We got up extra early today so we could (hopefully) get going quickly. After breakfast, we took off and within a couple of minutes we were back at lock 37 again. I pressed the button to call the lockmaster and after two busy signals, someone answered. Right away he opened the lock! Yay! All in all we were very lucky to have gotten stuck where we were, as it was safe, pretty, and near a town. Had we been almost anywhere else, it would not have been so good.
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| Early morning fishermen along the canal. |
We started out around 8:20 and went through lock after lock, about 5 or 6 in all, before we reached Saverne by just after 10. We are opposite a beautiful palace in a large marina. We found our spot, tied up, filled up with water and cleaned off the boat.
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| Going through a lock (this picture and below) |
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| Autumn in France! |
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| Coming into Saverne |
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| Our boat, in the Saverne Marina, opposite the Rohan Chateau |
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| Near our marina with the Chateau in the background |
I met a lovely German man from the boat next to us who gave us some good ideas about what to do here. He suggested a hike to Chateau Haut-Barr, on top of a mountain, where there is a restaurant. It was quite a long, all uphill walk, first through city streets and later through the woods, which took us just over an hour. We were all hot and exhausted!
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| Walking up the hill (much steeper than it looks) |
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| Hiking through the woods |
The ruins of a medieval fortress were there, and sure enough a restaurant, where we had lunch. I ordered the three course lunch, and the first course (salad) came with that jelly pork thing that I'd gotten the other day - still gross! But the rest of lunch was terrific. We climbed to the top of the Chateau and the views were spectacular. The walk back down was considerably easier! |
| First view of the Chateau Haut-Barr |
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| Restaurant at the top of the mountain
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| Top of the Chateau |
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| Jellied pork thing - Blech! |
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| Fish Soup |
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| My lunch! Yum! |
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| My dessert! |
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| The view! |
Next we went to the Chateau Rohan, just across from our boat. They had some small exhibits inside that we looked at. Finally we wandered in and out of the many stores on the main street in Saverne. We came back to the boat and I took a nap!
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| In front of Chateau Rohan |
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| Gardens behind Chateau Rohan |
Afterwards we sat upstairs, outside on the boat for the first time since we finally have some warm, sunny weather. Then, we went to dinner at Tavern Katz, which is a famous restaurant here in a 500 year old building. The food was excellent, but waaaaaay too much! Deena and I agreed to split an appetizer of potato pancakes with apple sauce and salad, but when they brought it, we were sure they'd brought us each one! My dinner came with a ladle (!) and was a large pot of beef stew. Then we headed back to the boat, too stuffed to eat the pastries we'd bought, and went to sleep!
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| Taverne Katz |
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| Pre-appetizer - a deconstructed hot dog?? |
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| Deena and I shared this appetizer. This is MY half!! |
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| David's escargot appetizer |
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| David's chicken in puff pastry |
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| Deena's lamb shank |
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| Giant pot of beef stew for Sue |
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