Day 6b: Monday: Boat Tour

We left the Eiffel Tower and descended to the River Seine, where we had a quick lunch in a floating restaurant before our cruise.

There was a narration on board the boat, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Once again, I enjoyed the sights. Here are some of the buildings we passed.

At one point we passed the modern buildings of the business center of the city.

Of course we passed beneath numerous bridges. Here are a few of them.

Besides buildings and bridges, we saw the bookstalls and a group enjoying an afternoon by the Seine with their Smart Car. (Have I mentioned that we saw a LOT of Smart Cars in France?)

When we disembarked, we walked along the quay a bit and found some interesting, life-sized metal sculptures on display. Lloyd snapped this picture of Kathie as she headed toward the installations.

This is probably a good place to mention the effectiveness of the no-smoking law of 2007 that bans smoking in all public places in France, including cafés and restaurants. One of the lingering memories of my visit 40 years ago is of the odor of cigarette smoke, the harsh smoke of Galoise cigarettes, to be specific. This time: no smoke!

Apparently the ban was surprisingly well accepted. Without the smoke, the city seems much cleaner -- or maybe it was cleaner. Notice the filled trash bag in the next photo. Notice how the trash is actually inside the container, not on the ground next to it. There are wire stands with plastic bag liners like this one all over Paris. They are well used. We saw very little litter on the streets.

We taxied back to the hotel.