Seine River Cruise, Paris

There are thousand and one ways to know Paris. One of the easiest and romantic ways is to take a Seine River Cruise.

What is "Bateaux-Mouches"?

As per Wikipedia, it is an open excursion boat which cruises along the Seine River, Paris.

I paid 15 euro for the cruise after the tourist guide exhorted me, extolling about the awesome views and beauty of the some architectural marvels along the river banks. He further iterated that every Parisan building is an art masterpiece per sec.

The ticket for the cruise.

Fleet of boats operating along Seine River.

Route taken by the cruise. Alone the banks of the river, you are supposed to be able to take cognizance of the buildings shown in the pamphlet.

Starting point. Port ce la Conference

The Bateaux-Mouches will sail underneath many of these magnificient bridges. There are about thirty seven bridges in Paris.




Port Neuf

If you take a close-up view, you can see many mascarons. These are the heads with different faces. Some of them can be considered as faux antique.

Hotel des Invalides

The twin squarish towers in the middle of the picture are Notre Dame.

Notre Dame

place de la Concorde

A group of French students.

This is something not promised in the cruise.

http://aiktong.blogspot.com/2009/10/this-is-how-female-french-students.html

La Conciergerie


Do you know there are islands on Seine River. Notre-Dame sits on an island.

Pont de l'Alma

The obvious one. Tour Eiffel


See what the steel can be used for.

A final look at the boat.

Afterthought.

The Seine River Cruise is considered to be one of the many romantic activities that you can do while in Paris. The view provided by the cruise is something quite indelible. As a matter of fact, I did make a second attempt to take a moonlight cruise but I missed the boat. At night, the banks are illuminated with strong lights installed on the side of the Bateaux-Mouches. Nevertheless, a stroll along the river bank does give you a different sensation, enlightening you along the way. If you do a google search, you might be able to come across this French saying, "Une visite de Paris ne serait pas complète sans une promenade en bord de Seine." ("A visit to Paris would not be complete without a walk on the bank of the Seine.")

As you can see, I don't intend to provide annotation for every pictures shown above as it is not an academic exercise. Don't put a strain on yourself unless you are a virtuoso. Sooner or later, you will be suffering from appreciation fatigue.

Galeries Lafayette, Paris

This is the flag-ship store of Galeries Lafayette in Paris.

It is a building full of art pieces.

There are many things to do here, of course, besides shopping, you can

admire the beauty of the building

use their rest rooms ( try to find one in Paris, you will be disappointed )

help yourself some drinking water from water dispenser ( if you want something extra, they do have vending machines )

take a rest on their couches

cool down yourself if it is summer time

warm yourself if it is winter time

admire romantic french couple kissing each other

try on some expensive apparels only short of buying

watch the frantic purchase made by Chinese from Mainland China ( I can tell you they have no qualm of shopping here, the LV store is full of Chinese.)

take a nap

so on and so forth .....

To prove my point, the pamplets are printed in Chinese and the sales personnel can speak better Chinese than an ordinary Chinese.

In conclusion, Galeries Lafayette can be a refugee centre for tourists. ( I think it is not funny.)

Mona Lisa, Musee du Louvre in Paris

I just wonder whether this painting is real or fake. If it is real, why the authority allowed flash to be used by the visitors?

This is How the Female French Students Welcome Foreigners

2009-10-8

While taking a Seine River Cruise, a group of students ( I presume ) was shouting at us, so my video camera also was diverted from river scene to them. Please watch the video towards the end. You will be surprised what I had captured.

法式海鮮晚餐 French Gourmet Dinner, Paris

After being bombarded with much cajolement from the "Tour Director", I psychologically plunked down 60 euro for one session of French Gourmet Dinner at a restaurant located somewhere close to Galaries Lafayette, Paris.

I don't know the exact location, perhaps the readers are able to locate the restaurant based on the statue shown above.

Walking gingerly into the restaurant.

I don't want to iterate the name of the restaurant.

Menu proudly displaced outside the restaurant.

For ease of reference, I have enlarged the individual pages as follows.

Sorry, all written in French Lingo.

Nice Table Setting.

First Course

( The foods are to be divided for 3 persons )

海鮮大拼盤（半隻蟹、四隻中蝦、四隻生蠔、海螺）

The foie gras

( Is it made from Goose or Duck ? )

鵝肝醬、沙拉

Standard food

Bread and Butter

海螺

Half Crab

六只焗蝸牛

Escargot

主菜：牛排

Entree: Steak - nothing to shout about

甜品

Apple Pie

Inside the restaurant

每人1/4支紅酒及白水

On the whole, the foods are palatable. However, I am not sure whether the whole meal would actually ring up at 60 euro. For the sake of my fans and readers, I happily wrote off the 60 euro.

For those who wish to carry out patronage on this restaurant, exercise your wisdom ?