Road Scholar
French Canal Voyage By Barge:
Discover Alsace-Lorraine


Strasbourg

Strasbourg to Waltenheim

Waltenheim

Waltenheim to Saverne

Saverne

Captain Cammille Readies Himself for a Bridge

Low Bridge Ahead A Very Low Bridge!
Arsviller Inclined Plane Arzviller Inclined Plane Arzviller Inclined Plane

Charlie Kientzler

Alexandra Chambon

Chateau deHaut-Barr Castle

Saverne to Lutzelbourg

Lutzelbourg

Chateau de Lutzelbourg

Lutzelbourg to Arzviller Inclined Plane

Lehrer Crystal Glassworks

Marne Rhine Canal Tunnel Marne Rhine Canal Tunnel

Arzviller Inclined Plane

Arzviller Inclined Plane to Xouaxange

Xouaxange

Tunnels

Xouaxange to Lagarde

Leaving Saverne Mely, George, Tami, & Lyle
Rechiort Lock Rechiort Lock Exit Cynthia Has a Glass Made

Flight Over From Newark Liberty

Kientzler Winery

Mely Rahn's Pictures of Charlie and Me

Land Rovers in France

Flight Home From Frankfurt

Vacations 2016

Madeline Cabin Marco Our First Mate Lock Actuating Switch Rope Terrorist Attack Warning Sign

 

Road Scholar French Canal Voyage By Barge: Discover Alsace-Lorraine

In October of 2016 my longtime family friend, Charlie Kientzler invited me on an all expense paid trip to France. This portion of the trip was a Road Scholar canal barge tour on the Hotel Barge MS Madeleine "French Canal Voyage By Barge: Discover Alsace Lorraine". The first day and a half we spent touring Strasbourg, France. The Notre Dame Strasbourg cathedral was one of the highlights.

We also had time to tour one of the museums (Archeology), take a canal sightseeing tour through the city and got to walk around and explore on our own for a few hours. From there we boarded the canal barge MS Madeleine, a small canal barge with 24 cozy rooms. The barge MS Madeleine took us 65 miles through 41 locks over a 6 day period cruising at around 3 mph, an easy pace to keep up with on foot if we wanted to walk along the canal tow path between locks. Some of the highlights of our canal cruise on the MS Madeleine were:

  • Arzviller Inclined Plane: A huge bathtub on rails that took us 500-600' (148" vertical) up the side of a mountain
  • Grand Tunnel D'Arzviller: A canal tunnel 1.4 miles long that took about a half hour to cruise through
  • Aqueduct: A portion of the canal encased in a bridge that ran over a roadway
  • Rechicourt Lock: A single lock that went down 50 feet. We exited through a smaller trap door at the bottom of the lock
  • Sarrebourg: There we visited a chapel with a large stained glass window by Marc Chagall
  • Chateau de Haut Barr Castle: The ruins of an ancient castle outside Saverne, France
  • Chateau de Lutzelbourg: Another castle above Lutzelbourg. This was a spectacular location

Before the tour Charlie and I rented a car and first drove north from Strasbourg to visit the Maginot Line museum at Hackenburg, then south to visit the Kientzler family winery.

It was an awesome trip!