A Watery Day in Paris

Betty needs to exchange some of her leftover British pounds for Euros, and the banks tells us that she can only do that at a money exchange, which is found at the train station.  So we plot a trip down the Canal to the Seine, where we can stop at Gare du Nord and take care of the money business.  Betty also likes the idea that she will know the route to the station tomorrow, as we leave Paris for Lyon. So it’s a fwo-fer.  The entire randonnée route is 10km.

First things first, we head to Café Republique, where we have been having breakfast the last few days.  It’s good to know that they serve “American Breakfast,” such as fried eggs on toast and various omelettes, which look pretty tasty.  They also serve crepes in the morning, which should not be unusual in France, yet it is.  Frankly, they don’t look that great.  We have of course been eschewing all of the above for croissant and café au lait.

Today, I see a family sit down at the café with giant crepes that were obviously purchased elsewhere. It doesn’t take me long to locate the crepe vendor next door.  Since I have a minor goal of eating as many different crepes as possible while in France, I buy a galette au fromage.  This is why I am getting fatter and fatter the longer I stay in France.  ;)

Next, we browse our way down Rue Voltaire across from our hotel, which seems to be the place to be for video gamers and lovers of animé.  There are almost a dozen stores all in a row, including a cosplay shop, in case owning the game, figurine, and T-shirt is not enough for ya.  ;)

Our watery day starting out very nicely, we then keep walking down Rue Voltaire to Boulevard Richard Lenoir, and start our walk down the Canal to Gare de Lyon (see “The Most Expensive Ham in the World”).  The day is hot, and the pigeons are cooling off in the fountains, while humans get to refill their water bottles at public “drinking water stations” that are in themselves fancy sculptures in their own right.  Along the way, I notice that the signs on the Charlie Hebdo shrine have changed since I last saw them:  I am somewhat surprised that people are still actively refreshing it.  What I don’t know until later is that today ISIS / ISIL is making a call for members and sympathizers to start committing terror attacks globally.

Soon we are at the Bastille, and decide to walk along the final portion of the canal that I never got to before.  Aiming for Boulevard de la Bastille, we easily locate the gate to the Jardin du Port de l’Arsenal.  We head down the ramp to the water, where we can see where the canal flows under the Metro Station  and goes underground under Boulevard Richard Renoir.

Walking in the opposite direction, towards the Seine River, there are boats lining both sides of the canal, including Canauxrama tour boats that offer short day trips on the canal, through all the locks, and indeed, right underneath the Boulevard Richard Renoir for almost 2km, until it opens to the air at Canal Martin near our hotel.  I can’t decide if that sounds super cool or super terrifying.   Apparently, the boats go all the way up to the Canal de l'Ourcq, near my friend’s house in the 18^th Arrondissement! 

The park gardens are beautiful, and many locals seem to be eating their lunch here, or just taking a break.  Of course I am attracted to two puppies playing together while their owner reads a book on the grass.

The water of the canal empties into the Seine, but the walking route has a gate and red signage that discourages us from passing through.  So we cross the little green bridge over to the other side of the canal, and start looking for a way to exit.  I’m embarrassed to say that we don’t notice the white archway just on the other side of the bridge, and end up wandering around back and forth several times before backtracking half way up the canal the way we came.  We head down Rue de Lyon to the station. 

We arrive at the Gare de Lyon, and exchange Betty’s money.  Then we decide to grab lunch at one of the many Brasserie Cafés lining Rue de Rivoli across the street.  I order the Salade Nordique and Betty orders another Salad Niçoise (I told you she really really liked it!).  We also order two “medium” beers, which arrive immediately.  When my salad arrives, I am a little overwhelmed with the amount of smoked salmon and smoked haddock piled on it.  I do my best, but can barely get through half of it before admitting defeat.  Our waiter stops by, asking, “Fini?”  (finished?) To which I answer “Oui!”  He eyes my plate suspiciously and exclaims, “NON!!!!  Pas fini!!!!!!!!!” before strutting off.  He won’t take my plate until I eat another big piece of each fish.  Then I am granted my noisette coffee.  Lol.  

We decide to walk along the Seine, slowly working our way towards the Vedettes du Pont-Neuf wharf, where we will ride the "Bateaux Mouches" up and down the Seine later tonight. We cut across the front of the Gare de Lyon, along Rue Van Gogh. When we reach the Charles de Gaule bridge, we drop down to the water.  There is a paved walking boulevard alongside the water, which turns into a narrow cobblestone pathway after the Viaduct Austerlitz.  We follow it underneath the next bridge, Pont Austerlitz, where there is an ingenious system to catch river debris, and continue onwards until we find ourselves back at the Canal de l’Arsenal… this time, on the other side of the same gate we didn’t dare cross before.  With the walkway at a dead end for us, there is no way around it:  we must dash through the “forbidden” area to get to the little green bridge.  A boatload of tourists watch us pull our trespass, since there is a Canauxrama boat waiting in the lock.  We cross the little green bridge yet again, and debate whether to pull the same thing on the other side of the boat to continue our walk along the water, when we see a couple exit out the white archway next to the green bridge.  D’oh!   We go through the archway and continue on our way.

On the other side of the lock, the walkway ducks under the road, and opens on the other side to a wide walking boulevard.  We follow it around the corner, past Ile Saint-Louis, then Ile de la Cité.  Near the Quai de Hotel de Ville, we briefly get stuck in a dead end, and have to retrace our way back to an overpass and rise up to street level.  The oldest residential quarter, Ancien Cloître Quartier, can be seen across the water, in front of the spire of Notre Dame.  

At the Hotel de Ville, we walk through the square to get to Rue Rivoli, where I buy a nice purple pashmina for the boat tonight.  Then we go back to the square and install ourselves in one of the reclining chairs by the fountains, and I doze while street musicians play in the square.  Betty gets a kick out of watching kids chase the pigeons and lose their pants in the process.

We make one more little outing down Rue du Temple, to buy a mushroom “pizza” square (like a flat bread) and 2 tartes (Mirabelle plum and apricot/pistachio) for “dinner” on the boat.  We encounter a great graffiti on the back of a sign: "It is said that adventure is dangerous... but try routine, it's deadly."  Then we turn around and walk back to the water.   

We cross to Ile de la Cité and walk along the water until we get to Square du Vert-Galant, right at the tip of the island.   We watch customers madly rushing to make the 7pm boat which is about to leave, but since we were aiming for the 8pm boat, in hopes of seeing all the buildings lit up in the twilight, we let them pass and take a seat in the waiting area.  I eat my flatbread and buy a 50 cL can of 1664 for the boat.

The boat tour takes us first through the walk we took on our first day in Paris, and then circles back to almost exactly duplicate the route along the Seine that we just walked today!

So I get to collect a few more photos of our randonnées, and hear the significance of the areas I didn’t know about when we took our hikes. For example, the last bridge we went under to get to the boats is the oldest bridge in Paris, and ironically named Pont Neuf (New Bridge).  The faces on it are the friends and ministers of Henri IV, who doubted his plan to build the bridge.  

Another example is the "zouave" statue under the Alma bridge, near the Eiffel Tower.  It helps Parisiens measure the level of the Seine, and in the 1910 flood, he was covered up to his neck!  I'm pretty sure that means that the walking esplanades we have been walking on beside the Seine would also be underwater.

Passing by the Quai Saint-Bernard, opposite the Canal de l'Arsenal, people are now dancing the tango, and youth gather on the the banks all along the Seine with picnics to watch the sun set.  

We get off the boat at sunset, and walk through a corridor in the Pont Neuf to rise up to street level. We then walk across Pont Neuf, over to Hotel de Ville, and through the Marais up Rue du Temple... but something feels different… then I put my finger on it: there are no gogo boys! ;)   We pass some really good street art.  At Place Voltaire there is a big music party still going strong… it seems like this is day 3 of Fête de la Musique. 

To finish up the evening I stop at Aux Cadrans and buy a M’hadjeb, which is a flatbread with pepper, onion, and tomato flavours. It is sooooo good, but unfortunately does not pass the paper test. I seem to have some kind of weakness for bread products that are warm, round, and flat…