July 5–6, St. Dizier
On Wednesday, we went to have Dave’s tire repaired – me on foot and Dave on my bike. Then we went into town to have some lunch. Of course here everything closes from 12 – 2, so all the stores were closed. We went back to the boat and puttered around, sat through a thunderstorm, and went back onto town on bikes for dinner and to watch the France – Portugal World Cup match. The last match was played when we were in Chalons-En-Champagne and the town square restaurants were filled with people watching the game – here, only a few people were out but the spirit was lively.
Thursday – we planned a trip into town this morning to go the bike shop, book store, etc. but it began raining as soon as we were ready to leave. There has been a shortage of rain here which poses problems with the locks eventually; we have been asked to go through with other boats to conserve water but our boat is too big for another boat to fit into the locks with us. The good news is that it has cooled everything down.
As I might have guessed, after the rain stopped the reluctant Captain sent me off into town to do the errands – on foot, as my bike was locked to his. More trouble to unlock a bike than to walk three miles? It seems so. I came back with books (in English for me) and several children’s books in French for the Captain to help him learn his French; such fun titles: “Margot L’Escargot”, “Je Veux Etre Une Cow-Girl” (I Want To Be A Cow Girl), “Il y a un alligator sous mon lit” (There is an alligator under my bed), and “Les reves du’une grenouille” (The dreams of a frog). I figured the latter would make him think twice before ordering frog’s legs for dinner again. However – the thought of Margot in her garden, has not hindered my consumption of escargots in the least. Basically we just waited all day for the part to be delivered but it never made it. We had dinner on the boat.