L'Avenir in Paris

Every day thousands of tourists cruise along the Seine through Paris on one of the many, huge trip boats; the largest 'bateaux mouches' carry up tp 1400 passengers! Private boats are few and far between so for the two of us to be able to go on our own L'Avenir was a fantastic experience - a definite highlight of our summer.
We had been hoping for a sunny day but after several days of the wettest August weather that France has seen in years we were grateful that the rain held off for the hour and a half it took to do the round trip from the port Arsenal up around the Statue of Liberty (yes, there is one) and back. I would have liked to have taken longer but the trip boats travel at speed and it would take a brave or foolhardy person to delay them.
Having had a few days of walking around the sights we were by now very familiar with all the landmarks but this time, instead of trekking back and forth across the many bridges we were sailing beneath. Many bridges had excited people calling, waving and photographing us when they spotted our flag. Shouts of 'Coo-ee!' ans 'Aussie! Aussie! Ausse!' rang out. There are a lot of Aussie tourists in Paris - well there are a lot of Aussie tourists everywhere to be honest.
So, a fitting finale to our visit to Paris. We will certainly return.
Next, we head south on the Haute Seine.

The magnificent Musee d'Orsay - my favourite. In contrast on the bank is a shelter built by one of the city's many homeless people. Lots of the bridges have someone living underneath.

Someone's home on the left bank - it's not all about location, location, location.

 No, not New York!