Touring Paris on the river Seine

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.

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.