July 9-11 Saône River

 

July 9 – Thursday – Morning in Pontailler-sur-Saône:

Not exactly a pool that reflects.
But, it didn't cost millions of Euros.

We walked town, window shopped a bit, had coffee outside at the restaurant by the river. France has their own version of the "Reflecting Pool". Depart 11:05am and arrive Auxonne 1:20pm. Short day with 1 écluse (lock) and only 17 km.

July 10 – Friday – Lay day in Auxonne:

Street decorations in Auxonne

Grocery shop and it's market day. Turns out the market only has clothes. Julie and Joan score loose, gauze dresses to better withstand the heat. Made in Italy, purchased in France, going home to the USA. Heat is still sapping our energy.  Many of the streets in small towns have decorations between buildings overhanging the streets. Nice festive touch. We’ve seen umbrellas and flowers amongst other things. Visited Église Notre-Dame with the sun shining through the upper stained-glass windows. The reflections caught our eyes. The outside of the Église Notre-Dame.

Auxonne Église Notra Dame

Upper window stained glass showed sunlight perfectly

Sunset at the marina at Auxonne

July 11 – Saturday – Morning in Auxonne - Dinner in St Jean de Losne:

Julie & Joan showing off their new dresses.

In the cool of the morning we spend two hours replacing the hinges on the toilet seat in the mid-stateroom that had broken. Small space with not a lot of air flow. We’d been looking for hinges along the way and finally found them in Auxonne. Depart at 11:20am. Already 86° on the way to a high of 96°. One écluse and 16 km gets us to Saint-Jean-de-Losne at 1:40pm. Juniper spends the winter in Saint-Jean-de-Losne at Blanquarts Marina. We’ve been here many times so we tie up on the quai between the river-side restaurants and the Hotel Barge Daniele for a different view. Fun people watching – both locals and tourists like ourselves. Michael manages to get reservations at Bistrot La Cotinière, right there on the quai. Our goal is to enjoy a good meal in the shade that the restaurant has, and the boat doesn’t, for as long as possible. 