Up the Rhone au Rhine

 With Tom and Erica we begin our trip on the Rhone au Rhine on June 17. We have not been on this canal previously, so everything is new and interesting.  The canal is operated by a hand held controller that you receive from the lock keeper at the first lock.  The locks are automated to open and close, fill with water, and then reopen.  We navigate eight locks to get to the city of Dole.  

Turns out Dole ( a word for bridge toll in ancient France is a very interesting city.  We decide to keep it as our home base for the next week before Tom and Erica leave for home.  There are many bridges, including a 14th century Romanesque one, a part of which remains.  Louis Pasteur was born here to a family of tanners.  

Juniper is moored next to a park, and we walked all over Dole looking at the old buildings, the Church, found the train station, spent time in another garden and explored the inner canals. Went to the Market and found a lovely bakery.  Dole had many surprises and enjoyable walking streets. On the Doubs river there are remnants of a Roman bridge on either side of the river.  

We had a wonderful day at the Art Museum, which had many interesting exhibits about the history of the area and a current exhibit about Revolution.  This exhibit mixed older art works with contemporary ones in a unique way.

June 21 was the Fete de la Musique all over France.  In Dole we saw seven different music performances up the walking street.  It was a delightful evening, even though it rained.