My nephew Jakob and his wonderful femme, Bree, arrived in
Paris last Thursday afternoon! That first day, it was initially just a joy to
have them here, with their luggage, after their original flight had been
cancelled due to the air controllers’ strike here in France. (Not exactly sure
why USAirways cancelled a flight from Charlotte, NC, into CDG, which was
virtually untouched by the strike.)
We took a taxi back to the 11e (through major bouchons of
traffic) and they settled in. We headed out into Paris around 18 h to take the metro all the way
to Alma-Marceau which turned out to be quite a long ride, with our destination,
the Bateaux Mouches at Pont Alma. We had to wait 30 minutes for the next
departure, so Bree and I shared a little bottle of white wine on the floating
dock, in the sun. We got on board with a couple of busloads of tourists, and
began cruising down the Seine.
With the sun shining, we decided to sit on the
outside upper deck. We were surrounded by people from all over the world:
Malaysia, Italy, China, Sweden, Germany, India, and the US, to name a few countries represented on board.
The golden dome of Hotel des Invalides, where Napoleon is
entombed, was visible soon after we began our trip. When Amara, Fodé,
and I were in Paris in 1988, we visited des Invalides, having walked a mile to
get there from the Eiffel Tower. As we stood above the grand tomb, Fodé
who was 4 years old at the time, was incredulous that someone was buried there,
asking in a loud voice, “Il y a quelqu’un dedans?” We tried to convince him
that a former emperor of France was indeed dedans.
There were other sites on the river banks that I had never
been attuned to on previous tours, such as the opening to the St. Martin canal, which
leads to the Villette, seen from Anny’s nephew’s 6th floor apartment
on the Quai de la Marne, and the Marais and Saint-Paul Saint-Louis Cathedral
(but does the Marais truly border the Seine?). A beautiful bienvenus to Jakob and Bree!
