Tournus

Seascapes Travel Log
Michael Grew
Sat 17 Jul 2010 15:22
16/07/2010 Tournus

After breakfast both of us kept a very close eye on what all the boat crews were doing along the pontoon, to see who was likely to leave first. The problem we had was that although we had a berth, it was one that had to be vacated by 18:00hrs today, to enable the returning hire boats to moor. At 10:00hrs I spotted that a crew off a German cruiser, that was on one of the free berths, they looked like they were preparing to leave. I then realised that a Dutch guy who had been walking along the quay was also interested. I took the bull by the horns and in my best German (yes I do speak a smattering) I asked if and when they were leaving. They said “Zen minutene” I said in a loud voice so the Dutchman could hear “Oh good, I will take your place when you leave”. I then walked back to our boat and started the preparations to move. When the German boat moved I slotted into his berth. Good job I did because not only was the Dutchman looking for a space but so where several other boats that suddenly appeared up river. We then walked up into the town and finished off the suggested town walk. One very interesting building we visited on the route was the Hotel Dieu (a hospital). This was very similar to The Chelsea Hospital in London. It consisted of a huge “T” shaped building with a ward in each leg, one for male patients, one for female patients and one for soldiers. There were probably 20 beds in little cubicles in each ward and each patient could be treated by the nursing staff, through a door, from a corridor running behind the cubicles. At the end of the Soldiers ward there was a church altar so that the patients could attend church services without leaving their beds. The hospital also boasted having a the largest and most complete ancient dispensary in Europe. The surprising thing about the place was that it was still in use as a hospital right up until 1978. Above the wards was a museum that was a small but very interesting and an art gallery. All in all good value at two Euros admission. We returned to the boat for lunch and siesta (if you can’t beat ‘em…) Late afternoon went back into town with the laptop and used the free WiFi in a café (yes, and had a beer) In the evening had a pizza in restaurant that was absolutely heaving with customers. The staffs were brilliant and would have put any fast food establishment in England to shame. Back on board we played cards until it got too dark to see the cards then turned in.