.  And she spoke English!!!  She and her husband are British and spend a good part of their year on the boat.  Her name is Chris and her husband, whom we met later, is Pete.  Next, David and I went into the town of Auxonne and did a walking tour of this town.  It’s cute and small and we sampled the pastries in several bakeries.  This town is famous because Napolean went to school here.   

Church in Auxonne 

Fortification around the town of Auxonne 

David in front of Napolean's statue

Walking around with pastries

Then we headed back to the boat to relax and pay the dockmaster.  Well, he and his wife are also British and an American couple was in their office when we stopped by.  The Americans were from Mass. and have rented their house out for two years  while they live and travel on their boat!  Living my dream!!!  David was wearing one of his orange Syracuse shirts and, small world, the American guy went to Cuse!! We all talked for a while and then we headed back to our boat again.  We were chatting with Chris and Pete, and then another of their British friends, Ken, also living on his boat for the better part of 20 years, came over.  We all had a lovely time talking until they were joined by yet another American couple with whom they were having dinner.  While we were getting ready for our dinner, we heard English being spoken by a man in the boat diagonally across from ours.  Another American and his wife living on their boat, so we talked with them for a bit.  They were going out to dinner as we were and so we were all taking the long path into town at the same time.  Then we met up with another couple of Brits also living on their boat!  It turns out this whole group was getting together for dinner.  We all walked together and I was chatting with one of the British women.  We all exchanged email addresses and blogs, and this last couple was planning to be in the US in a year or two and come up to the Hudson where we keep our "real" boat.  Maybe we'll see them again.  During our conversation, David mentioned the young couple with the sailboat and little children that we'd met in Tournus.  He no sooner got the words out and they said "Oh, you mean Tom and Natalia".  Unbelieveably, they'd met them too.  Apparently the living-on-your-boat-in-France thing is a small world.  Well, David and I had a nice dinner with a waitress who was kind enough to translate the menu, and best of all, this marina has wifi, so I'm very happy!

Dean (American) in front of his boat

The young group we'd first met in Chalon

Carol - She and her husband Roy are the dockmasters in Auxonne

Our boat neighbors Pete (left) and Chris (right) and their friend Ken (center) 

Day 7 - St. Jean de Losny to Dole

We headed to Dole, which is a detour from the Saone River.  Dole is about 11 miles up a canal, so we will have to retrace our path tomorrow to get back to the Saone.  There are 8 locks between the Saone and Dole and they are self run.  At the first one, the lockmaster gave us a remote control.  As you approach the lock you use the remote to open the door and then you go in and secure your boat to the side wall.  Then there’s a bar you pull to shut the door and start the water filling in.  The other door automatically opens when it’s done.

This is the gizmo for controlling the lock.  Push up the blue (left) bar and the lock doors shut and water comes in (or goes out) 

Under a low bridge! 

Holding our boat steady inside a lock (me above, David below)

The ride to Dole took us about three and a half hours and we docked at the Nichols’ Marina.  Nichols is another boat rental company.  As we got into the town, we discovered a circus right across the street from our marina!  This is a beautiful town, and relatively large compared to the other towns we’ve been to on this trip.  We had heard that there was a street market here on Tuesdays but it had already ended when we got here.  We stopped at a little café for lunch and had lovely salads with different kinds of meats on them.  I had a smoked duck breast and David had cheeses, cold sausage, smoked duck and salami on his.  Just as we were finishing we met the couple at the table next to us – Hugo and Rozin, from Belgium.  We have recently been to Belgium and they’ve been to NY many times so we had  a lot to chat about.  Then we found the tourist office where we got a map for a walking tour of Dole.  Helping us to follow the tour there are little triangular metal plates attached to the sidewalk pointing the direction in which to walk.  On each plate is a picture of a cat!  After the tour we came back to relax on the boat and I bought tickets to the circus for tonite!  Yippee!!  

Entering a lock

Inside a lock

On the way to Dole (above and below) 

Our boat (far back, dark blue bottom) at the Nichols marina in Dole 

Lunch!!

Around Dole

This is one of the metal cat plates we followed on our walking tour of Dole 

A narrow street in Dole 

A sculpture in Dole called "The gossips" 

The circus across from our marina 

We sat on the boat and relaxed for a while, and then it was time to find a place for dinner.  As I think I have stated, most French people don’t eat until at least 8:00, but we had the circus at 8:30.  There was a little place right near our boat that had wifi so I packed the computer and we went there but they didn’t really have food.  They did have wifi, so we sat for a bit and had drinks.  They had a guy singing, and there were about 7 people in the whole place, including the two bartenders and the singer!  He started singing “Country Roads” by John Denver, in French.  Everyone in the place (yes, all 7 of us) started singing along with him, David and I singing in English.  Then  he played “City of New Orleans” (probably not the name of it but you’d know it if you heard it).  He realized that there were Americans in the place (us!) so he started playing a bit of the Star Spangled Banner and then Yankee Doodle Dandy.  We were all laughing and having a good time.   

Soon we left there to find food.  We walked all around trying to find a restaurant that wasn’t too expensive and had more than pizza.  We finally found this cute place and went in.  We were the only ones there.  The waiter spoke almost no English.  I couldn’t recognize a single item on the menu.  I pointed to one part and asked if he could tell me what they were…..  I asked, “Poullet, bouef, poisson?”  (chicken, beef, fish?) and he said, “Cheeses”.  I finally settled on a salad with ham and diced potatoes.  It was good, just not what I had in mind.  David had a fondue with mushrooms in the cheese.  Also good.  

At dinner!

Of course, a pic of the food!!

Next we were off to the circus!  It was actually pretty good for a small traveling circus.  It was kind of like the Big Apple Circus.  There was one ring and they had tigers, horses, elephants, acrobats and clowns.  The two best acts were this guy who was on a wheel attached to a contraption.  The wheel went around and he was running inside it like a hamster.  I kept thinking he’d fall.  The other great act had this giant metal ball and three guys on motorcycles were riding around inside it.  After the circus, we walked right across the bridge and into our marina.

Churros for sale!

A tiger at the circus (we were not this close, I zoomed in!) 

Balancing act!