Wonderful Evening in Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre

St. Satur, as the guide indicated, was very commercial so we bypassed it for Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre. We first bypassed Ménétréol to look for a more secluded mooring upstream but then had the wisdom or good fortune to turn around (Earl's really good at that) and return. After tying up at the town dock, I asked the dockmaster about water and, since our boat was moored too far from the tap, we agreed we'd get it in the AM.

Earl and I wandered about town taking pictures and ended up taking about the election with a man who had retired here from Portugal. When we were in Paris, we couldn't miss all the posters urging a vote of "Oui" or "Non" on the subject of France's ratification of the European Constitution. Today was the election and, as it happens, we were ties up in from of the town hall where the voting was taking place.

It was actually pretty exciting to witness a tiny piece of history in the making.

On the way to back the boat, I asked the dockmaster about the showers. He said that others were using the shower but that he'd alert us when it was available. Eventually, he said the coast was clear so Lin and I set off for the showers while Helen and Earl waited on the boat. Even then, however, the shower was still occupied by some Austrians so we had to wait some more. The dockmaster waited with us and introduced himself as Jean. He and I had a nice chat while we were waiting and developed a bit of rapport.

Conditions in the shower facility were fairly Spartan but we had a nice shower, then took the key to Helen and Earl for their turn. Lin suggested we have a glass of wine on deck while we waited for their return.

While we were doing so, the dockmaster's wife came out of their house, directly across from out boat, for a smoke. We started taking and I invited her and Jean to join us for a glass of wine. Jeanette was overwhelmed by the boat; with all the boats passing through, she'd never been aboard one. By the time Helen and Earl returned, we had made some new friends. They were delightful and we had a great time. Jean spoke no English but Janette had studied a bit in high school and she dusted it off and was having fun with it. We killed two bottles of wine by the time they left and were sorry to see them go. I asked Jean to tell us in the morning about the outcome of the election.

Helen made some great coq-au-vin for dinner and, after some conversation, the others headed for bed at about 11:30, with me still writing.