For many Parisians, the Seine and its banks are part of their back yard, a place to rest and relax away (enough) from the hub-bub of the streets above. It's even more of a haven these days since the river is getting cleaner every year and many parks and green spaces have been developed along the waterfront in the past decade or so. And each August since 2002, a long section of the right bank's riverside expressway is closed and covered over in sand to make a "beach" for people who can't or don't get away for a seaside vacation.
Hanging out on the river, 20 years or so ago.
I don't remember exactly where I took this picture. It's one of the islands, either Cité or Saint-Louis, and it's the south side as seen from the Left Bank. That's as precise as I can get without going to find the spot again.
Our lunch cruise down the Seine involved rather a lot of fine food, wine and laughter with newly met friends, a Texan woman and a Scottish woman, to the point where we did not care what was on the banks. Nevertheless on the bank I spotted a studious looking lad with round lens spectacles reading a book I imagined to be Proust or Das Kapital, or lordy, maybe Genet, and later a couple tentatively kissing. So romantic. Through the fog of my mind by that stage, I have a vague recollection of seeing Notre Dame. Great memory.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, pretty good photo.
ReplyDeleteNice pops of color against the silvery background. :)
ReplyDeleteDuring most of the 80s I'd go to Paris three times a year, Easter, Bastille Day and (because I couldn't wait any linger) sometime in November, mainly to experience the 'night-life'. But my favourite daytime activity was to sit on the bank and read, and to observe Paris life (as well as those 'Bateaux Mouches') go by. It was sheer bliss on a sunny day. On the evening of July 13th every year there was also a huge riverside gay disco going on well into the early hours of the public holiday. I don't know if it still occurs but my times spent there were some of the truly golden memories of my entire life.
ReplyDeleteI hope the people of paris keep the seine clean and tidy.
ReplyDeleteandrew, thanks! I've done the regular cruise, but never a dinner. It sounds like it could be fun, especially with the right amount of wine! ;)
ReplyDeletejudy, they color-coordinated!
raybeard, sounds like good fun!
michael, they're doing better! As well as cleaning up the industrial polluters upstream.