Earlier this week a friend posted photos on FB of her children having lots of fun at the beach in Perth - blue sky and sunshine on the lovely white sand - so typical of beautiful Perth. Well, we haven't seen sand in a while, but that same sunshine and blue sky have graced Paris with their presence for the last couple of days - not quite the same temperatures, I admit, but we're still loving it and making the most of it.
Being fairly averse to hanging out with hordes of tourists as we both are (and I think that's what has kept us from places like the Louvre so far, but we'll get there eventually............) and wanting to get out in this glorious sunshine again before it disappears as it has been so inclined to do, we decide to do a river cruise today, of a sort anyway. We've seen lots of different boats going up and down the river as we've walked along the Seine, and we briefly consider the popular and well-patronised Bateaux-Mouches or Bateaux Parisiens, but instead we opt to get an all-day hop-on hop-off pass on the Batobus, which is like the public transport of the Seine. It has 8 stations along the river on both the Right and Left Banks, from Jardin des Plantes to La Tour Eiffel, and the boats come every 25 minutes or so. Our tickets allow us to "monter et descendre où on veut, quand on veut........" or in other words "get on and off where we like, when we like........." at any station along the way, any time between 10am and 7pm. The only thing missing is the commentary as you travel (and the crowds). It suits us fine!
The Seine is a murky olive-greenish/brownish colour day in and day out - overcast, rainy, snowy, sunny, it doesn't seem to change colour, and I guess it's not surprising given the amount of river traffic - it's an important commercial waterway. Compared to the beautiful Swan, if you were to go by colour alone, it doesn't look like much. But the Seine is beautiful in its own way, with its 37 bridges, its paved banks with lovely deciduous trees, and the many classic Parisian buildings framing this waterway. We've had conversations about what it would be like to live in Paris for a period of time like a year. As we've walked along the Seine in the past couple of weeks, we've gazed up at buildings that would most likely be residential and wondered if we'd like to live there, but in the end I think we'd both miss our space in a very short time. I think about the magnificent Jacaranda tree in our backyard (my new backyard!!) and sitting on the swing on the deck in the warm afternoon breeze - yes, I'm pretty sure I'd miss that very much. And I'd definitely miss the Swan River.
We board the Batobus at Jardin des Plantes, one of the lovely public garden spaces in Paris that we have yet to explore properly - hopefully on another sunny day with a picnic in hand.......... We decide to go all the way to Avenue des Champs-Élysées on our first trip up the river, so we can relax and enjoy all that Paris has to offer from this river view along the Seine, in the beautiful sunshine, before things get too populated and frantic.
It truly is a beautiful day - cold, ok I'll admit it, but being out on the rear deck in the glorious sunshine is heavenly and we're fairly sheltered from the breeze. Because we got started relatively early this morning, the crowds haven't really emerged yet and we alight at the Champs-Élysées station with the plan to walk up the Avenue (on the sunny side of course) then head diagonally through the 16e to the next Batobus station at La Tour Eiffel.
When I first came up the Champs-Élysées on my bus tour in the first week, I hoped I might get to see the trees in leaf before I leave Paris. I have my doubts now, as they're still bare and wintry looking. Hopefully a few more sunny days might convince the leaves that it's really spring. Today it's a pleasure to be walking in the sunshine.
We browse on the Avenue - the lovely Kusmi tea shop, Lancel, Louis Vuitton, Mercedes Benz, and my motor-sport enthusiast husband particularly enjoys the Renault shop - then it's time for lunch, another citron sucre crêpe, and yet another magnificent chocolate ganache macaron from the little bistro we found the other night.
Back on board for a loop along the river to Hôtel de Ville where we get off for a bit more shopping and wandering, then back on for another full loop up and down the river, sitting on the rear deck in the soporific sunshine for about an hour - aaahhh, this is the life. My photographer husband snaps over 500 shots of life on the river banks of Paris.
We end our journey where we began and I would highly recommend this way of seeing the Seine in all its glory, particularly if you don't want to do the full-on touristic river cruise thing.
Tonight we dine at Chez Papa's, authentic French cuisine from the south-west and just a short walk from the Place de la Bastille, overlooking the canal. Delicious food and plenty of it :-)
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