Still Waiting

Another week . . . in Toul. The parts for our bow thruster seal arrived last week by mid-week, but as feared, getting an appropriate replacement motor is proving to be a challenge. The interconnectedness of the bow thruster system means that if we can't find a motor with exactly the same features as the old one, it will probably be necessary to make modifications in other parts of the system, such as the drive chains, to enable the bow thruster to work with a different type of motor. As far as we know--and we're working through "Google Translate" for our communications--the motor issue was outsourced to a third party with more expertise in issues involving motors. So, we're at the mercy of multiple entities to complete parts searches, acquisitions, and installations. 

At upper left CARIB is seen moored against a larger barge.
This has been our neighborhood for the past 10 days.

In the meantime, the following graphic shows the deterioration of the water situation in the canals of the Northeast region as of July 11. We are currently in Toul, which is in the blue-circled area at the middle of the graphic. Green designates water with no restrictions; yellow would indicate the presence of some special conditions for passage; orange indicates actual restrictions in the waterway, such as decreased depth; and purple indicates water that is closed to navigation. The Moselle River to the north of Nancy and Toul is the only waterway not currently under any restrictions. Once CARIB is repaired and we're able to depart, we have to hope that our orange-colored route to Strasbourg on the Marne au Rhin East Canal (to the east of Toul) will still be open for navigation. That's currently the case, and the depth of the water--although lower than usual--is still sufficient for us. Had we any desire to cruise to the west or the south we would be out of luck, and it's entirely possible that there will be additional canal closures unless the amount of rainfall increases substantially.

To avoid going "bonkers" during this rather long break from cruising, we're mixing sightseeing day trips away from the boat with periods of work on boat projects that under normal circumstances would probably have been done at the end of our boating season.

Saturday, July 5, was forecast to be the last summery day before three days of cool temperatures and off-and-on rain, so we took a 30-minute train ride to the city of Nancy to get a "first look" before we cruise through on our way to Strasbourg. The population of the core city of Nancy is just over 100,000, but its metropolitan area is home to around a half million people. With a city that size, our scant few hours in town could only give us the barest superficial look at what Nancy had to offer.

Nancy was a small, fortified town in the early 11th century that grew in importance to become the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine. The last Duke of Lorraine, exiled Polish king Stanislaus I, was the father-in-law of French king Louis XV. Stanislaus' period of rule in the mid-18th century saw the architectural redesign of the urban core through the construction of a trio of squares to link "old", medieval Nancy to the "new" town of the 17th century. Those squares are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Place Stanislas, the focal point of the Baroque reconstruction of the mid-1700's.

At left, the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) of Nancy, the largest of the buildings on Place
Stanislas. It's also known as Stanislas Palace, but has been the Town Hall since it's construction
in the 1750's.

In true Baroque style, you can never decorate with too much gold.

The passage from Place Stanislas to Place de la Carrière (Quarry Square) is a monumental arch.

Place de la Carrière is lined by many Renaissance mansions of the 16th and 17th
centuries on the approach to the Government Palace of Nancy.

Constructed as a replacement palace for the old ducal palace, the
Government Palace served as a headquarters for various aspects
of the French military post-WWII. It was then transferred to the 
 city of Nancy,and since 2013 has been part of the Lorraine Museum.

The Lorraine Museum was closed for renovations, so some of the

displays were moved to the former Duke's Chapel (1608-1612),

part of the Cordeliers Church. The chapel was originally constructed

 so that the Dukes of Lorraine would have a necropolis close to their palace.

The dome of the chapel was modelled on that of the
Medici Chapel in Florence, Italy.

A view down Grande Rue in the medieval city, looking toward Porte de la Craffe, dated
1336, the northern gateway into medieval Nancy. 

The stunning Gothic-Renaissance courtyard of the Hotel
d'Haussonville. Built as a private mansion (1528-1543),
it was converted into a 4-star hotel over 20 years ago.

Being in Nancy allowed us to scope out the port, and what might be available to us
for mooring. The port itself was rather full of long-term boats without much, if any, space
for visiting barges. Our best bet appears to be the quay across the channel from the port.

Nancy definitely deserves more of our time when we start cruising again. We didn't get the opportunity to explore the Art Deco aspects of Nancy, for which it is also well known, or just simply stroll its various neighborhoods and parks.

Following that warm Saturday were three rather autumn-like days. Given the off-again, on-again nature of the rain, it was difficult to plan any outings. We went for a few walks with the umbrella, but that was more to stretch our legs than to accomplish any particular exploration. Our wedding anniversary on Monday, July 7, passed rather quietly--restaurants are typically closed on Mondays, and even had that not been the case, the weather that evening was not such that we were anxious to walk into the center of Toul. It seems, after 46 years, that the honeymoon is over.

Getting some fresh air on Sunday, July 5, during
  a wet walk to the Toul cathedral for the opening
 organ concert of the Festival Bach de Toul 2025.

The weather cleared by Wednesday. Although we were more than ready to do something away from CARIB, we were hoping that the parts for the bow thruster seal would have shown up and that we would need to go back into the boat ramp to have the bow lifted for the installation. Although the parts for the seal replacement did arrive, the motor acquisition is still a problem and Jean-Paul at TSNI Marine didn't want to install the seal if there were potentially going to be changes needed to the drive system. He asked us to give him until this week to source what we need; hopefully, we will have some positive news within a few days. That being the case, we were free to "get out of Dodge" on Thursday.

In the spirit of getting an advance look at a possible future mooring stop, as well an exploration of the adjacent town, we decided to use the bikes to get to the village of Liverdun, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) downriver from Toul. The beauty of the ride was that it followed the Moselle River on a paved route that was mostly a separate bicycle/walking path and had very little in the way of hills--until we got to Liverdun. Given its strategic location at the top of a rocky spur overlooking the Moselle, it's not surprising that for a time Liverdun was a stronghold of the Bishops of Toul. It was the summer residence of the bishops in the 18th century. After the construction of the railway lines through Liverdun and the Moselle Canal, Liverdun became a popular resort during the Belle Epoque--when swimming in the Moselle was still permitted. 

Our view of Liverdun as we approached.

The bicycles were parked in the lower town. It made no sense to try to ride them from the lower town to the upper town, as there were only two approaches, stairs . . . 

 . . . and steep roads.

Liverdun (horrible name, by the way) was very quiet at midweek. Judging by the village's website, it's a much more active and touristic place on summer weekends. The industries of the 19th and early 20th centuries are gone, and shopping in the central village is pretty much non-existent. What it has retained are vestiges of its past centuries, and is overall an attractive and well-maintained village focused on tourism.

View of the Moselle from the former ramparts of Liverdun.

Castle Corbin, an early 20th century reconstruction of a 19th
century castle built on the ruins of the medieval castle.

A macabre variation of "Napoleon was here." 

There were some beautifully redone old houses. The Gerbaut
House was a tithe-collection house in the 16th century.

The Porte Haute is a 16th century reworking of the old northern
 gate of the 12th century city wall. It includes a square tower (16th
 century) that was variously a refuge for the poor and a prison,
and a round tower (12th/13th century) that was a guard post. 

The 12th C. Church of Saint-Pierre.

Left: The 16th century tomb of Saint Euchaire, who was martyred in nearby Pompey in the 4th 
century. After his beheading, legend says he returned to the church in Liverdun carrying his
head under his arm. It sounds a lot like the martyred Saint Denis in Paris, who also went for a
stroll after being beheaded. Apparently for these very righteous people, losing your head does
 not affect your ability to walk.
Right: old frescoes painted on an interior column.

All play and no work doesn't get boat projects done, so we decided to stay close to "home" for the next few days. We were also approaching a holiday weekend here (Fete Nationale, or "Bastille Day" to English speakers on Monday, July 14) and didn't want to mess around with holiday schedules for trains or tourist offices. It wasn't all work the last few days. We've had some social get togethers with Russ and Julie, an Australian couple we met at the Port de France in Toul, and who pulled into TSNI last Thursday to get their boat prepped for winter storage before they return to Australia in August. 

Pat, Julie, and Russ having dinner at the port. TSNI has the
equivalent of a food truck, and they offer dinner (usually pizza)
on Friday and Saturday nights.

Toul had its holiday fireworks show on Saturday night, 
July 12, with the cathedral as backdrop. That's earlier than
 most towns (who usually do their fireworks on the 13th or 14th),
 but it does help them to attract a large crowd. Interestingly, the
 soundtrack to the fireworks wasn't patriotically French, but
 Hollywood movie music from Star Wars, James Bond, and others.

We went for another bike ride on Sunday morning, this time along the now closed-to-navigation stretch of the Marne au Rhin Canal Ouest that runs between Toul and the junction with the Canal de la Meuse to the north. It's a stretch of waterway that we've not cruised, so we were curious to see what it was like. The landscape along the canal was, except for a short stretch of industrial development, very pleasant, but the overwhelming impression of the canal itself was weeds--lots and lots of weeds.

This was the only boat we saw all day on the 10 or 11 kilometers
of canal that we cycled along. As all boats should have vacated the
canal prior to the closure, we are wondering if this is a matter
of mechanical difficulties--or water too shallow for a sailboat.
The amount of weed was typical for most of the waterway.

The approach to the Foug Tunnel.

A sad sight--a port and canal empty of boats, but full of weed,
 at our turnaround point of Lay-St-Remy.

Today may be a French holiday, but it's been a workday for us. Tomorrow, we hope to be on a train to one of the nearby towns that had significant historical importance in Lorraine. And it's back to work tomorrow for the French, so we hope it will be "the day" that more progress is made in resolving our bow thruster problem. 

Hurry Up and Wait

Well, we thought we were going to cruise to Toul on Thursday, June 26, but the weather had other ideas. We had quite a thunderstorm overnight after the intense heat of the 25th--amazingly strong winds as the storm approached made us glad we had 4 lines attaching us to the quay. The aftermath on June 26 was a much cooler day, but also a very breezy one. Knowing that the final stretch to Toul would involve entering small locks in the final stretch, going through narrow bridges, and maneuvering in possibly tight quarters in a port--not that easy with a barge and no bow thruster, even in light wind conditions--made us reconsider the wisdom of leaving a perfectly good quay. We OK'd our stay with the vnf lock keepers and rescheduled our arrival with Port de France in Toul.

We took advantage of the "off" day to do some advance scouting in Toul. It was only 10 kilometers or so by bike, about a 30-minute ride. It was really helpful to get an early look at the junction where we would leave the Moselle River and enter into the lock taking us onto the Marne au Rhin Ouest (West) Canal, as well as the mooring situation in the port. We saved all other sightseeing for when we were resident in the port.

The photo is a distorted, but that's what happens when trying to photograph a 110-meter barge
that was staring us down on the quay upstream of the Villey-sur-Sec lock. 

The winds were much more reasonable on the 27th, and as we were advised by the port captain at Port de France to arrive by late morning, we got a fairly early start at 8 a.m. The river cruising was easy. The canal cruising--not so much. The initial lock was fine, but the next lock was out-of-order, and we had to call for assistance. The canal has a lot of weed, which made it necessary for Lon to apply a lot of power to move us out of that second lock. We then had to wait some minutes for a lift bridge to be opened. What was interesting is that, during the final stretch, we cruised under the shadow of the old city ramparts in what used to be the city moat. The final lock was apparently acting up, so an eclusier was already there to assist us, and after a slightly tricky entry into the lock following a twisty-turny approach, we finally made it to the port. It took "only" (sarcasm intended) an hour-and-a-half to cover about 3 kilometers of canal.

By this time, we had already decided that the weather forecast was showing way too many hot days in the near future, and that a longer stay in Toul would be prudent. CARIB has RV-type air conditioning units, and they can work from our solar power during the day. In order to have AC at night, however, we would need to be plugged into shore power, hence the advisability of staying in port during the heat wave. We knew we could fit in our sightseeing during the cooler morning hours, and "hunker down" on the boat in the AC during the intense heat of the latter part of the day. That first afternoon in Toul was used for taking care of business--some long-delayed grocery shopping for me, and a visit by Lon to TSNI Marine, a boat repair business not far back down the canal, to discuss possible bow thruster repairs. Sunday through Wednesday mornings saw us completing short sightseeing expeditions.

Present-day Toul is not a large town, with a population of about 17 thousand, but it has a very important past. It has been a fortified city for 15 centuries, the first ramparts being installed at the end of the 4th century as part of the "castrum" of a settlement in Roman Gaul.

All that remains of the 4th century castrum is this section of rock behind some apartment buildings.
It's a rather sad, neglected site, one the city doesn't see fit to include on their walking tour.

Walking through Toul leaves an impression that most buildings are of fairly new construction, that is, going back decades rather than centuries. Much of this is probably due to the fact that, due to its strategic location, Toul has been subject to numerous military operations over the years. Most recently, it was heavily damaged in WWII bombings. Despite this, some vestiges of the past have managed to survive, and we paid due attention to them on our city walking tour.

One aspect of the historical city layout that is very obvious is the city wall. Throughout its history, military architecture has made its mark on Toul: the Roman castrum noted above was followed by 12th century walls, which were then followed by bastioned fortifications built by Louis XIV's military engineer Vauban in the early 1700's, which were followed by further fortifications after Toul became a French border town when Alsace was lost to Germany in 1870. Toul is the only city in the former administrative region of Lorraine to retain a city wall.

The ramparts of Toul.

The Metz Gate, the only original gate in the enclosure created by Vauban. It was
closed due to ongoing restoration.

Will work for grass--the city maintains a flock of sheep as an
"environmentally friendly" landscaping team for portions
 of the ramparts.

Also in the 4th century, Toul was evangelized, and became the episcopal seat of a huge diocese. The bishops of Toul held supreme ecclesiastical and political power as counts in the 10th century, and the town ultimately became linked with the dioceses of Verdun and Metz. Toul went under French protection in the mid-16th century and later became part of the kingdom of France. It lost its standing as a bishopric to the city of Nancy in the late 18th century, when Nancy became part of France. Saint Stephen's Cathedral, under construction from 1221 to 1496, is a continuing testament to the power formerly wielded by the bishops of Toul. 

The cathedral is currently owned by the city of Toul. Its roof,
a large rose window, and the organ were destroyed during 
WWII bombings in June 1940. Most of the exterior statuary
 of saints was removed during the French Revolution.

The relics of the Cathedral in a Renaissance-era 
chapel: Saint Gerard, Saint Aprones, and a companion
of Saint Ursula. 

Restoration work is still ongoing, but the Cathedral in general
seems to be in decent shape. The restored vault in the
nave was given its original colors.

The cloister, built in the 13th and 14th centuries, is
one of the largest Gothic cloisters in France. 

The stuff of (my) nightmares: not all is peaceful and contemplative
when exploring cathedrals. This bad boy was huge.

Adjacent to the cathedral was the former bishop's palace. The
original building was commissioned in 1739. After the French 
Revolution and the abolition of the bishopric of Toul, the building
was confiscated and sold to the city of Toul to become the city
hall. The current building is a restoration following a 1939 fire.

Saint-Gengoult's Collegiate Church was a second very
large catholic church in town. Construction started in 1240 and
ended in 1510, leaving the facade unfinished. Its construction
was financed by the wealthy citizens of the town who wished
to distance themselves from the power of the bishops.

Saint-Gengoult's was badly in need of restoration, but it
still maintained some 12th-century stained glass.

One of the old survivors was this former apothecary's house.
The carving above the large window contains a mortar and pestle,
the instruments used for the preparation of medicines. 

Morning coffee and conversation is a favorite French pastime,
especially on a Saturday morning.

The former Cafe de la Comedie (1903) and the city theater (1892).
The buildings were preserved, but not their original functions.

The Place des Trois-Eveches (a reference to Toul's religious past), which feels like
 the city center as four streets radiate from it to the four gates of the city's fortifications. The
fountain was constructed post-WWII on the site of a district destroyed by the 
bombings in June 1940. The desk lamps are temporary installations that are part of a
summer light show at several spots in central Toul. 

The aforementioned light show, Rayonances, consists of illuminations and music at several sites throughout Toul. It opened on June 28 and continues to the end of August. It is free to the public and was an interesting way to get a different perspective on a few places we'd seen during our daytime walking tour. Twilight comes very late to France this time of year, so we couldn't start our wandering on June 30 until after 9:30 p.m., but at least the air temperature had dropped by then.

Left: a view of the cathedral cloister's garden in the day.
Right: the same view of the cloister garden, but with its illuminations.

Another perspective on the cathedral cloister. The colors of
the lights kept changing.

Give him credit for trying, but Lon still wasn't
as scary as the spider.

The front of the cathedral and the artistic butterfly motif. 

The lights in the garden behind the Hotel de Ville (city hall).

Our "we were here" moment.

Saint-Gengoult's Collegiate Church had a lovely, albeit smaller, cloister than the
 cathedral. At left, the stork certainly seemed to enjoy the view.

The music playing at the Saint-Gengoult's Church was
very New Age, very melodic. It was definitely good for
promoting a contemplative spirit.

On the morning of July 1 we were as early as we could be to get another perspective on Toul--from the top of the south tower of the cathedral. Every year, our knees complain a little bit more about being forced to climb stairs, but the views are usually worth it. At 10 a.m. the air temperatures were already oppressive, but the thick stone of the building kept things relatively cool on the climb up the 325 steps.

Was this really graffiti from 1734, or a modern-day prank?

Left: some very interesting creatures populate the upper regions of the cathedral. The pelican,
with a monkey at its feet, is the tallest sculpture on the building. In the Middle Ages, the pelican
was a symbol of self-denial and a Christian symbol of piety and charity. The image of the pelican
feeding its young is associated with the sacrifice of Christ shedding his blood for mankind.
Upper right: a bird's eye view of the cathedral cloister.
Lower right: looking over the fortifications toward the Moselle.

I was happy that the circular staircases weren't claustrophobia inducing.

Our final "tourist moment" came on the morning of July 2, when we went to the Toul Museum of Art and History in the former Maison-Dieu, a building classified as a historic monument, with elements from the 12th and 17th centuries. Unfortunately, most of the collection was not available for viewing because of restoration work being undertaken in the building. Only the Lapidary Room was open, with an eclectic assortment of exhibits.

Lon looking at exhibits.

The Maison-Dieu.

A 15th C stone carving, the Adoration of the Magi,
originally part of Saint-Stephen's Cathedral in Toul.

A Roman-era dugout canoe found near a village just to
the southeast of Toul. 

Wednesday, July 2, was the last really hot day of the current heat wave. The timing was good, because we had an appointment the morning of July 3 at TSNI Marine to have the front of CARIB lifted out of the water so that the bow thruster could be removed and evaluated for the parts that would be needed. We already knew by this point that the motor was likely an issue as well, as that had been delivered to Jean-Paul at TSNI earlier in the week to determine if it could be repaired or would have to be replaced.

Waiting for the trailer and its hydraulic lift to be brought
to the boat ramp.

The bad news was that our motor was "toast" and would have to be replaced. Finding a reconditioned or new one that fits could be a challenge. As for the bow thruster seal, we were told "next week" for the parts to be here, so for the time being we are moored against a large residential barge amongst the collection of boats at the facility and we will wait. The dry weather continues, and cruising conditions are deteriorating throughout the canal system in France. Several canals are now closed to through navigation, but not yet the waterways that we are intending to travel after our maintenance issue is resolved. Still, it's a bit of "deja vu" from our 2022 season.