Unexcused Absences France 2015 - Week 2 Recap (he said)

France 2015 – Week 2 Recap (he said)

by Kent 1 Jul 2015

There was not much to do in Dillingen Sunday morning so we set out early (for us), around 10am. Soon after starting out, two things happened; we came to the Rehlingen lock, and the engine hour counter rolled over to 13,000 hours on our Nanni 40 hp diesel that powers Après Ski. For those of you who don’t know diesel engines, that’s a lot. And for those who do know diesel engines, that’s a lot.

Speaking of locks, now that we’re in Germany, communicating with the lock keepers has become distinctly more challenging. It’s mostly OK for us, as a small boat, to just show up at a lock unannounced, but these are large-gauge commercial locks, just shy of 625 feet long and 40 feet wide, and they take about an hour to finish a complete cycle. So missing a chance to lock through can put a good dent in our day.

A large-gauge Saar River lock

I had seen a big boat go by in our direction a few minutes before we departed, and wanted to call the lock keeper to let him know we were coming. We still had my Dad, who speaks passable German, with us, but he was below and I figured I might as well give it the old college try. I practiced what I was going to say, “Guten-tag, wir sind das boot Après Ski…” (good day, we are the boat Après Ski) until I was confident I could make the call and convey that we were on the way to Saarburg, about 30 minutes out, and would he hold the lock for us.

A bit of back-story; the Germans, as a country, have earned (justifiably) a reputation for doing things by the book. Couple that reputation with the dreaded wasser-polizei (water police), who all our fellow canal boat owners in France had warned us about, and we were more than a bit nervous about even venturing onto the German waterways, much less spending several weeks on big commercial rivers like the Saar and Mosel, with giant cargo barges moving to and fro and Strict German Lock Keepers ensuring that everything works smoothly. I imagine the Strict German Lock Keepers surveying their domain from their big control towers, fingers poised over the speed-dial button for the wasser-polizei, just waiting for some hapless pleasure-boater to make a mistake so they can say, “Nein!” (no!) and punch the button for the police. Picture Seinfeld’s “soup nazi”.

A major-league cargo barge, over 550 feet long

So now I think I’m ready to make the call; I practice my lines one more time (“Guten-tag, wir sind das boot Après Ski…”), then tentatively dial the number.

Strict German Lock Keeper: Schleuse Rehlingen, guten-tag. (“Rehlingen lock, good day”)

Me: Guten-tag… I, um… pause… waffle… do you speak English? (rats…)

S.G.L.K.: Nein (“no”).

Me: Peut-être, Francais (“maybe, French”)?

S.G.L.K.: Nein (“no”).

{at this point I can sense his finger hovering over the speed-dial button}

Me: Ah… um, argh… wir sind das boot Après Ski (“we are the boat Après Ski”).

S.G.L.K.: Jaaaa? (“yessss…?”)

Me: Und wir ankommen bei dreißig minute (“and we to come in 30 minute”).

S.G.L.K.: Jaaaa? (“yessss…?”)

{finger about to punch the button…}

Me: Und wir gehen an Saarburg (“and we go to Saarburg”).

S.G.L.K.: Wir Können wahrscheinlich passen Sie in, ja, einfach kommen bis zum Schleuse (I don’t suppose you could repeat that, in English… and while you’re at it, would you mind moving your finger away from that button?)

Me: Um… schleuse, dreißig minute (“Um… lock, thirty minute”)?

S.G.L.K.: Ja, gut (“yes, good”).

Me: *whew*

So we made it through the lock just fine, and all was well, and we continued downstream (north) on the Saar. A couple hours later we rounded a bend near Schwemlingen and saw La Bonne Vie moored to a long riverside quay. I was just in the process of saying, “Heather, we know them,” when Jan popped up and waved, “Hello Après Ski! Would you like to come over for tea?” in her lovely English accent. We last saw Jan and Bill during the long, fun night onboard Brett and Ann’s Kismet during our first pass through Chalons en Champagne last summer.

Well, it being only 2pm, it was a little early for tea, I thought, but kept that to myself. Jan continued: “Here, tie up and come aboard. Glass of wine perhaps?” Now we’re talking. It was Sunday, after all. Plus, I could use some wine after our (imagined) brush with German authority back at the lock. And so we got a chance to catch up on our respective stories since last summer. Plus Dad got to meet this delightful couple. A few hours later we continued on our way, with the hope that we could meet up again in a couple days for dinner.

A festival in Metlach, with music and a beer garden

Another few km brought us to a free mooring above the lock at Metlach. We wandered into town and found a candidate restaurant for dinner, the Salzbadkeller (translates as “salt bath cellar”, but fortunately we didn’t have to wear bathing suits). The meal was quite delicious; Heather and Dad had schnitzel with mushroom sauce, and I had “meat three ways,” and it wasn’t clear, exactly, what three ways I’d get the meat, but it turned out to be grilled slabs of pork, steak, and veal. It was triple delicious.

Approaching Saarburg

Monday we continued north in off and on rain, arriving in Saarburg early afternoon. We walked through town during a break in the rain, and wished we had more time to visit but weather radar showed more rain approaching and we needed to get settled at our mooring for the night, so we moved down river about a kilometer to the boat club marina. As we were pulling in we saw La Bonne Vie arriving. Unfortunately, the light rain had turned into a steady rain, which in due course turned into a full soaking rain, so we weren’t able to pull off our group dinner with Jan and Bill that evening.

The mill-race in Saarburg

Tuesday was still threatening rain when we left Saarburg, and we headed towards the junction with the Mosel River (Moselle in French). In under three hours we were moored up in Konz, a commuter suburb to the ancient city of Trier – and when I say “ancient”, it’s ancient as in “founded in the 1st century BC” and “the oldest city in Germany” ancient. We caught the hourly train from Konz into Trier, and spent the afternoon at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, with fascinating displays of archaeological finds from the stone age up through the middle ages. The museum also houses the Trier Gold Hoard, consisting of over 2,600 ancient Roman coins weighing 40 pounds, the most complete set ever found in one place. They depict about 40 Roman emperors and family members. In 1993, a backhoe was digging for a new parking lot in Trier, and broke open a bronze keg full of coins dating from about 70 AD to about 270 AD.

We enjoyed Trier so much that we decided to stay a second night in Konz, so Wednesday we did the same drill; walk about 10 minutes from the boat harbor to the station, catch the once-per-hour train into Trier, and wander the city. This day we checked out the Porta Nigra and the Imperial Baths, the best-preserved Roman city gate and Roman baths north of the Alps. From there we visited a toy museum, which was focused mostly on metal toys from the last century (tin soldiers, model cars and trains, etc.) and was actually quite interesting.

That evening we had the good luck of enjoying a group happy hour and dinner with Jan and Bill. The weather had finally cleared and we spent a long evening on their big sundeck telling stories.

The marina in Konz

Roman mosaic illustrating the new hip-hop dance moves

Forget about my left arm, check out my new hat!

Dinner with Dad, Jan and Heather (Bill was somewhere about)

Thursday we moved three more hours north on the Mosel (although the French call it “Moselle”, we are still in Germany) to the town of Schweich. This town, like Konz, is a commuter suburb for Trier, but it’s also on the edge of the Mosel wine producing region, and so was home to a few “Weinguts” (wineries). The question for the afternoon was not whether we were going to taste some wine, but where we would go to taste. The decision was sort of made for us, as the only producer open this Thursday afternoon was a little operation named Wallerath Ferienweingut. We were given a crash course in Mosel wines, courtesy of the owner, and learned all about the different types (trocken, feinherb, lieblich, süß), and grades (Kabinett, Spätlese, and Auslese). Dad bought us a couple bottles of 2014 Riesling Spätlese feinherb that will go perfectly with a zesty dish.

And then, vineyards!

Friday morning we dropped Dad at the train station for his flight home (where did the time go?), and moved farther down the Mosel to Pölich, in the heart of the wine region. We docked at Moselherz-Bootshafen, which is owned by a winery and sort of translates as “Heart of the Mosel boat harbor.” The river at this stage is reasonably sized, so bridges are somewhat rare. We rode our bikes downriver about 6 km to the next bridge, then crossed to the east side and rode back, past our mooring, and to the town upstream of us, Mehring. From there we were able to cross back to the west side and then back 3km to our mooring in Pölich, for a total 18km round trip. That evening we hiked through the vineyards above the town and discovered the remains of an 1800 year old Roman aqueduct that was built to carry water from deep in the hillside to some expensive villas down near the river.

Vineyards in Pölich

Saturday we rode our bikes back to Mehring, crossed the river, and found the head of a hiking trail that took us about 1200 feet up to a lookout tower, the Aussichsturm Fünf Seen Blick (the Five Seas Lookout Tower View). From there we could see five different sections of the Mosel River as it snakes through the steep hills. The view was beautiful, but it was surprisingly cold up there and we didn’t linger too long. On our bike ride back we rode up into the vineyards above Mehring, and from there were able to traverse the high road back to Pölich.

View from the “Fünf Seen Blick”

Late Saturday afternoon we cycled about 3km to a little village, Schleich, that was having its annual wine festival. What better way to spend Saturday evening than drinking Mosel white wine and eating grilled German sausages? I guess for me it would be drinking German beer while eating grilled sausages, but I figured I would adhere to the spirit of the thing (it was a wine festival…). While there we met an English couple, Freddie and Caryl, touring through Europe in their camping car. Although the locals were friendly, we really don’t have a shred of usable German (other than “Guten-tag, wir sind das boot Après Ski…”), so it was nice to converse in our native language. A slightly wobbly ride home at dusk ended our second week of cruising for 2015.

With Caryl and Freddie in Schleich

And finally, a quick thanks to our boating mate Michael, from Narbonne, who pointed out that I forgot to include my customary map of our past week’s travels. So I’ve updated last week’s post, and have included a map below for the current week.

Week 2 Numbers