Lutzelbourg to Strasbourg (With a bit of Saverne in between!)

The EU Parliament - must mean we're in Strasbourg!!!

The thing about being a bit behind with the blog is I forget things and omitted to share the tale of Mike’s Magnificent Duckling Rescue in the previous post.  So here it is…… 

On the third lock of four after the inclined plane and going to Lutzelbourg, the boat with the English family on board had pulled over for a lunch stop and the lock seemed to have stuck.  They’re in a chain here and don’t cope well with people stopping unexpectedly.  We pulled in behind them and were soon joined by the hire boat we’d been sharing with.  I could hear a strange sound as we sat, which sounded at first like some sort of automated voice and I wondered if it was something to do with the lock.  Further investigation, however, revealed a mother duck with two ducklings, calling and calling and moving around quite frantically.  I headed straight for the overflow just above the lock and lying on the ground, lent in and sure enough, there were three peepers (ducklings) trapped in there, probably washed in by an approaching boat……..  I went back to the boat to get our fishing net (or rather, pigeon-recuing net) and told Mike, who came back with me, taking the net in hand.  By this time the lock was ready, and the English family had finished their lunch and decided to go on.  We told the boat we’d shared with to go on ahead with them whilst we sorted the ducks out.  Mike quickly got on his belly and whilst I stuck a hand down to frighten them from slipping past him, he scooped each one up in the net and plopped it back over the breakwater over the sluice and into the canal.  The other two boats just had time to see the rescue completed before they locked down and cheered Mike’s efforts. The ducklings, on the other hand, were a bit rude and didn’t stop to thank him but ran straight over to their mummy and two siblings and she gave them a right telling off.  Whilst we waited for the lock to reset for us a wee sail boat came along with a lovely dutch couple aboard who we shared with the rest of the way to Lutzelbourg.

Now, back to this entry (which is still a bit behind, but I don't think I've missed anything)…… We left Lutzelbourg on Tuesday 19^th June and sharing with a hire boat had a very pleasant trip down to Saverne.

I just love the scenery of Alsace

The lock down into Saverne is a deep one, and right in the middle of town!

Not a bad view from our pontoon mooring at Saverne - 18 euros a night including water and electric.

Once moored up, as we were paying for water and power, I stripped the bed and started doing laundry, with the first lot out and drying by the time we set off for a walk after lunch.  We walked up to Chateau Haut Bar, which is a ruined hilltop castle with spectacular views, which turned out to be a bit longer than we had bargained for at a10km round trip.  But it was lovely and we rewarded ourselves back in town with a two-scoop ice-cream in the square.  Saverne is lovely and very German feeling.

Walking into town we passed this cute little set-up for the World Cup

Many of the post-boxes in France have two slots; the left for items for the region you are in, the right for everywhere else.  I've often thought it's probably a waste of time having the two as the posties probably empty them into the one sack.  But seeing this one being emptied, I see I was wrong!

Pretty Saverne's Grand Rue

A very modern war memorial in the red Vosges sandstone

Stunning views from Haut Bar where you could just make out the steeple of the cathedral in Strasbourg

Mike was so happy he did a jump!  (And his knees are still recovering.....)

This telegraph house enabled communications to go from Strasbourg to Paris.

I thought the local patisserie gave Maison Roy in Auxerre a run for its money, but Mike didn't agree.

Mike in his element with his feathered friends

We were staying two nights at Saverne so on Wednesday I continued with my laundry marathon and cleaned the inside of the boat thoroughly, the most frustrating part being trying to wash the squashed flies off the ceiling that Mike had had a swat-fest with several nights prior!  We then did a big shop at the local Super U and then began preparing dinner as Steve and Anna were on their way back from Strasbourg so we said we’d make them dinner that evening.  The day was hot and Quaintrelle got hotter and hotter as Mike was cooking.  Mike has a heat-measuring system for the boat; Defcom 1 is that it is hot enough to open all the windows, defcom 2 means the parasol goes up, defcom 3 sees it hot enough to switch our fans on.  Well, this day, we reached a new Defcom 4 when the grouting in the shower cracked vertically – it was so hot, the stell shell of the boat had expanded enough to pull the tiles apart and crack the grouting!  Not to worry though, it closed up again when it cooled down.  Anyway, being on Defcom 4, we aborted dinner on our boat and took the food round to Steve and Anna’s to try out their air conditioning and then eat out on the airy back deck as the sun disappeared.

It was a slightly more frustrating trip to Hochfelden the next day as the chain of locks failed for us three times when passing other boats – they don’t seem to cope with that – and we had to call VNF and wait for them to open gates for us.  So we were relieved to reach our rural mooring there and as the sun was out and we had a nice full tank of water, we decided to give Quaintrelle a wash.  The port at Saverne has dust paths and she was covered in a layer of it.  As we relaxed on the front deck later, Mike got his second mention in two weeks on Radio 6 Music as a runner up on Tea Time Theme Time – fame at last!!!

 

Before leaving Saverne, we gave Anna our camera and reversed up to get a shot of us in front of the Palais de Rohan, which now houses a school, museum and cultural area.  Nice to see a grand old building being used.

Some very large trucks go over some very small bridges!

Accompanied by our seemingly constant companion for the last few days, a lightly gusting wind, we pushed off sharpish on Friday 22^nd and made good progress into Strasbourg, welcomed by the EU Parliament Building sitting in all its empty grandeur.

Quaintrelle, Mike and the EU Parliament building

I suppose this could have been one option for us getting up the Rhine........

Our first sighting of the huge river cruise ships.

It was late afternoon when we arrived so we decided just to have a lazy evening and get settled in and be ready to explore the next morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  We had booked into the marina for four nights, so were really having a little city-break to ourselves and what a wonderful city to have it in.  We absolutely loved Strasbourg.

We walked into town which took about 40 minutes and our first port of call was the Tourist Office, where we purchased a three-day city pass to do the touristy things and a ‘Trio’ tram ticket, that once validated gives 2-3 people unlimited travel on the trams and buses for 24 hours from validation – excellent value at 6,80 euros.

Out of the tourist office and into the Batorama office, as no trip to Strasbourg would be complete without a boat trip and it was included in our pass!

The Petit France area with its little roof windows.  So called as the area was quarantined off in days gone by for syphilis.....

One of the splendid Strasbourg churches

Busman's holiday.........

Enjoying the trams :)

EU Parly

Lovely light hallway inside the building

The debating chamber.  When not in session there are about 300 people in the building; security, cleaners, admin, tour guides, but when in session goes up to thousands.

After the boat trip we took the tram up to the EU Parliament as there was an English tour on at 3pm, free and you just pitch up at the gate.  It is an absolutely gorgeous building and it was an interesting tour although the one question several people had (including a German and a Pole and an Englishman) was, why does it just get used for 4 days a month?  Yes, that’s right.  This mahoosive, beautiful building sits empty for 26 (or 27) days a month while the MEPs are at Brussels or working from their constituencies and is only used for sessions for 4 days (Mon-Thur), 12 times a year.  When probed why this is the case, the guide had the decency to look embarrassed as she explained that all members would have to agree for everything to be done in Brussels and of course, France won’t agree cos it wants to keep Strasbourg!!  It’s a shocking waste of a building, really quite obscene – and sad – it should be used for other things while it’s empty!!

Anyway, from there we headed back to the boat via tram finding our way through the city and our changes very easily, and relaxed for the evening on the front deck.

A little weedcutter boat cleaning the canal past our mooring

And the big boat sheds across the way is where the trip boats sleep and made for a quite lovely evening view.

On Sunday 24^th (my mum and dad’s wedding anniversary – bless)(and our anniversary for leaving Weedon for the first time on Quaintrelle in 2014!), we were up and out sharp as we had a Segway tour booked at 10.30.  We had done a Segway tour in Avignon in 2016 and really enjoyed it, it’s a great way to see a place and good fun as well, so when we saw our city pass gave us 30% discount, we were happy to part with 77euros for a two hour tour with Banu, which ended up being two hours and twenty minutes!

Me and our guide Banu - oh!!!! That's Vaudan's Barrage in the background, I didn't think we had a photo of it!

The area where the tanneries were.

And of course, Strasbourg is the birthplace of the Gutenberg Press, and here is Mr Gutenberg himself :)

There are lots of really pretty carousels throughout the city.

Yes, that building again.....

After the tour, we hopped on a tram (still within our 24 hour period for our Trio ticket), and made our way to a pub we had eye-balled the previous day for watching England’s first match.  We needed some lunch first so stopped at the Auberge de Telegraphe where we both had the burger menu (burger, fries, small beer) for the princely sum of 8,50 each, and jolly good it was too.  When the waiter asked us if we wanted coffee or desert, we said no, as we were going to watch the football.  “Oh, we have a big screen inside, you can watch it here if you want!” We needed no further invitation and took ourselves inside where they pulled down the large screen taking up a whole wall and switched on the football for us.  In between serving us and other customers the two young waiters (the owner’s sons) would come over and chat and see what the score is, and at four goals said if they got five, we could have a free whisky!!  They were so lovely, very welcoming, originally from Kurdistan the elder son has just bought a wreck of a house in the woods with no electricity! 

Not least because of the outstanding score, we really enjoyed our afternoon at the Auberge and would recommend it if you want a good, quick lunch, or somewhere just to enjoy a drink and watch the world go by.  It was just a nice, family owned and run business which we always enjoy.

Having stopped briefly at Vaudan’s Barrage on the Segways the previous day, on Monday we decided to take ourselves back there and walk across it.  So after a bit of a lie-in, and pancakes and bacon for breakfast, we bought another tram ticket and headed off into town again.  Whilst I got photos from it, I realise I didn’t take any photos of the Barrage itself…….photo fail!!! (Correction, see Segway shot above!).

It's not a stretch of water I'd want to take a bunch of kids in canoes on.  The river Ile runs through Strasbourg and has quite a flow on it.

After a nice lunch at Oncle Freddy’s restaurant, we headed to the Cathedral and used our city pass to gain entry to the flight of stairs (350+) that would take us up to the viewing platform.

Quaintrelle is over there in the middle somewhere behind the grey highrises.

I love the characteristic roofs of Strasbourg with the window and vents in them.

We stayed at the top quite a while, cos we were knackered and couldn’t face the journey down until we’d had a wee seat…………

Once back on ground level we headed to the Museum D’Alsace which is a group of old houses that were taken over to be preserved and restored in the Alsacian way.  It was really interesting as the Alsace area has gone between being French and German several times and as such, whereas France is mainly Catholic, this area has a mix of Catholic and Protestant.  As such, there is a rule that church buildings can be used for both Catholic and Protestant worship.  So even today, in little villages, the Protestant service will be in the village church at 9am and the Catholic one at 10!  Can you imagine that happening in the UK?

 

Lovely little courtyard at the Museum d'Alsace

The pharmacie as it would have been.

Cute doorbell!

Another busy day completed as was our time in Strasbourg.  We loved this city.  It’s very different, very European and very pretty and we will definitely visit again.

And so it was with some reluctance that we pushed off on Tuesday morning to head back the way we came.  As we said goodbye to the capitaine, he asked if we were going on the Rhine, and I was almost tempted to say, “Yes!” and take the risk, but we said no, the flow would be too much for our boat and he agreed.  So we did the right thing and turned left as we left and headed in a westward direction back to Hochfelden.

Pretty mosque as we head back out of Strasbourg

A new mooring that is not in our canal-guide book but one of the nicest we've had - Hochleden.