And what's a canal without swans, I ask you?
A statue to a native son of Chalon-sur-Saône, Nicephore Niepce (who inexplicably changed his name from Joseph...), credited (in France, at least) with the invention of the first internal combustion engine in the world (1807). He partnered with Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, a camera obscura expert. Together, they developed a photosensitive agent distilled from lavender oil, which allowed them to obtain photographic images in somewhat less than 8 hours' exposure time! Niepce died suddenly in 1833, his contributions to the development of photography forgotten (except, of course, in Chalon-sur-Saône...)
Chalon-sur-Saône, as you can see from the following photographs, is a charming town...
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