Our complete “itinerary.”
On the first day of our canal adventure we piled 8 people (me, my husband, his parents, his sister, her husband, and our two kids) into a rented boat and headed up the Saône River.
The “Sanne,” our home for the next week.
We stopped for lunch at a lovely little restaurant in Chalon-sur-Saône, and did a little exploring in the heart of the old city. We’re finding that even this far outside Paris many (most?) shops and restaurants are closed for a long vacation, but the architecture and windy little streets are still novel enough to make wandering fun.
Many of the buildings around the central square are medieval – my best guess is that they date from the 1400s, but take that with a grain of salt. (To put that in perspective, the two reputedly oldest houses in Paris are about the same age.)
I can’t get enough of the doors and windows on this trip:
One side of the square is occupied by the cathedral of St. Vincent, which was a wonderful mix of medieval base, neo-gothic façade, Victorian statuary and stained glass, and even some contemporary stained glass.
My favorite thing in the whole town was this note pinned to the lectern (presumably by the priest.) It says, “Speak slowly.”
After exploring, we headed upriver to the Canal du Centre and the first lock of our journey,
then to Fragnes, where we spent the night.
