La Seine

This view of the Seine is looking up river from the Pont de l'Alma. There is kind of an optical illusion going on here: the bridge you can see spanning the river is the Pont des Invalides, but just beyond it is another bridge with gold statues at either end. That's the Pont Alexandre III. In this photo you might mistake them for one bridge.

Looking up the Seine toward the Louvre, part of which is visible on the right. Click to fleuvinate.

On the left, at water level, you can see the departure point for the famous Bateaux Mouches, the tour boats that cruise up and down the river daily. After dark, the boats' bright lights illuminate the buildings on either side of the river.

Also on the left (which is the Right Bank because it's on your right-hand side as you look down river), you can see the recently renovated glass roof of the Grand Palais, a museum and exhibition hall built for the Universal Exposition of 1900.

The Seine is classified as une fleuve in French, which means that it's a river that runs into the sea. Other principal French fleuves include the Loire (the longest in France), the Rhône, and the Garonne. Rivers that are tributaries to other rivers are called rivières. We live on the Cher, which is une rivière because it's a tributary of the Loire.