TUBER MELANOSPORUM - BLACK TRUFFLES

In Le Marché doing the normal 'what shall we have tonight' when stumbled across a couple of fungi in the veg section. Thought a couple of kilos would do well but supplies were low! The black truffle or black Périgord truffe (Tuber melanosporum), 

Not many left, must have been a rush on them.

NANCY AND HIVERNAGE

Well we made it to Nancy, our winter mooring. Arrived at the port de plaisance and despite having 'booked' a mooring space it all looked very full. We moored up outside the port in order to go and see 'Le Capitaine'. As we were doing so he appeared. I recognised him as he has done a video for Nancy Tourism. Bizarre little video of him strolling around the port extolling its virtues. Quick conversation plus a visit into the port and he showed us our, the last mooring space. Our reservation was good after all, if not tight. Slowly moved Soraya inbetween the other boats and it's proving to be a really good mooring with quite a few liveaboards, English, Australian and French plus others, good social times.

Soraya in the Port de Plaisance Saint Georges Nancy

Place Stanislas at night

Only a five minute walk from the port is the city centre which is superb. The jewel being Place Stanislas a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lots going on, great 17th & 18th century architecture and surprisingly lots of Art Nouveau, more restaurants and bars then you could get round in a winter. Stanislas you may remember from a previous post regarding Madelines had his palace in the square, now Hotel de Ville. Everything is named after him, well his nickname 'Stan'. The 'Place' is known as 'Place de Stan' the trams are Stan, the buses Stanway, the small buses P'tit Stan, the bike hire Vélostan with the usual collection of Rue de Stanislas, pharmacie de Stanislas etc. etc. Still it's all good, the quality, facilities and the aesthetics. Come and have a look, it's only an hour and a half from Paris on the TGV.

FOOD AND DRINK

They say the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach........these are just two of the ways (below) to keep Geoff smiling and there are so many cafés, bars and restaurants to choose from in Nancy, I think we'll stay here for a while!!

Plenty of choice of beer

Hope he doesn't end up like the diminutive guy at this end!

Afternoon tea/coffee at the Art Nouveau Excelsior, Nancy

MURAL

Couldn't resist this photo of Margaret pulling on the ropes of another péniche, I hope she's not jumping ship.  

Fun painting on the side of a house in Lay Saint Remy.

FARMERS OF VERDUN

We were moored in Verdun for a few days. Unfortunately Verdun is famous for its battle during the First World War. It's the same to the French as the battle of the Somme is to the British! We were looking out of the wheelhouse and saw a tractor go across the bridge, then another and another.........until a couple of hundred drove into the town!! They completely gridlocked the whole town and then they all got out of their cabs to go for lunch, so......3 hours later they returned and drove round town a few more times. To add to the excitement, several bird scarers on the tractors sounded like fireworks going off every 10 minutes. It was a national protest against government policy, prices, imports etc. In other towns they dumped tons of manure outside the Government offices!

The main shopping street in Verdun.....gone for lunch!

LA MEUSE AND FLOODING

We've been in a bit of a hurry recently to get upstream and off La Meuse due to the time of the year. Looking at the canalised river we pondered, why are there absolutely no boats moored for winter and why are the various communes removing pontoons and even bottle banks close to the canal. Later in a conversation with the captain of the Port Plaisance in Revin she said we should 'go quickly before the winter rain starts.' Looking around as we progress up La Meuse we see the signs of flood levels such as the recent flood levels in the photo below. So it was foot hard down as we had 270km to do before we can leave the canal, with no chance of a turn off. I admit 270 km does not sound much but with the number of locks we only average 30+ km per day. There is a single turn off down the Canal des Ardennes, however this is closed at the moment for maintenance until mid December and that's far too late.

Recent flood levels in a lock. Oh la la!

The rains came. Where is the canal and where are the fields?

Yes the rain and floods did come! Not quite sure why they were so violent and fast to arrive, literally overnight. It must have rained a lot elsewhere or we feel the river authorities were planning for the winter and releasing water prior to the main winter rains? We were quite a way up La Meuse when they arrived only hitting us in the last 50 km. Fortunately quite a lot of the last section is lateral canal, hence less flow. There were sections, however, where the flow was very fierce and we were pleased to get into a lock cut. Revs up and keep in a straight line away from the barrages.

Good news we have our own private lock keeper. He is assigned to us for as long as we like, well that's cool. The thing is not all the locks on La Meuse are 'automatisée' some are manual!! Well manual means someone else does all that winding stuff. Get off the boat! No way.

Margaret relaxing while the éclusier does the work.

Flooding aside La Meuse has been very attractive with stunning mountains coming straight down into the canal. Fortunately we had good weather into the beginning of November some days definite shorts and T shirts. The weather has now changed to normal, only a couple more short canals and on to Nancy for hivenage.

A pretty shot of 3 good friends! on the banks of La Meuse.

MADELEINES, KING STANISLAS AND COMMERCY

Not a connection you would normally make 'but' this is the origin of the Madeleine (the cake), what a place to come and visit. Apparently the humble Madeleine was initially made for 'King Stanislas Leszczynski of Poland and Duke of Lorraine et Bar' (what a title!) resident of the Stanislas Chateau in Commercy. If the Madeleine is small and plain the Chateau is not. Unfortunately whilst the chateau is mainly still in one piece the gardens, which were huge, and the estate have gone as an entity.

This is the interior of La Cloche Lorraine, yes they do sell Madeleines, plain, chocolate, lolly pop, thumb nail size, dinner plate size and many random flavours........ In fact as long as it's Madeleines, they sell it.

Good news. I've often facied a straight from the oven Madeleine, yes I know this may sound a bit anal but you always buy them packeted and therefore a bit old. Well in the birthplace of Madeleines you can buy them fresh and they are even better.

Short story. We decided to go for a coffee in the town that put Madeleines on the map and I said to Margaret 'I bet they don't sell Madeleines'. We ordered the coffee and asked if they had Madeleines. Well, surprise surprise they said no!!! Is that a good business decision or are they just fed up with Madeleines?

A Madeleine seller.

A 'Fresh Madeleine' eater. 

BIÈRE ET FEUTRE (BEER AND FELT)

Is there a connection between beer and felt. Yes there is. Both subjects are covered by unique museums on La Meuse. The first is the 'Musée Européen de la Bière' in Stenay. No modesty here it's the 'European' museum. The other is the 'Musée du Feutre' in Mouzon, the only felt museum in France and possibly the world?

Well you couldn't really walk past it and it did have a good tasting room at the end. It has everything about beer, the history, the equipment, the science and even an exhausting display of beer tops! Someone was obviously very dedicated.

Not totally sure felt dresses will be a big hit, probably a bit stiff and scratchy.

The Feutre museum owes it's origin to a felt empire in the town owned by the Sommer family and I think it is still producing felt today after 130 years.  The museum included an Atelier that was more of an art showroom producing furniture, fashion and household goods all from, yes you can guess... felt. Some of the stuff was great (dresses aside). 

You can always rely on France for having small, totally subject focused museums in the most unlikely of towns. Great.

TRANSPORT

Just came across my new form of transport that would be craneable onto Soraya. Not that I would want to get rid of Scoots.

Not sure about the dogs (soft toys), otherwise looks great.

SEDAN AND THE ROYAL BEDLINEN

The problem is sometimes you can be too specialised. Sedan, well what can I say, small town in the middle (well edge actually) of France. Once a town of great wealth and the largest Medieval fortified castle in Europe. However, it cast its chance on making 'sheets for the King'. Well I think we all know what happened to the French royal family. Now, well it's a shame it just seems to have lost the plot. Two serious incursions by the Germans in two conflicts cannot help. Anyway back to the sheets. How many sheets did the Royal Family need to support a town, apparently quite a lot!

The Royal sheet factory - Royale de Draps du Dijonval 1646, now part of the hospital.

A once great villa in need of serious work

It's not all bad though if you're a football fan as Sedan is one of the big French teams. The size of the stadium proves it.