July 2 – Chalons-en-Champagne to Soulanges
We went off to the market with Dave and Marty where we bought fruits, vegetables, and a loaf of bread that is bigger than either of my newborn children were. We stopped at a café for a cup of café and headed back to our boats. We left around 11 with plans to rendezvous at Soulanges.
Today we encounter only 6 locks. However… in the first lock of the day we left a fender behind in the lock gate as we were going out. Dave pulled the boat over to the side of the canal – I jumped off and headed back to the lock to retrieve the fender – it was wedged in the now closed lock gate so tightly that I couldn’t budge it. Fortunately there was a (very handsome) man walking alongside the canal and I asked him if he could help me. He was able to dislodge the fender and I trotted back to the boat with it – as I climbed on the boat, I had to walk through a patch of weeds with my very favorite enemy – the stinging nettle. (John and I encountered a patch of these when Dave left me along the side of the canal by the first tunnel – he “forgot” I was on the land searching for the intercom to contact the tunnel master and John had to help me onto the boat – his arms and my legs were covered with welts.) Since I was familiar with the itching and stinging of the welts, which lasts for hours, I dashed into the galley and wiped my legs off with Vodka (the cooking kind –not the drinking Vodka!), then went in search of some antibiotic cream. Dave asked what I had put on the welts and I told him – Preparation H! He laughed but it is supposed to reduce inflammation, swelling and itching – is it not? Well it did the trick. He said he didn’t know we had any of that – where did I find it? Umm - on his side of the sink cabinet.
Yesterday afternoon we turned into the Canal Lateral a la Marne, it is not as pretty as some of the other canals – there is much vegetation which is so high that very few views of the countryside are afforded from the boat. Yesterday, before we turned, we went past fields and fields of wheat – it always reminds me of when “The Little Prince” met the fox. We also saw mountainsides covered with champagne grapes. It is enough to make you thirsty!
Chalons-en-Champagne was a beautiful town – much nicer than Reims. It also has two beautiful cathedrals but I doubt there is a more beautiful cathedral than in Reims. C-en-C had a large train station, 2 big squares surrounded by restaurants and very nice shops, including a beautiful indoor shopping mall; there was a big band set up in one of the squares for a concert last night. There was much ado in town last night- perhaps because of the concert or perhaps because of the game between France and Brazil. Anyway – there were horns honking, fireworks, and all sorts of merriment going on until way past midnight.
Tonight we are moored canal-side in Soulanges. Dave and Marty are tied up to us. After a brief walk into the village (or make that a walk into the brief village), we came back to the boat for a fajita dinner.