Unexcused Absences France 2015 - Week 4 Recap (he said)

France 2015 – Week 4 Recap (he said)

by Kent 14 Jul 2015

Sunday we visited more of Trier and had a nice lunch at the Weinstube across from the cathedral with Dave and Cynthia. It was still very hot that afternoon so we lingered in the shade of the Konz boat club social area. Early evening we drove about an hour south to Wasserbillig, and parked about 100 meters across the border from Germany in Luxembourg.

Porta Nigra in Trier

After almost three weeks of being lost without a language in Germany, suddenly there were signs in French and people speaking French and we were very happy to finally have an idea of what was going on around us. There was of course still a big German influence, which manifested itself in a wonderful way; the boulangerie sold not only delicious baguettes, but also pretzels – awesome!

The German/Luxembourg border

One thing about cruising on the German Mosel is that the river is not terribly friendly to small boaters. Although there was very little current (a good thing), there were very few places to park a boat for the night (a bad thing). It’s not clear whether the municipal authorities are trying to actively discourage pleasure boaters, but they are. And that’s unfortunate, because the scenery is amazing and the locals we met were all delightful and very patient with our jumbled German/French/English attempts to communicate.

Machtum, on the Luxembourg Moselle

But now that we’re in Luxembourg, just across the border, we have free overnight parking along a beautiful stone wall, with bollards to tie to, and a post with electricity and water outlets. Once we made the rounds to scope out the train station and boulangerie, we had a nice happy hour in a shady park next to the quai (the thermometer was still on the wrong side of 90), then lucked into an amazing dinner at the little cafe by the water, Cafe Frégate. It wasn’t really a restaurant, mostly what we in America would call a bar, but they did have four things they were cooking for dinner, and we had one of each. The lasagne, entrecôte, marinated brochette de boeuf, and curry brochette de volaile were all truly outstanding.

An interesting thing about Luxembourg is that they are a low-tax haven for Europe. Each border town we came to this week had a tobacco shop about 50 meters in, a liquor store about 75 meters in, and a gas station about 100 meters in. Heather figures this is Luxembourg’s version of the Maginot Line; keep your enemies at bay with low-tax cigarettes, booze, and gas, and you’ll be fine. Something is working, because Luxembourg has the second-highest per capita GDP in the entire world.

Not just cigarettes, but tubs of tobacco at the Luxembourg Maginot Line / low-tax Tobacco Store

Monday morning we walked Dave & Cynthia to the train for their trip back to Paris, then turned the boat around and backtracked to Saarburg a couple hours down the Saar in Germany, where we had visited back in Week 2 in the pouring rain. This time it was bright and sunny, and we wandered the town and the vineyards in the hills above town.

Back in Saarburg

View from Saarburg Castle

The Saar River near Saarburg

Tuesday we took a longer hike around Saarburg, stocked up on some groceries, and returned to Wasserbillig in Luxembourg. Then it was laundry time, and through the benefit of a language barrier (the owners spoke German), were able to do our laundry at the local campground. Apparently the laundry wasn’t actually open to folks who weren’t guests of the campground, but we only found this out as the final load was finishing up.

Not sure how this barge made it under the bridge

That evening we treated ourselves to another delicious dinner at Cafe Frégate, then set out Wednesday morning upstream (south) on the Mosel. We were still in Mosel wine country, although now it was the Luxembourg section, and the scenery was as beautiful as ever. We stopped after about 45 minutes in Grevenmacher to wander the town and pick up information on Luxembourg at the tourist office, then continued south to spend the night in Remich. We found a waterfront restaurant that had put up a dock with room for about 4 boats, and they charged a very reasonable 1 euro per meter, about 10 bucks for our boat.

Looking into Luxembourg

Thursday we rode our bikes back along the Mosel to get some exercise (the heat had finally broken and the temperature was back to normal in the low 70’s), and found a nice hike through the hills and vineyards on the German side. The Germans may not want too many pleasure boaters on the Mosel, but they do love their wanderweg (hiking trails), and we have found the trails to be exceptionally well marked and charted.

Thursday afternoon we continued south to the best waterways fuel stop in Europe, we’ve been told, and sure enough, the boat harbor at Schwebsange was selling diesel at 1.05 euros per liter (compared to about 1.20 at the French and German service stations). We needed 175 liters, so that was a nice savings.

A BIG barge loaded with iron ore

After fueling up we continued south and reached the border at the Apach lock, where France, Germany and Luxembourg all come together. The Luxembourg wine-making town of Schengen across from the lock is now famous for the pan-European agreement in 1985 that put in motion the processes and relaxation of border controls that would eventually lead to the European Union as we know it today. It’s more than a little ironic that this week the big news was how the European Monetary Union was being torn apart by the financial chaos in Greece, and here we were where it all began.

Après Ski parked in Schengen, Luxembourg

Thursday night we tied up in Sierck-les-Bains near the foot of the partially restored castle originally built by the Dukes of Lorraine. We met a nice French couple who lived in Brest, the far west point of France, and were on their boat with their grandkids for a cruise.

Dukes of Lorraine castle in Sierck-les-Bains

Friday we motored a few hours south (still on the Mosel, but now it’s back to “La Moselle”) to Thionville. While the town has an industrial past, and the scenery wasn’t very interesting (unless you count steel mills and nuclear power plants as interesting, which I do), they have a nice pontoon that holds about five visiting boats. Parking was free for 48 hours.

Heavy industry on the outskirts of Thionville

Saturday it was on to Metz, a city that we love, having visited for the first time during last year’s cruise. We arrived in the middle of a three-day street festival, with multiple locations in the city presenting music, street theater, and a big concert Saturday night in the main square, along with the usual sound-and-light shows, farmers markets, and summer art exhibitions typical in medium-to-large French cities.

Words, and even photos, don’t do justice to either the “Slip Expérience” (underwear experiment) or the “Yelling Kitchen Prince” (no translation necessary). The first was a pair of male acrobats performing in bathrobes, who end up doing an hysterical comedy routine dressed in only their underpants, and the second was a Dutch musician/comedian/chef who plays keyboard while cooking crêpes and doing slapstick comedy. Both were fantastic performances, believe it or not. Later we saw the concert in the main square by “Les Commandos Perçu” (the perceived commandos?), which were a bunch of guys dressed up like extras from Mad Max, playing drums, and shooting off fireworks. Only in France.

Le Slip Expérience

The Yelling Kitchen Prince

Les Commandos Perçu

We’ll spend several more days in Metz, to catch the feu d’artifices (fireworks) of the big July 14 national holiday, then plan to continue our southerly trek back into the heart of France.

Week 4 Numbers