Aquaducts

I can't tootle over an aquaduct without wondering what else the Romans have done for us, and if you don't know what I mean by that you'd better make a comment below and I'll explain.   The first time one finds oneself chuffing in one's boat several tens of metres above a river it's a very strange feeling indeed.

After a few times, one hands the wheel to one's wife so that one can take some photos.

Despite the excitement as we crossed the Moselle River, we made Nancy by afternoon tea time, having taken all day to travel sixteen kilometres, ambushed as we were by supermarkets and department stores en route, and of course by a tribe of urchins who couldn't believe their luck when we gave them each a guided tour of our "bateau", moored as we were in the French equivalent of Cornmeal Creek running through the back of Sunshine Plaza.

I'm not sure what story they'll tell of us when school goes back, of the ship with two "toilettes" and it's owners from Australie on a voyage grande, but I do wish I could speak as much in their language as the eight year old could speak in ours.

I suppose in the end, lack of language skills didn't seem to stop the Romans communicating any more than it does us.

Note:  HIstorical accuracy isn't one of my strong suits, so let's be perfectly clear.  If the Romans were out of the Aquaduct business in the mid nineteenth century, this one probably wasn't built by them, but I'm sure they were the inspiration, and I suspect that the royalties are still going back to them one way or another!