Paris - the city of love

Paris was packed with tourists all snapping the views and having a great time.  But very few of them were passing the Eiffel Tower in their own boat that day.  It felt VERY cool.  Probably the highlight of several exciting days visiting the city of love.  But first we had to get there.

We cruised the lower reaches of the Marne which pass through the up-market southern suburbs of Paris.  Very pleasant but not many boats and just the odd commercial.

The extravagant loops typical of the lower reaches of a river are shortened by a short tunnel at Joinville le Pont. 




Everything changes as the river becomes very busy and quickly joins the Seine and you're crossing under the Peripherique.  We'd been joined by other pleasure boats and there were large commercial boats moving fast in both directions and passing under the many bridges.  The navigation instructions warn against stopping to admire the view.  I get their point - there's so much to gaze at but full attention is needed on board to 'maintain a proper lookout' (as Collision Regulation 5 puts it).

We're heading into the heart of Paris and the Port de L'Arsenal which is located at the start of the Canal Saint Martin and the Bastille.  It's only about an hour and then we need to call the port on the radio and ask them to open the lock for us to get in.  We're glad to do that as we've reached the passenger boats - big, fast and a random sense of direction.  We pull into the marina and suddenly all is peaceful.  Some careful reversing into our allocated mooring and then we have a top Paris address for a couple of nights.  The marina has all the facilities and the staff are really helpful.  So we were smiling as we paid the highest mooring fee ever!

Paris is the 4th capital we've cruised into (London, Amsterdam and Brussels) and probably the most enjoyable as most of the good stuff is on the river.

Our location is so nice that we have to remind ourselves that there's all the delights of Paris just up the steps.  So, it's off with scruffy boat clothes (this is Paris after all) and we spend 2 days walking, admiring, eating and drinking.  There's tourists everywhere but when we tire, we can escape to our own home with the fantastic address: 11 Boulevard de la Bastille.

We're just across from Notre Dame and we join the tourists thronging around the outside looking for signs of the fire.  Lot's of scaffolding, some rapidly fashioned wooden supports and a big fence are all there is to see.  Come back in a few years as I reckon the restoration is likely be magnificent.

After 2 days we're ready to escape the tourists and cruise on north.  It's a big day as we need to cruise around 40km before the mooring we want.  It's all busy working river too. 

But to start with there's the traffic lights at Ile Saint Louis.  The Seine narrows and bends here and there's loads of passenger boats.  The river authority have sensibly put in a traffic light system (bet it caused rows though!).  Heading north, we can only pass for 15 minutes each hour.  The marina people tell us what time to enter the lock and we arrive back on the Seine ready to merge in with the big commercials who have timed their arrival for the green light.  It all works well but the limited time and the big convoy means we have to keep up as we pass Notre Dame.  A big boy radios to say he's passing.  I move right to let him.




After a while it all settles into a routine.  Plenty of traffic but mostly in a straight line.  And plenty to see such as 'Defense', the Paris version of Canary Wharf.  Through a few big locks and remember to take the right channels and we arrive late afternoon at Rueil-Malmaison, still pretty
much in Paris but altogether quieter.  There's a nice pontoon mooring here and it's free in both senses of the word.  There's a nice (and very French) restaurant too so we can relax and relive our exciting days through Paris.


The next day we continue north.  There's another day on the Seine before we turn onto the Oise and head back east.  It's Saturday but the river is ridiculously quiet for August.  Paris - we'll save our pennies and come back.  There's plenty to see!