Travels with Forty Roses

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

La Marne

Les Bords de la Marne, 1888 by Paul Cézanne

To begin the journey up the Marne is to begin a journey to meet the great rivers of the east : the Meuse via the Canal de l’Aisne à la Marne and the Canal des Ardennes; the Moselle and the Rhine via the Marne-Rhine Canal, and the Saône and the Rhône via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône. The Marne, is an eastern tributary of the Seine, running in great loops and meanders, east and southeast of Paris. It is 514 km long, rising 7.2 km south of Langres on the Langres Plateau. Its drainage basin covers some 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km) in all. Important canalization works, entailing the submerging of some villages took place to attempt regulation of water levels on the Marne and the Seine into which it flows. In the heyday of canal transportation the Marne was a major artery connecting the Seine and Paris to the rivers of the east. The canals that exist shorten the long loops and bypass non-navigable portions of the river.

The Marne River valley saw heavy fighting in World War I. The valley is famous as the site of two important battles of World War I. The first was a turning point of the war, fought in 1914. On September 9, the exhausted Germans began a fighting retreat to the Aisne River. The Battle of the Marne was the first significant Allied victory of World War I, saving Paris and thwarting Germany's plan for a quick victory over France. The losses were staggering. During the battle, the French experienced 250,000 casualties. Although the Germans never published the figures, it is believed that German losses were similar to those of France. The British Expeditionary Force, who fought alongside the French lost 12,733 men..

The second battle was fought four years later, in 1918. And it marked the turning of the tide in World War I. It began with the last German offensive of the conflict and met by the first Allied offensive victory of 1918. But again Allied casualties during the 2nd battle were heavy: French (95,000), British (13,000) and United States (12,000). It is estimated that the German army suffered an estimated 168,000 casualties and this defeat marked the last real attempt by Germany to win the First World War.

We have followed the Marne from the point it joins the Seine and crossed through the areas where such tragedy of war occurred. This past week the sun has shone and the first tinges of autumn have appeared; the early chill in the evenings, the rising mist on the river in early morning. We have thought of those who lost their lives in the two Great Wars as we pass through this beautiful area. It is difficult not to when we see the bridges and their commemorative build date inscriptions; so many in the 1940’s. Today fertile fields along the peaceful river are full of crops and now as we move through the Champagne district the hills are magnificent with vineyards. We advance quietly up the river and enjoy the little villages perched on hillsides and we think of those young men and all who were the casualties of war and all the beautiful days they did not see. How terrible is war and how fortunate are we.

We have reached the village of Cumières, just west of Epernay and have a wonderful tie up where we plan to stay for the next week. We really have not stopped traveling since we left Wambrechies, so stopping is simply grand. Today was a big clean-up day both inside and out so that

tomorrow we explore and check out some local wine makers. Already I have been to the top of the hillside through the vines and checked out all the ripening grapes (ne pas consommer les raisins) and resisted temptation. So tomorrow we taste the product.

You Cannot go Wrong with Geraniums!

Calm Captain

Tunnel at Chalifert

Perspective

Our Tie Up at Meaux

Evening Light

Our Neighbour, Penelope's Ark

Another Neighbour, KoKoro

Early Morning Departure

The Marne is prone to spring flooding. These homes are high and hopefully dry

Sunrise

Never far from a Train

An Excellent Pontoon Tie Up Provided by the VNF

What we pass by

Beautiful Line of Trees

First Vineyards

Geranium Bridge

Overnight at Dormans

Sunset with our lamp reflected on the glass

Blue Sky, Blue Water

Neat Rows

Windows Along the River

Near Boursault & Chateau Bousault the home of Veuve Cliquot

Series of steel sculpts depicting "the Business"

They are placed along the river near our tie up.

What Grows Well Here?

Vine Pruning

Slug Control!

Well more Geraniums

And Grapes

A Little Unexpected Garden

And in Pink

Rows

View from midway up the slope

Around Every Corner

Cumières Below

Three types grow here, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier & Chardonnay

Grape Owner Tags

Verdant View

Wall Decoration

Sails

The School Window Boxes

Students Care

Junior School Entry

Champagne Houses Abound

Our View

In the Evening

Saturday, 22 September 2018

Blacklisted!

Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority, compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as not being acceptable to those making the list.

Throughout history blacklisting has been a pretty damming label. Apparently, the origin of the phrase dates to 1639 by an English dramatist, Philip Massinger in his tragedy, The Unnatural Combat. Henceforth, the term or phrase has been used to isolate workers from jobs, businesses from operating, screenwriters and other professionals purported to have Communist sympathies from their livelihood, denial of care by multiple medical providers to certain patients…this has been done in some instances where patients could not pay cash in advance. Credit card companies use such a list for payment card merchant accounts that are terminated so that if such a company applies for an account they are very unlikely to be granted one by any provider. And in computing a blacklist is an access control system that denies entry to any range of users, programs or network addresses. Of course there is always the opportunity to be on a person’s ‘blacklist’ or in anyone’s ‘black book’ if one’s behavior is not acceptable or willingly tolerated. And, I find out there is little if anything one can do about being blacklisted.

However, on the positive side, it is good to be back at the boat! (Of course, we had a wonderful summer at home in Canada.) Bernard did his usual brilliant job of looking after Forty Roses III and to him we are deeply grateful. All went well during the summer other than a very severe drought in northern and other parts of France. Valiantly, gardeners have tried to keep flower pots blooming and trees sufficiently watered. At our lovely little marina in Wambrechies the huge containers holding evergreens were sadly not large enough to prevent death by heat. Boaters who garden aboard with tomato plants and flowers and pots of leeks and lettuce have almost given up. My beautiful little clivia lily which I tucked under a hedge, as was recommended, died. I want to find another as the orange bloom in spring is a ray of sunlight!

But back to Blacklisting….As most of you know we retained our French cell phone numbers over the summer. Upon returning to Europe, Free our mobile server, welcomed us with a message when we reached Netherlands, another reaching the Belgium boarder and yet again a message for John as he passed over the French boarder. Strangely, no message for me, but I had data service so I never thought anything about it. We were very busy opening up and scrubbing the boat, getting rid of summer spiders and all in all making Forty Roses ship shape. No real need to make phone calls and of course I could use my phone to send emails, etc. But I did recall, in Canada before we left, some of my emails would not send from my phone. Anyhow, as we were going into Lille to return our rental car, I planned to drop off at the Free centre and check out what was up as I continued to show No Service…that fateful little circle with a line through it.

In Lille I speak with the Free folks and they check this and that, remove the SIM, put it back in etc. and lo and behold I have service. I can call John and he can call me. All good. We head out to take a last look at one of our favourite places… Lille and have a coffee and enjoy the beautiful day. A few hours later I again see that little circle with the line through it! No Service! We return to Free…they know me by now and we wait again for a technician. This time the technician takes much longer and I am asked for my Titre de Sejour card etc. Then the tech gives me the news.. You are blacklisted, he says. You must go to the police, as your phone is stolen. There is nothing you can do without seeing the police. So we trudge to the Euralille Police office where we are greeted and explain my situation. This, by the way, is not done easily. Have owned the phone for 4 1/2 years, purchased in Kuala Lumpur . Lieutenant Brice takes over and does his investigation….to no avail. The phone has been Blacklisted says he…internationally. Not the SIM but the phone itself. Lieutenant Brice says go back to Free, they can resolve? So we lumber back to Free, but sadly they say go back to Canada to sort it or buy a new phone. They cannot remove anything as they have no access…it’s a ‘situation’, a mystery, a conundrum. Happily problems are usually solvable with expenditure! Down the street we trek to SFR and buy a new Samsung A6, put in my old SIM and I’m now off the Blacklist….well not off, but at least untraceable for now.