Warsaw at a glance, fascinating.

September 16-20th

The old and the new side by side.

Seemed rather odd to come across this palm tree in the middle of a round about, at first we thought it was real. Came to find out that it represents a piece of Israel. Warsaw was the center of the European Jewish world with 3.3 million Jewish people living in Poland. 

Poles represent the biggest number of people by nationality to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Poland holds the world record with the most people at 6,135 being awarded the title of "Righteous among the Nations" by the State of Israel.

"Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue"

There are constant reminders of strife and constant signs of gratitude and remembrance throughout the city. Either in terms of a museum, a plaque, a wall, a flag .......

The first concert by Chopin was in this church!

Beautiful street leading into the old town.

The old town

Choir group from Norway on a scavenger hunt.

.... being followed by the Hare Krishna

Huge ice cream cone!

Wish I could bring this home for my Mom - her favorite dessert, Pavlova!

Some random shots around town:

Monument to the Resistance fighters.The three sections represent Faith, Hope and Charity.

The symbol of Warsaw, odd considering they are 300 km from water.

 All good things must come to an end and this afternoon we are heading back to Chopin International and Toronto bound.
Four days does not do Warsaw justice but it did allow us to get a taste of what the city has to offer. The first thing you notice is the contrast between old and new. So much of the city had been destroyed during WW11. Warsaw has been invaded or has fought for freedom in insurrection 43 times from 1600 to 1945. It held its first free elections in more than 40 years in 1989.There are 56 museums in this city, a large number of them representing a war or an uprising, there is even a Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom.
One of the first things we noticed was the huge selection of international cuisine. very different from France! We noticed the lack of visible minorities and the large numbers of people under twenty five. They have a nice balance of western traditions mixed in with their own. After what they have been through they have to be adaptable. One commentary we heard said is that the Polish people are very hospitable but they smile less in public than any other European nation because they are conservative and guarded.


"Remember life is a journey, we are lucky to travel. The difference between an Adventure and an Ordeal is Attitude. - make  sure yours is positive."
                                                                    Richard J. Nick

Charles De Gaulle to Chopin in two hours!

Life off the boat was moving quickly, we were once again back in the fast lane. We basically retraced our boat trip north at 80 km per hour and found ourselves just outside of Paris about 5 pm. We had booked a Chambre d' Hotes near the airport and it turned out to be a great find.  We had a house all to ourselves with a comfie king size bed and a walk in rain shower with jets. After the "stall" and hard bed on the boat both of these were a welcome luxury. Our breakfast was awesome, warm,  fresh of course,  baguette with home made jams and patisseries, plus a selection of cereal etc... you get the picture.

Terri and Georges flight to Toronto on Air France was one of the chosen forty percent to be cancelled. Luckily, Terri managed to get  re-booked on Air Canada on an earlier flight so it all worked out. We all flew out of Charles De Gaulle at the same time.

Garth and I caught the commuter to Warsaw where we are spending four days here before heading home. We arrived, changed our left over Euros to Zloty, and proceeded to wait for our luggage. There were five of us waiting. At one point I asked this official looking women if she knew what was going on and she pointed to the sign on the carousel saying first bag. When I shrugged my shoulders she said when it says last bag come and see me and said - YOU JUST HAVE TO WAIT! Eventually our bags came - the last ones off. Perhaps the people working at Chopin International do not understand the bright orange tags on the bag that say Priority or they do and were thumbing it at us! Oh well, we got them and it all worked out.

We stopped at the tourist info and along the way were accosted by rogue taxi drivers wanting our business. The prices ranged from 120 PL to 50 PL, after our stop at the tourist information booth an elderly man asked us if we wanted a taxi, I asked how much and it was 50 Pl. He seemed grandfather like and we agreed on a flat rate - off we went. His English was poor but he tried along the way to point out places and things. He had great polka tunes just blaring. At one corner he told us "here you are 600 km to Berlin that way and 1200 km to Moscow that way". We arrived at the hotel got settled in and relaxed for awhile before heading out to dinner.

One of the things we noticed when coming from the airport was the abundance of international restaurants, in particular we spied a Vietnamese one just down the street. Garth did some trip advisor research and found out that another Vietnamese place really close by was rated number 5 out of 1144 restaurants. So off we went. Now, it may seem strange to be in Warsaw and heading for Asian food but keep in mind we have been on the road - so to speak- since August 9th and although the food in Austria and France is wonderful it does lack spice and we both love spice. So, off we went and were looking forward to spice, noodles and stir fry.......but it was not meant to be. Right across the road from the "Spring Roll " was the "Kluska Polska".  The interior caught our eye and we stopped to  look in, as we were starring in the window two men came out and started talking really fast in Polish to us. When he stopped and we looked dumbfounded he reiterated everything in broken English. "There are only a few people here now but in an hour you will not get a seat. I have an English menu  was the gist of the conversation. We looked at each other and new our taste buds would forgive us,  after all we are in Warsaw not Bangkok and this time next week we will be back in multi-cultural Toronto. So, in we went!

The greeter!

The big screen and two other people but....

Game time is approaching and we moved to the back of the room to give the die hard fans a view.

We ordered with the help of the not so English menu, chicken and noodles for me and goulash for Garth. The noodles were delicious, donut shaped with no hole and drizzled with butter and bacon. Not sure what they were called. The waiter brought us some salads that we did not order but he thought we should try, an apple, carrot and lemon shredded concoction and then the typical beet salad - both great. Perogies in a garlic sauce followed and they were good but we were kind of full by the time they arrived . A wonderful evening in a typical Polish restaurant watching the 2014 Volleyball tournament - beats Vietnamese anytime!

The TV crowd.

Volleyball is an important sport here!

He just can't help himself peeping in all the time to see the score.

All eyes on the TV.

Before you knew it we were involved, how could you not be. We were oohing and ahhing along with the crowd and clapping in support of our temporary hosts Polska!

Half time or whatever it is in Volleyball.

Poland won over Brazil 3-2 ! We had been up since 6 and we tired so we retreated to our hotel after the second game. A great introduction to Warsaw.

The Final Run, Remember life is a journey not a destination.

Sunday September 14 and Monday the 15th

On Saturday afternoon a boat pulled in and docked right behind the Royals. Three Brits were aboard, they were moving the boat south to the Mediterranean. At one point during the evening the man decided he was going to put water on the boat. Unfortunately he messed up and filled his diesel tank with 1100 liters of water! Oy Vey! There was a sheen of diesel on the water and there was no getting away from the smell of diesel in the air. When something like this happens it is of course an environmental concern and the authorities have to be called. Garth asked the man when he was going to call and he said first thing in the morning. What normally happens (it is France remember and a Sunday at that) is that the authorities will shut down the Port while they assess the situation. A discussion took place and the Brit agreed to wait until after 9 am to make his call! Good man. You see 9 am is the magic time that the automatic, unmanned locks start there day!

At 8:45 the engines were purring and we were pulling out of the harbour, we all made it through the two locks and we were on the home stretch. 

We had 23 km and six more locks to get through before we could proudly say we had completed our French canal loop. 

Earlier that morning Frank delivered the news that Air France was going on strike Monday! Three of the couples were flying Delta/Air France! Humm...You could see the wheels turning as to what people were going to do. I tell you this because when we arrived at the second lock (on the canal)  there was no one in sight. A women sitting in the house yelled out that the lock keeper had gone somewhere and gave us no indication of when he/she would be back.  Sid and Frank having been through 200+ locks in the past four weeks felt confident that they could run the show. 

 Frank and Sid, should we or shouldn't we! Doug and Gene - go for it!

Sid knows what to do!

and so does Frank!

They completed the task in record time and with the skill of a seasoned ecluse keeper!

The next lock we arrived at was once again unmanned. Now our imaginations started to run away ....the Air France pilots are on strike and the lock keepers have joined them. We will have to do all the locks by ourselves.  Which by the way we could do but the special handle to let the water in and out was missing! What to do, what to do!! Finally the little white truck came barreling up the towpath and the lock keeper jumped out with the special handle explaining that he had to do several locks today. He was in charge of the one we had just let ourselves through. Where he had gone in between was and will remain a mystery. We thought he would be a little angry that we had done it ourselves. No, he was happy to have the help and I am thinking if Frank and Sid spoke better French that they could have had a job for the day!

The day went all to fast and before we knew it we were back in Decize where we had started this journey August 18th. We proceed to clean the boats and pack our bags. We still had time for docktails before going out for dinner.

Gene & Ginny - Free to B

Doug and Judy - Moonstruck II

Sid & Evelyn- Something Special

Frank & Carrie - Once Around, boatless at the moment but they have the watering can just waiting for a new water home, did you look under the seat yet?

Terri & George -boatless forever according to George.

And of course your truly! Kathy & Garth - Algonquin! (pic to follow)

Backtrack 26 days -after our day of boating on the canals we all docked and washed off and cleaned the boats, then we shook our heads and realized that the canals were filthy and these were not our boats but indeed they were bumper boats! So, it had been a while since they had had a really good cleaning. 

Sid had a particularly hard day from being the assistant lock keeper and then having to wash the outside of the boat.  He just had to have a nap before dinner.

Sid 

Carrie said she posed for this but I am thinking Sid looks pretty angelic, Garth says he thinks Sid posed!

The French Loop

The French Loop, 216 locks, 28 days - Survivor France. We did it and as Sid said - no one died! We are all still friends and all still talking to our significant others and to each other. We did the Canal du Nivernais, the Yvonne, the Seine, Canal du Loing, Canal de Briare, and the Canal Lateral  a la Loire!

The Gold Loopers of France!

The whole gang!

Leaving the boat September 15th - Port of Decize

I believe most of us Loopers had the pleasure of meeting Richard Nick. Rich was the Harbour Host for Cape May, NJ and he and his wife Carol did the loop with us.  Sadly, Rich passed away in August after a courageous battle against pancreatic cancer. Rich loved life, he loved to travel and he loved boating. When we started this journey a month ago I read these words from his obituary. They are so touching and so true that I think it is appropriate to close this chapter of the blog with them. 

Remember life is a journey we are lucky to travel. The difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude - make sure yours is positive."  
Richard Nick

Onward to Never

September 12 & 13

On Friday we pulled away from the bank and once again headed south into the sunshine. We only had about 21 kilometers and 5 locks to do. One double lock and one aqueduct could have presented problems if it had been busy but we managed to get through without a hitch. 

Looks daunting, notice the audience all ready for a show!

At the end of our rope!

Right out of one lock and into another.

Notice the flowers on the lock doors

Up up and away.

Pont Canal du Guetin over the Allier River

This is what we went over, the Allier River.

Hard core fishermen!

At the helm

What got us today was the lunch hour break of the automatic locks coming in to the Never harbour. There are two locks, we got through one but had to wait an hour at the side of the bank for the second one. 

Once through we all docked, got organized and here we sit doing laundry.

I know I tend to dwell on laundry but seriously people the laundry mats are unbelievable. You heard some of the story about the last laundry escapade in Rogny where the taxi driver charged a small fortune and the laundry never did get dry. Let's look at our latest adventure. We arrived in the Nevers harbour shortly after 2 and Garth and I had the laundry up to the office at 2:30. We bought 4 tokens and proceeded to do a "light" load first. At approximately 4:45 the washer stopped. Two hours and fifteen minutes to do a load of wash! Seriously, I am thinking either these clothes are going to be thread bare or REALLY clean! Immediately we put them in the one, yes the one and only dryer and put our second load of wash in the one and only washer.   At 7:15 our clothes were dry but the spin cycle on the washer did not spin the clothes so Garth wrung them out by hand! Oh Vey!! We came back to the boat and when I was getting on I did something to my sore leg and spent the rest of the night in bed icing my leg! Thank goodness the Royals have ice and thank goodness they provide ice to the infirm! At 12:30 am Garth came back from the laundry mat saying he will get the clothes in the morning because they still were not dry!

So, here it is nineteen hours later and the clothes are hanging around the boat still trying to dry! And you wonder why we talk about laundry? It has been the bane of our existence on the canals.....

The rest of the crew took the day off to explore Never and arranged a dinner out. Last we saw there were 8 of them sitting waiting for a cab that they had called 45 minutes earlier. At the hour mark Doug and Judy threw in the towel and retreated to the boat and we saw Sid and Evelyn walking to town! Ahh .....you have to embrace the French for they truly take it in stride and few of them wear watches. It is what it is and it if we had wanted everything to run like clockwork then as I see it we have two choices. One is to only travel in Switzerland, the other is to stay home.

 

Today was a lazy day in Never. Tomorrow we head back to our home port of Decize.