Last Days on the Marne, August 5-8

We were pretty surprised when we pulled into the marina in Meaux to find plenty of space available. It’s a very nice marina as marinas go and utilities are available, although for a fee. If you don’t need them (and we didn’t), mooring is free. 

We were pleased to see the narrowboat Chalk Hill II tied up. We had met Neal and Karen earlier in the summer on the Canal du Loing. They were pretty much following our trip but in the opposite direction; we figured we’d meet them again. Sadly, they had left the boat to attend family celebrations in England and wouldn’t be returning for several days.

Again, it was early in the day and we planned to spend Tuesday there as well so we had plenty of time to wander into town and do a little sightseeing.

We revisited the Bishop’s Garden and Saint-Etienne Cathedral whose construction began in the 12th century and was “finished” in the 16th. (“Finished” because the southern tower has never been completed.)

Inside the cathedral is a monument to Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet, a renowned scholar and orator from the late 1600’s and a bishop in the cathedral.

The figures at the base are Henrietta of England, the young princess whose funeral oration was given by Bossuet,

 the Grand Dauphin whom he tutored, 

Turenne whom he converted to Catholicism

 and Louise de la Vallière whom he led from the court to join the Carmelite order.

Wednesday morning we were off to Nogent-sur-Marne, another place we stopped in 2009 and again, we found our spot on the bank back up the river from the marina. Behind an island, we were separated from the commercial traffic pounding up and down the river; a very peaceful spot.

Looking downstream toward the marina

Once again we were awed by some of the houses along the waterfront. We were moored right below this one.

Thursday morning we were underway to complete our trip down the Marne. After about 2 hours we turned left and headed up the mighty Seine.