Paris When it Sizzles - Part 2

Boat trip along the Seine

Day three started with a boat tour up and down the Seine, pointing out the main sights of Paris. It was nice to admire the grand building of this city, without having to push past hundreds of other tourists to get a good look, and it was the perfect way to see a lot of landmarks for people who are only visiting for a few days, like us. We departed from Pont Neuf, where I first noticed the trend for attaching padlocks to the bridge. The idea is that if you lock a padlock to the railings and throw the key into the river, your love will last forever.
The tour took us past many tourist spots, such as the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. We were also told lesser-known facts about the many different bridges along the Seine. I think the most spectacular of the 37 bridges is the Pont Alexandre III, as it is highly decorate and guarded by golden figures atop four pillars, located at each end of the bridge.

Notre Dame

After the boat, we headed to one of the two original river-islands on which Paris was founded, to the ever popular Cathedral of Our Lady. The square in front of the cathedral was taken up by a temporary viewing platform, which detracted from the flowerbeds but did provide the luxury of less pesky tourists getting in your photos. One you begin to look at the building, you realise just how many statues are present. We looked for a café off of the tourist trail, but it turns out that you can't actually go far from the tourist trail on the island, so we settled for a café next to a gift shop selling Eiffel Tower keyrings and other souvenirs in many guises. As we wandered down the Seine back to our hotel, the heavens opened. A drizzle of rain quickly turned into a deluge so we ran for the nearest metro station and got the train back.


Paris by night

For the evening, we headed out to see Paris by the rosy evening glow and the landmarks lit up. The only problem was it gets dark pretty late in July! Nevertheless, the Eiffel Tower was much quieter in the evening and people were lying on the grassy boulevard with champagne picnics. I went up to the second floor of the tower to take in the fantastic panoramic views. From that high it suddenly becomes obvious that Paris is laid out in dramatic broad boulevards and I could see the 'star' of the Place Charles de Gaulle.

 As we were clearly too early to see the Eiffel Tower lit up, we found lunch at a riverside market then carried on walking to the Arc de Triomphe, to appreciate it without the Tour de France barriers. The sunset cast a lovely orange light on to the Arc, as well as giving the Paris skyline a spectacular glow. One top tip for Paris - do not walk over any grates whilst wearing a dress. I didn't realise this was ventilation for the Metro, and the whole of Paris got more than a glimpse of my underwear! Only once you stand underneath the Arc de Triomphe can you truly appreciate it's size. Every sculpture is at least three times life-sized. Unfortunately, it wasn't dark enough for the Arc de Triomphe to be lit up either. By the end of our evening stroll down the Champs Elysées, it was definitely dark enough, but clearly the Parisian authorities didn't think so! The only downside to Paris is the number of tourists. But then, it is a beautiful city, which draws people in from all over the world. After all, I was one of those tourists.