London House - Chicago

We woke up, or more correctly, arose from a mostly sleepless night in Toledo, OH.  I couldn’t tell you when because I was on the top bunk and my phone was somewhere in the deep void below me!  There is a small fold-up sink in the room (it drains when you close it…a little awkward if you brush your teeth and shave). We had breakfast in Indiana, before arriving, 30 minutes early in Chicago.  

We dropped off our bags at the hotel, and went to see Cloud Gate.  Yes, that is the actual name of the sculpture we all call, “the bean.”  We both thought it was a serious one and done kind of thing, but we spent quite a long time, mostly trying to find our own reflection (not as easy as you would think).

Even though it is almost May, it’s a little cold, and the wind doesn’t help.  But we are New Englanders and we have tough skin, or enough layers of clothes, so we walked the Riverwalk along the Chicago River.  All up and down the river are Architecture Tours.  This is a city of “one-upmanship.”  Every building in the district is distinctive with new buildings mixed with old. And, of course, “my building’s taller than yours”.

By11:30 we were ready for lunch.  Trip Advisor suggested The Purple Pig for lunch. Obviously, Trip Advisor is not concerned about his expenses.  The cheapest item on the lunch menu was about $40, but since we are old, we shared.  We had the Winter Salad, and a Pork Ribeye.  Honestly, the best meal I have had in years.  By noon, there were no seats left.

By 2:30, we got our room, and took a little nap, then up to the rooftop bar (with no windows) for a drink before dinner.

Tomorrow, it’s suppose to rain before we get back on the train to Albuquerque.

Lake Shore Limited (Boston->Chicago)

 

Amtrak lounge Boston

Trepidation is the word for the day.  Hope for the best, plan for the worst.  Not all schedules align perfectly.  We ended up with 3 hours to kill in Boston. Fortunately, one of the perks of getting a roomette is access to the Amtrak Lounge.  Next comes the “Bus Substitution” from Boston to Albany. Doing a little “shoulder surfing,” I see the woman in front of me text, “just wanted to let you know I came down with Covid this week!”  We were on the express bus, that didn’t make any stops, so we got to Albany in 3 hours instead of 6, so we had another 3 hours to kill.  

Normally all the sleepers are at the back of the train, but our car was at the front.  It’s a good thing that Deb and I get along, caus’ it’s real cozy in our little roomette.  We’re learning…only one person is allowed to move at a time.  Fun fact, on the eastern side of the country, the roomettes are Viewliners.  From Chicago heading west, the roomettes are Superliners which are smaller (Deb doesn’t know that yet!). 

So serious, must be hungry!

As we learned in Portsmouth, trains are required to blow their horn 5 times at every grade crossing.  Because we are right behind the locomotive, we get to hear the horn quite clearly.  At 75 mph, there is a grade crossing approximately every 5 to 10 seconds going across upstate New York and Ohio.  Not making this up!

The rooms come with complimentary meals in the dining car, which is conveniently located next to the sleepers…in the back of the train.  We have to walk through the cafe car, and 6 coach cars for our meals.  But the food is pretty good, so it’s worth it.

Tomorrow, Chicago.

Off Seine Hotel - Paris, France

 

We turned in the boat, and got a taxi to Clemecy, and took the train to Paris.  Our mission, in Paris, is to see the interior of Notre Dame. According to the news, the lines to get in are hours long.  You can get an online reservation to go in for free but they were always sold out.  Deb had me keep checking, but there was no change.  On the train, she asked again, “Did you check?”  I check and YES…an available time slot at 4:00.  There were several screens to get through for the reservation and I kept loosing the internet going through tunnels.  After twenty or so tries. I got tickets!

Got to Paris, dropped off the bags, got a quick lunch, walked to Notre Dame, used our pass, and saw Notre Dame.  Pretty crowded, but impressive.  Found a little sidewalk cafe for a drink, and a reminiscence of our trip,  Dijon was an unexpected highlight.  Innsbruck was great.  The Jungfrau did not fail to impress!

Work in progress 

Tomorrow is a National Strike day in France.  The RER, the train to the airport is on strike.  We have booked an Uber.  The receptionist at the hotel said, “Oh, interesting!”  I guess we’ll see what that meant.

Nivernais Canal - Flez-Cuzy, France

 

Left Clamecy under cloudy skies, but no rain in the forecast.  I am driving until lunch and then I go back to being the bow man.  This canal has a lock every one or two kilometers which is a lot.  Because of logistics of getting here and going back we decided to go from Migennes to Flex-Cuzy. Well that turns out to be up river, which isn’t too bad, but at every lock we enter at the bottom and rise up.  You need to tie off the boat when it’s in the lock so it doesn’t bounce around, but the bollards you need to tie to are way up there!

Today we do the last nine locks with a break halfway for lunch.  The final lock of the trip is a double lock with three sets of gates.  It’s a long way up.  

We end up at the boat rental place, ready to turn in the boat tomorrow and head, by train, to Paris and a national strike. 

We did it!

Nivernais Canal - Clamecy, France

 

So cute!!

The boat has two steering positions, one on the bridge and one in the cabin.  The problem is that you can’t see very well when steering from the heated, dry cabin; so this morning we are driving the boat on the cold bridge in the driving rain.  Everything on the boat is wet from three or four days of drizzly weather, but there is sunshine in the forecast and a mooring in a larger village on the float plan. You can definitely see an improvement in the attitude of the crew!

We pass through a guard lock (normally open but can be closed to prevents floods) which was guarded by goats.  We go under a drawbridge that you are required to get out of the boat to open.  

Clamecy has a pretty large marina, but it’s Monday and most of the shops are closed.  Eventually we find a little bar for a beer and a glass of Chardonnay before returning to the boat.

Tomorrow is our last leg of the trip.  This leg is going to be mostly open fields

, but hopefully sunny open fields.

Nivernais Canal - Chatel Censoir, France

 We are required to be at the next lock at 9:00 and we have left a little late.  Then, that nagging moment…I think I forgot something.  In case you are not happy with the location of the bollards, you can always just drive a rental company provided stake into the ground, anywhere.  Well, you need to take the stake when you leave.  I forgot, and left it there, so we did a quick u-turn in the narrow canal went back and recover the stake.  

For lunch we stopped in Merry-de-Yonne. There a nice cliff by the river, with an All Trails hike to the top.  We can‘t resist.  And Deb hasn’t used her hiking poles yet, is that

We have left most of the rental boaters behind, so we are going through the locks, solo.  The locks have been ready for us as we go.  This was the first place that required a Mediterranean mooring ( backing in with the two stern lines holding the boats.  I got it on my first attempt (first ever).

 Chatel Censoir is another very quiet town, where everything is closed on Sunday.  Everything being the local convenience store.  There is a Chatel (castle) on the top of the hill with arrow slits and cannon holes.  Of course it burned down two or three times since it was built, but at least one of the twelve towers is still standing

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Back to the boat before the rain.

Nivernais Canal - Mailly le Chateau, France

 We have arrived at the next canal at precisely 10:00.  Phew!  It’s still a little overcast, but nice.  Lunch in Dames.  It is a restaurant right at the lock, and very good!  Everything made locally.  

The afternoon is pleasant with some very low bridges.  Sitting at the helm, I would be decapitated if I didn’t duck way down.  We arrive at Mailly le Château early enough to go into town. We are moored in a field on the edge of the lower village (there was no businesses there), it’s a 500ft climb to the upper village.  The upper village had a massive church, a town hall, a cafe-tobacco shop-newsstand-bar, and a little market.  

The bar was a table with six chairs, and five minutes before it opened, there were six burly men standing outside.  We decided that we had seen enough of the upper village.

Back to the boat…to pleasant pitter patter of little raindrops!