Nancy to Strasbourg
We left Toul for Nancy which is a very pretty city and got a mooring in the St Georges Port du Plaisance (pleasure boat port) right in town. The canal takes us under two different road bridges where the traffic is stopped and the first bridge was a tilt bridge and the second rises up.
Nancy is the birthplace of Art Deco a mixture of old and new. Penny and Russel met us here to travel to Strasbourg. Of course sightseeing and eating were on the agenda and we also had a great time visiting the indoor food markets for great cold meats, cheeses, pastries but not the tripe or horse meat.
There are a lot of barges being used for housing along the canal. Very domestic even down to mowing the lawn.
Very mundane things in our Perth life cause quite a stir over here in our canal life. In Nancy we found a brickolage (like a Bunnings store) not far from the marina which was pretty exciting to us as we needed a few nuts and bolts, rope etc. We also got some insulation to wrap around our hotwater tank which is great as we can have a lot more hot showers in the cold weather. It is not always easy to find large shops when you only have a boat and no car. Marinas are always in the centre of towns which is great for sightseeing but modern shops are kept out of sight.
We had electricity and the water tap was on the mooring so it was time for wash day. Last year we spent a lot of time and money looking for a laundromat so a new addition to the boat is my tiny 2.5 kg load automatic machine. Kevin has turned the second toilet into a laundry and storeroom. If the weather is fine the front of the boat looks like a disjointed hills hoist or if it is raining the bathroom becomes a drying cabinet with the blower heater drying the clothes.
Very ordinary jobs at home take a lot longer to do here and washing becomes an all day job which is OK as we are not in a hurry. Shopping is also an old fashioned task of taking the shopping trolley and walking to the shop. One thinks very carefully of how many bottles of wine one can carry at a time. We are still trying out different brands and styles of wine between 1.29 euro to 4.50 euro a bottle. We are in white wine country so try as many as we can along with a variety of cheeses.
Off towards Strasbourg we went into Alsace. This part of the canals is said to be one of the prettiest and most interesting canal sections in France travelling through the mountains. During the next 2 days we passed through a 500 metre tunnel, a 15 metre deep lock, a 2306 metre tunnel and the St Louis Ardzviller incline plane which is like entering a large bathtub and then sliding down a slide.
The Ardzviller incline takes the place of 17 old conventional locks and is a 45 metre drop. The boat enters from the canal into the lock which is like a big bathtub through the white gates at the top.The gates are closed and the tub slides down the incline counter balanced by huge weights. Once at the bottom the lock gates are opened and the boat exits into the canal through the bottom white gates.
On the way we moored in a beautiful village called Lutzlebourg high in the mountains surrounded by forests of pines and spruces.
One of the villages had moorings alongside a resturant,we stayed here overnight and indulged in a great meal with frog legs for starters.
A bike path runs along this canal into Strasbourg and along the way we saw many rollerbladers, one using skiing stocks which I guess is a good way of keeping fit for the ski season and some bicycle tourers. We took it in turns to ride our bikes as well to scout ahead for a good overnight stop. A couple more nights on the canal and we arrived in.
Strasbourg .
Strasbourg is a very beautiful city with little canals and buildings with the wood inserts from the 16th century like the English tudor style. I think it is the prettiest city other than Paris.
It is also home to the European Parliament and has many very ultra modern buildings so it is quite a contrast. 
Here the Tourist bureau sells a 3 day pass with a lot of free or 50% off visits to the tourist sites we have been on a small train around the town, in a boat along the canals, visited museums and taken guided walks in between sampling Alsacian food ( sauerkraut and pork knuckles, onion tart, Baekohoffe stew and lots of white wine, a speciality of the area at some of the hundreds of restaurants here in the town.
We have been here for a week and love the place, as in most villages and cities in France this time of year, everywhere colourful flowers adorn even very ordinary buildings giving beautiful colours.
We are moored in the private yacht club Port de Hopital which is about 500 metres from the City gate under lovely weeping willows and away form the main route for large ships.Yesterday we rode our bikes to the Rhine and crossed over the bridge into Germany for lunch at a restaurant by the river which was like being at the beach as the whole area was covered in white sand and tables with beach umbrellas and deck chairs surrounded by palm trees.
We hired a car with Penny and Russel and went down the wine route which stretches south along the edge of the mountains for about 150 kilometres.
There are villages about every four kilometres with the vines stretching up the steep slopes and many castles dotted along the mountain tops.
Some of the castles are ruins and others have been restored, it is truly fairytale scenery.
The villages have cobbled roads winding through the town centre which usually consists of a church, school, a bakery and little shop, quaint partly wooden 2 story houses, the tasting cellars and the village square.
In each village there many vineyards and tasting cellars, so it is only to possible to taste a few of the wines on offer. Most are white and the varieties are a little different to ours. We were fortunate to pick a cellar where the vigneron spoke some english and who also had very nice wines so we had a lovely time there tasting many different varieties we hadn’t tried before.
Unfortunately the driver had to abstain as the 0.5 limit is here also. Sylvaner is produced as a quaffing wine at 1.50 to 2 euros a bottle. We tried Reisling and Gewürztraminer of several year vintages and a Pinot Auxerrois which we really liked. As with Australia they use the name of the grape with there wines and also like Australia the French have to change calling their wine Tokay as that is a Hungarian name and just call it Pinot Gris, so I guess they are getting their own back.
We stayed in Colmar overnight before returning along the wine route to Strasbourg.Colmar is a beautiful town with many half wooden houses. The area around the one roomed wide house was spectacular with colourful houses and a small canal system.
We had a great last week in Strasbourg as the Tour de France started there this year so we joined in all the hype, cycling is a very big sport in Europe. We went to the concert and ceremony for the handing out of colours and cheered on the Australian entrants. We watched the prologue which was a time trial for the first stage starting places along with all of Strasbourg and visitors for the T de F.
The next day we went up into the mountains to Obernai by local bus to where the second stage was to start. By then we thought we had better get going and as we went along the canal towards the turn off into the Canal de Houillieres a la Sarre we happened to see it on two separate days when we came to bridges. The riders are very intense in keeping position waiting for a breakout and the vehicles following with all of the spare bikes make it like a speedway as they also jockey for position to keep as close to their riders as they can.
Our next journey will be towards Germany.
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