Paris to Andrésy

73 kms, 3 locks, 9.5 hours (including an hour of waiting)

Time to say goodbye to Paris and to the Cullens. We have enjoyed our time so much but all good things must come to an end.  We wanted to leave early because we had a long day ahead and, yesterday when I paid our bill at the Capitainerie, they told me we could leave at 8.00 or after 9.00, the lock was already booked for 8.30.  We chose 8.00.  There were 3 other boats leaving at the same time and it was rather a tight squeeze in the lock, well some boat owners seem to think they need more room than anyone else.

Once through the lock and onto the Seine River we had to wait our turn for the alternating traffic through the city.  At each end there is a set of traffic lights and you are supposed to wait until the light turns green before proceeding.  This is for all river traffic – except our 2 selfish neighbours in the lock, who obviously think there is one rule for everyone else but not for them.

The cruise through the city under the spectacular bridges and past the magnificent buildings on both banks was a great experience.  Lots of photos:

 The outskirst of Paris are not particularly inspiring, just highrise apartment and office blocks, but after about 15kms we left them behind and we were surprised at how pretty they mighty Seine can be.
By the time we reached the first lock, some 18 kms after leaving the Arsenal marina, a group of 4 boats, which left 30 mins after us, caught up to us and we shared the lock with 2 commercial boats and a trip boat full of passengers.  Leaving the lock they, the pleasure curisers from the Arsenal, roared off into the distance and we caught up them at the next lock where we all waited half an hour for a group of boats to go down and another lot to come up.  These locks are really busy. 

We didn’t really know where we were going to stop tonight.  There are not many options on a big busy river.  When we got to the pontoon we thought would be suitable we discovered that it is now a private mooring, so we moved on.  Eventually we stopped in a quiet little backwater behind an island in the Seine at the town of Andrésy.  This is about 500m past the turn off to the Oise River, so we will need to backtrack a little tomorrow.

Another day in Paris - Sainte Chapelle

In the morning, early before 7, I left the boat heading for Sainte Chapelle on the Ile de la Cité.  This is the oldest church in the city, dating from the 13th century (1242-1248) and used to be part of the Royal Chateau and seat of power from the 10th century, so it was the church that the kings and queens of France frequented.  It is just stunning.
First of all, a precursor to the chapel:

Pont Neuf

Detail of Pont Neuf

The clock on the Clock Tower of the Concierge 

Sainte Chapelle

The chapel has two floors: a lower chapel and an upper chapel.  The building was badly damaged during the Revolution and well restored in the mid 19th century.
The lower chapel:

This fresco painting on the wall is original from the 13th century

The upper chapel is almost all windows with stone columns in between supporting the roof.  Truly amazing.  Half of the windows, including the Rose window have recently been restored.

The ceiling

The spiral stone staircase going from the lower to the upper chapel, steep and narrow.  There are two of them.

The balcony of the upper chapel

In the afternoon Ian and I took a taxi (I had to give my weary bones a rest) to a huge fabric shop in Montmartre, the Marché Saint Pierre, to buy new curtaining material for the boat.  This store has four floors with every kind of fabric you could possible imagine, but amazingly the whole area, a few streets, are just full of fabric stores.

A day in Paris

May 29th 
Last night we had an almighty thunderstorm and at last the heat has subsided - a good day for walking:) So I went walkabout 4 times.  First I left the boat at 6.45 and walked to the bank of the Seine.  Supposedly a movie is being filmed on the section of the river right outside the lock into the Arsenal marina between 6.30 and 9.30 for the next couple of days but I did not see a thing and there was not much else happening at that time of day, very peaceful - and beautiful.

Early morning and the first rays of sun catch the Cathedral

Then Ian and I went to a supermarket for some essentials, not very exciting.

I left Ian on the boat and I took off in search of Paris.  It was relatively cool after the thunderstorm last night and not long after I set off large drops of rain started to fall but they were few and far between.  I was exploring the Marais district - well worth while.  

Lots of shops selling all sorts of decorative bits and pieces - this cat is about 3 feet long

The very impressive Hotel de Sully...

...I went through an archway and found myself in the Place des Vosges

A couple of times I wandered through an archway and discovered a delightful residential courtyard - I'm sure I shouldn't have been there

St Catherine's Square - deserted on a raining morning

Another quirky cat in a quirky interior decorating shop

Another charming courtyard - banana plants in Paris?

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I was amazed at the number of small gardens in formerly grand "Hotels de Ville" (the town houses of the wealthy who also had chateaux in the countryside) now open to the public

This one is not open to the public - a grand entrance with a tantalising glimpse of the magnificent house behind it

It's getting wetter

Rue des Rosiers in the old Jewish sector

 But after an hour and a half the rain got heavier and I was dodging from awning to awning and getting drenched in-between so I headed for home.  Of course the rain stopped as soon as I got back!  After lunch I set off to finish my ramblings.

Rue des Rosiers, the old Jewish quarter - narrow, fascinating, picturesque and full of tourists

Many years ago, when I was younger and narrower, I would have fancied this dress - but at €395 probably not.

This garden is dedicated to a man, a headmaster, who saved many Jewish children from the concentration camps 

In the garden there is a memorial plaque to the Jewish children who were killed by the Nazis.   It reads:  Arrested by the Police of the Vichy Government, accomplices of the Nazi occupation, 11,000 children were deported from France between 1942 and 1944, and killed at Auschwitz because they were born Jewish.  More than 500 of these children lived in the 4th Arrondissement, amongst them 101 were too young to go to school.  When passing, read their names, your memory is their only grave.

Back on the wide and busy Rue de St Antoine

We had planned a game of boules with Lynn and Shaun this evening (there is a petanque terrain at the marina) but my feet/knees/hips were all complaining after their extended work-out today and Shaun was also suffering from their exersions.  So we had Irish coffees instead!