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!

Pouring in Paris

 Sorbonne

Our first visit to Paris, unbelievably. I'm not sure why we've never come before. There always seemed to be other more exotic sounding destinations. Paris was one of those places whose landmarks I was so used to from films and photographs that I felt I'd seen it all already and it would lack the surprise  element I enjoy when travelling. How wrong can you be? There's good reason why you can barely move for tourists here - it is quite lovely.
The River Marne which we had been following since just past Reims, joins the Seine outside Paris. The major difference straight away being the change in lock size - suddenly they were enormous and we shared the first couple with a commercial barge for the first time since Belgium. Our mooring is in the Port de Plaisance of the Arsenal which is a great location; one lock off the river, 20 minutes walk along whose banks takes you to Notre Dame Cathedral and only a couple of minutes walk to the metro station at the Place de Bastille. As everyone who has been here will tell you, the metro is a fantastic way to get around particularly when it's raining, as it is today.
I'm sure I don't have anything new to say about Paris. What has surprised me most is the sheer scale of the public buildings. Everything is just so grand - monumental. None of your thrown up in 6 months stuff here. The cost of the upkeep must be enormous but they look wonderful, perfectly maintained and security guarded by day and illuminated by night. No advertising boards, no power lines and no high rise (apart from one district). We've been here 4 days and have seen only a tiny fraction. You could easily spend years exploring. August is perhaps not the best time to visit. The queues at every venue are enormous - I spent a long hour in a queue for the loo at one museum (men don't queue. I have noticed that wherever 2 walls meet and make a corner you need to hold your nose  - outside that is!). The queue situation is exacerbated by the fact that many of the museums have installed airport type security so that on entry you have to have your bag checked and then you walk through a scanner.

Paris Plage on the banks of the Seine

But then at this time of year there is the Paris Plage where the road along the right bank of the Seine is closed off and deck chairs and sandy beach areas are set up along with boule courts, a swimming pool, bars, a bmx track, music, massage and goodness knows what else. So you can get your gear off and relax. If only it wasn't raining.

I suppose this might qualify as a high rise

Musee de l' armee - Les Invalides

From here we will be heading south so our impending cruise through the city will be as far north as we go. Tomorrow we will be mixing it with the Bateaux Mouche - trip boats carrying hundreds of passengers, travelling at high speeds and whose skippers apparently don't like private boats - and doing our own Seine tour. I haven't actually seen a single private boat going through the city since we've been here.
So first time visit but I know we will come back.