Walking Along the Seine

NOTE: Tonight (in real time, not posting time) is our last night in Paris. It is 11:55pm local time and we leave here at 9am tomorrow morning (Friday) to go to the airport and pick up our rental car to drive out to the country where we will spend the next week. I am up this late trying to get this post finished before going to bed.

Two things I'd like to mention; First, I'm not sure if we'll have Internet access our next 2 nights in Giverny, so posting may not be possible. Also, when we reach Loire Valley our cottage does have broadband access, just not sure if they meant Wi-Fi or if I'm going to need to hunt up a Cat5 cable.

Second, this may make the above moot. I am spending a great deal of time writing, getting photos ready to upload and rendering and editing video. It makes the days very long for me. It appears that I have 2 readers in the group (family and friends) that I am publishing this blog for, or at least 2 who comment; my daughter and father-in-law. I'm not really sure if anyone else in that group is reading or following along now and if no one else is, it would make more sense time-wise for me to simply e-mail my daughter and father-in-law the pictures and videos. If you're reading but haven't commented on the last few posts and want to continue to follow along, please either slip a comment in, or if you don't want to do that, drop me an e-mail. I love doing this if folks are enjoying it, but if no one other than my daughter and father-in-law are reading...

After enjoying our sidewalk cafe lunch, we thought we would "walk it off" by taking a leisurely stroll along the Left Bank of the Seine River.

Although the water of the Seine is not pleasant looking at all (a sort of dirty, murky green color) the bridges that cross it and the architecture that lines each side of it make the view an extraordinarily beautiful one. At any time, day or night, you will find lovers embracing along its banks, people relaxing on benches and boats of all varieties bobbing against their docks or riding down the river.

Here's a picture of Cindy and her mom walking along the Quai Voltaire running along the Left Bank:

And another one of the two of them with the Seine in the background

All along sections of both the Left and Right bank, you will find contraptions like the ones below. You might think they are receptacles for garbage or cabinets for river equipment...

but actually, they open up and become little storefronts on the river for businesses that sell books, magazines, souvenirs, etc. to both Parisians and tourists. I thought those were pretty cool.

Here's another photo of Cindy and her mom on the Left Bank with the "arms" of the Louvre in the background on the opposite side of the river.