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Eiffel Tower

Touring Paris on the river Seine

by Mark Eades September 17, 2020

One of the best ways to see some of the sites of Paris when you have limited time is to take a boat tour on the river Seine.

The Brigitte Bardot, one of the tour boats on the river Seine in Paris, France.

This is not the boat upon which we floated on the river Seine, but I thought the name of the boat was really cool.

When we first set out on our river tour, the sun had broken through the clouds and the sun was shining, making for this picturesque shot of the Eiffel Tower.

Crowding the rail on the boat while on the river Seine

All the boats have heated indoor seating with large windows from which to view everything. Some of them have outdoor areas, but be prepared; it can be pretty cold out there.

Many of the buildings look like they’ve been around a while.

The “banks of the river Seine float along through central Paris and under many bridges and older looking buildings.

Paris, like London, loves its statues. Only here they put them on the bridges.

The river was “up” while we were there, which meant that the higher boats pretty much could not travel the river except between two bridges.

If you’re familiar with the series “Highlander” then you know some folks live in their boats or barges on the river. The building behind is some kind of museum.

Pont des Arts, also known as the Love Locks bridge.

This is the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge where lovers put love locks on the rail. Visitors to the bridge attach personalized padlocks to its railing and throw the keys away in the Seine River. A few years back the city started removing them, but it has not stopped lovers or others.

Everyone probably remembers the horrible fire they had at the Notre Dame Cathedral. Scaffolding was erected and more coming in to keep the building from collapsing because of the fire.

The sun peeked through the clouds on our return down river, shining some light on the Notre Dame Cathedral. Too bad about the fire, but they plan to rebuild it so it looks the same.

I’m not sure what this building is for the government there, but it has the tri-color flag on it.

Tour boats and other barges line the banks of the river Seine, occupying much of the space along the shores.

Don’t ask me the name of this statue. If you know it, feel free to contact me and I’ll update this post. The same with any of the buildings I have not identified.

Instead of the river Seine how about river Graffiti?

There are gangs in Paris, and they feel they are allowed to graffiti everywhere they feel they can, even on the walls alongside the river Seine.

This, then, has been our tour of the river Seine in Paris, France. In the previous post at this link about Paris, I talked about the food in the city.

We also took a tour of the Eiffel Tower at night, absolutely beautiful.

And then visited the Palace of Versailles.

September 17, 2020 1 comment

Eiffel Tower France Paris vacation

Paris is all about the food

by Mark Eades September 15, 2020

One of the things your stomach thinks of when visiting Paris is dining, and there is lots of it. But first you have to get to Paris.

The Eurostar, the way to go from London to Paris via the Chunnel.

Instead of flying, we decided it was just as easy and more interesting to take the train to Paris from London, where we had been staying for nearly a week.

The Metro (subway) in Paris.

Once we got to Paris, we took the Metro to the station near the hotel where we would be staying while in the city. And I had made a big mistake.

Beware of pickpockets in Paris. They run in gangs.

I’m smiling because I’m upset. I stupidly had forgotten to put my wallet into an inside zipped up compartment in my jacket. When are large group got to the Metro platform for our train, a large group of miscreants surrounded us like they were young tourists – they weren’t. They tried to grab our suitcases and I was crushed by about five people. Then just before the doors automatically closed, they rushed out; almost taking me with them. But one of the group pushed me back inside the train. I even heard one of them say as the train started “I got a wallet.” I checked and sure enough, my wallet was gone. I still had my passport so I could travel but geez. We got on our cell phones as soon as we could get wifi, but Citibank noticed an unusual expenditure and had stopped my card right away. They did not try, at least not yet, anything with the two debit cards. We immediately reported all three as stolen. I also lost my health insurance cards, and driver’s license. Sigh, something I had to deal with when I got home. The only money I lost was the approximately $150 still in my wallet. Oh well.

The Metro Station near our hotel.

Well, that wallet was all that was stolen from our group. Moving on, this was where we came up from underground in the Montparnasse area of Paris.

The street signs are a little confusing to an English speaking ignorant American.

It was winter in Paris, so all the trees were bare, but still quite a few people out even in the cold.

Large intersections are all over the city of Paris.

The streets in Paris date back centuries from the horse carriage days. As such, there is not a standard grid pattern. People like me need to be on my toes so that I don’t inadvertently step out into traffic, coming from a multitude of directions. I don’t know what the law is about pedestrians in Paris, but it seemed like you obeyed the traffic signals, unlike many here in the U.S.A.

The Lenox Montparnasse Hotel.

This is the Lenox Montparnasse Hotel in Paris, and it is a charming smaller hotel. The rooms are very nice. They serve breakfast in the lobby (and it’s a good spread) along with pour your own beverages, particularly say a night cap of brandy. My daughter knew of this place from her job at the time as an event planner for an international company. I recommend this place.

Ways to get around in Paris.

Time to explore the city, but not on that. Look closer, it has two front wheels. No, I did not ride it. I walked around a bit.

That looks like a familiar place, just down the street from the hotel.

When I first stepped out of the hotel and looked down both ways on the street trying to decide which way to go I was pleasantly surprised to see this restaurant less than a block from the hotel. Those of us who worked on the opening of EuroDisneyland (now known as Disneyland Paris) should recognize the place. Many of us dined here multiple times.

Auberge de Venise, a great Italian restaurant.

I had looked up the place to see if it was still around before leaving the states, and it was. But didn’t know where it was in regards to the hotel we were staying at. I’d told my family that if we could, we should all dine there. We did, later the second night after a day on the River Seines.

The bar in Auberge de Venise dates to Ernest Hemingway, who had an occasional drink at that bar.

The food is still marvelous there as is the Tiramisu for dessert!

The streets of Paris.

I decided to walk around a bit while everyone else got settled in and check out the neighborhood. Remember what I said about the streets being a little confusing? And where to cross them. That part is very clearly marked. So as not to get too lost, I essentially walked around the block. But look at all the places to eat!

Cafes and restaurants everywhere.

This small place only had two outdoor tables, but I was on a smaller side street.

One of the larger avenues in the area.

You can see the cafe on the right has more outdoor dining.

Le Petit seems to be in the names of many dining locations.

It was cold out, so not so many outside diners.

A pizza joint.

This place had outdoor dining, and heating lamps, so some Parisians decided to dine outside.

A Whopper in Paree!

For those that do not wish to dine on French or other international cuisines, they can always go to Burger King and have the Whopper. Yes, that’s what they call it there.

Chinese food and a. movie theater.

There were many restaurants that had other types of international cuisine, all near the hotel.

Korean Barbecue

Korean, sushi, and many other countries are represented in this truly international city.

Smoke, is it smoking or the type of food? Probably both.

When I looked in the window of this place, I could see a wall full of cigars and exotic cigarettes, as well as tables with ashtrays, and drink and food possibilities. Ah well, that’s it for this post.

To read about our first night in Paris, click on this link.

Our first day had us visiting the Palace of Versailles.

The second part of our visit to the Palace of Versailles.

A tour of Paris from the river Seine.

September 15, 2020 2 comments

Eiffel Tower England France London trains vacation

To Paris, city of lights

by Mark Eades June 11, 2020

Back in February of this year, I and my family were in London for 6 days. Then we went to Paris for a few days. But before we leave London, a couple of parting shots.

The Sherlock Holmes Pub in London.

I stopped off for a pint at this pub close to the middle of London town. I could not find Professor Moriarty. The pint was great. Then some sleuthing was done at the flat where we stayed and we found this in a drawer of the nightstand.

Those are not my wife’s unmentionables.

Obviously, someone had some interesting fun in the flat in London when staying in it the week before we were there. Well on to Paris via the train through the Chunnel. But when we got there, well, we had a problem. Or rather, I did.

Be very wary in Paris. There are gangs that work on grabbing your wallet.

As our family of 10 plus a baby made our way onto the Metro in Paris from the airport, we were surrounded by a large group of “rowdy” folks. Well, it turns out they were trying to steal our suitcases and more. Unfortunately, I had ignorantly left my wallet in my back pocket instead of an inside pocket like I had done the previous six days. The end result? The wallet was plucked clean. There were two credit cards, a debit card, my health cards, driver’s license and about $200 in cash. I discovered it right after the Metro train doors closed. My eldest immediately got on his smart phone and we were able to alert one of the card issuers. The only money I was out was the cash, but they very quickly tried to charge nearly $3800 on one of the credit cards. Yes, I had to get a new driver’s license when I got home and all the credit and debit cards were replaced. Luckily, they did not get my passport.

Now on to Paris.

The Eiffel Tower in its night time glow.

We absolutely had to go see the Eiffel Tower in all its night time glory the first night – after settling into our hotel room and dealing with the stolen wallet.

One of the legs of the Eiffel Tower.

You can see the stairs that lead up the legs and eventually to the top in this blurry photo. We took the elevators.

The view up from beneath the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower is very tall, oh and its darned windy and cold at the top – where we were headed.

Going up in the elevator of the Eiffel Tower.

Riding the elevators up to the top of the Eiffel Tower reminds me of the finale sequence of “Impressions de France,” a film in the France Pavilion at EPCOT directed by my friend Rick Harper. That film holds the world record for the longest playing film ever. It is marvelous. I am proud to have been associated with it.

One elevator then another.

You have to ride a couple of elevators to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The view from the middle level.

At the middle level you have to change elevators, so there is a moment to view the city from that vantage point.

Even higher to go.

Though the middle level of the Eiffel Tower is quite high, we’re going to go even higher.

Another view from the middle.

From the middle level you can see why Paris is sometimes called the “City of Lights.”

Elevator wire wheels.

One of the wheels associated with the operation of the elevators that take visitors to the top and back to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.

Not a Disneyland queue line.

Though not as busy, this is the queue line maze for visitors wishing to board the elevator that will take them to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Where is Shrek when you need him.

Gustave and Thomas

This is Gustave Eiffel’s office at the top of the tower. He is depicted here when Thomas Edison paid him a visit. He really did.

Going down?

Visitors to the Eiffel Tower can opt to take the stairs down from the top if they wish, instead of the elevator. I don’t recommend it.

The stairs start.

Here is where you actually start to take the stairs down. Again, I don’t recommend it.

Waiting for the elevator.

Since the Eiffel Tower is an open air steel structure, the elevator shaft is not really a shaft, as much as an open space in the lattice work of the steel.