Unexcused Absences France 2014 - Week 7 Recap (he said)

France 2014 – Week 7 Recap (he said)

by Kent 26 Aug 2014

Sunday morning we slept late (the “music” from Saturday night’s disco party in Le Chesne lasted until 3:16am), picked up some delicious bread and pastries, then continued north and east along the Canal des Ardennes.

When we arrived in La Cassine a couple hours later we had to double up, as we were the eighth boat on a four-boat quai. We learned that our timing was one day off; the night before, while we were enjoying the all-night “music” less than 30 meters from the stage (until 3:16am, not that I was counting), there was a big spectacle animation (hard to translate) at the local ruined château. The show told the story of the surrounding area from back before the dark ages up until modern times, when the château was destroyed during WW II.

“Bleachers on rails” at La Cassine

But leave it to the French to come up with a twist; instead of the audience sitting still and using stage hands to change the scenery, the scenery was spread out in a long line and the entire bleacher, with seats for close to 1000 people, moved about a kilometer – sideways – through the grounds of the château, along a set of rails. From what I can gather they built this setup years ago and now every summer they put on this show two times a week. And the last show of the season was the previous evening, while we were in Le Chesne, having their “music” forced upon us. Until 3:16am. But I’m not bitter.

Monday morning we awoke to a bit of rural excitement; a small herd of cows had escaped from their pasture overnight (remember, the grass is greener…) and one of them, exercising her new freedom, had decided to take a swim. In the canal. Now, cows are surprisingly adept swimmers, but the vertical sides of the canal make it almost impossible for them to get back on land. This one paddled around for a bit, and made several attempts to extricate herself, but to no avail. More locals arrived, and more boaters got out to watch, everyone shaking hands. And at this point I need to explain a bit about the French custom of shaking hands.

Mischievous cows

Any time there is a gathering, especially one, it seems, that is work-related, everyone stops what they are doing and shakes hands with everyone else. So as an example, the second person arrives and shakes hands with the first. Then a third person arrives, and shakes hands with the other two. A fourth person arrives, and everyone stops what they are doing to shake hands. This morning, even the farmer, quite anxious to get his expensive cow back on land, stopped to shake hands with each new arrival.

This custom is manageable when there is a small group of 3-5 workers. But once you have too many workers, you begin to forget who you’ve shaken hands with, and so you shake hands all around. I calculate that if there are more than 75 workers in a group, for instance on the floor of an office building, the time needed for everyone to shake hands will conveniently occupy the period between 9am and noon (because of the network effect), at which time of course everyone will need to break for their two-hour lunch. Fortunately, once you have shaken hands for the day it appears you can all get down to work, so I suspect that afternoons are particularly productive throughout France (although woe be it if a worker missed a morning, say for a doctor’s appointment, and showed up in the afternoon, and triggered a fresh round of hand shaking).

But back to the cow in the water. Eventually the farmer was able to coax her to the other side of the canal, which had a shallower bank, and everybody lived happily ever after, although not without a bit more excitement as the cow, now safely back on land, ran off to find her herd. A bit more comedy ensued as the cow jogged around the port, alternatively admiring the boats, eating grass, moo-ing for her lost herd, and being chased by the farmer’s friends. All this, and it wasn’t even 10am Monday morning.

Canal port at Pont-a-Bar

Monday afternoon we arrived at the northern end of the Canal des Ardennes where it meets the Meuse River at Pont-a-Bar. Our friends Marie-Helene and Christian, who live near Paris and cruise during the summer on their boat Wisdom, were heading back towards their home port from Denmark (!). Christian cooked a delicious meal, we supplied several wines from our “cellar”, and we all had a wonderful evening. We first met them on a rainy day on the Canal de Briare back in the autumn of 2011. They also came to visit us by car when we were stuck in Clamecy last spring due to the flooding. It was very nice to see them again, and to see them enjoying their gorgeous boat.

Dinner with Marie-Helene and Christian onboard “Wisdom”

Tuesday morning locked down into the Meuse River, then turned east (upstream) and cruised to Sedan. Along the way we saw several bunkers from the Maginot Line, a set of fortifications that run from the Swiss border all the way to the Ardennes that were supposed to keep the Germans at bay. Unfortunately it was a 19th century solution to a 20th century problem, and during WW II the Nazis simply drove through Belgium and the “impenetrable” Ardennes forests to capture France. But many bunkers live on, most of them slowly crumbling in fields or pastures.

Château de Sedan

That afternoon our friends Todd and Ted (the Minister of Leisure) arrived in Sedan to spend a week with us on the boat. We immediately set out to explore the town, which claims to have the largest fortified medieval castle in Europe (350,000 square feet). Sedan has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the key to the German takeover of France in WW II. As noted above, the invaders looped around the north-west end of the Maginot Line. Once they won the Second Battle of Sedan* in the spring of 1940, they were inside the Maginot Line, and had a clear shot to Paris. The victory also enabled them to trap the Allied forces that were advancing east into Belgium.

Birds of prey demonstration

Wednesday morning we stocked up on fruit and vegetables at the Sedan street market. That afternoon we toured the Sedan castle, which also included an exhibition of live birds of prey. That night we found a Spanish restaurant that was decorated in black and purple. The food was delicious, and the owner and his wife were a bit wacky. They love all things Gothic, so the décor consisted of mostly skulls, fancy hand weapons, and fake spider webs. But they were lovely hosts, and we had a fun time – they even showed us a photo album of all their various Halloween costumes over the years.

Ted with one of the many skulls at La Cantina del Conquistadors

Thursday we turned around and cruised downstream about four hours to Charleville-Méziers, the capital of the Ardennes département. The city has a nice new port off the main river, with dozens of slips, modern electric and water connections, and a beautiful Captainerie building. However, the port is mostly empty because no one involved in the construction bothered to consult the boating community. If they had, they would have discovered that their footbridge over the entrance to the port is too low for most canal boats, so everyone just parks their boats out on the river. Note to the designers: it’s called “research.”

Main square in Charleville-Méziers

Friday we had an amazing crêpe lunch in Charleville, then continued downstream (north) to Bogny-sur-Meuse. The mooring quai is adjacent to a house with quite a backyard ménagerie. We counted close to a dozen chickens, a rooster, about six geese, a goat, and a very old sheep that allowed one of the chickens to roost on his back. Unfortunately, when I went to take a photo, the sheep thought he was about to be fed, and ambled over to the fence. All the jostling caused the chicken to loose her footing and fall off, so I can offer no photographic proof – just trust me.

The Meuse River above Bogny-sur-Meuse

We finished the week Saturday by continuing north to Revin, a medium-sized town deep in the Meuse River valley. Todd and Ted have a rental car, so Ted and I cycled 23km back to Bogny to retrieve it (the previous days we retrieved the car by train). It was a lovely day for a bike ride, with a high of 62 degrees F (it is mid-summer in France, after all). Saturday evening we ran some loads of laundry at the nicely equipped port office, and we ate a nice dinner in town. It’s great to host T&T on our boat, as Ted is very generous in making sure we are well fed, both with cheese for the fridge and lovely restaurant lunches and dinners. Plus, they are a lot of fun to be around.

A lock on the Meuse River

Next week we’ll put the rental car to good use by spending a couple nights in Belgium.

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* The First Battle of Sedan was in September 2, 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, where emperor Napoleon III was taken prisoner along with his army. This major victory led to the unification of Germany, and until the end of WW I the Germans celebrated September 2 as a national holiday.

France 2014 Week 7 Numbers