Today is Sunday and a beautiful sunny day! Many people are out walking or having breakfast outside at the sidewalk cafes. 3 blocks from our hotel is a flea market crowded with people. We decided to have a look. Reed went through the aisles for a little bit then stayed on the outskirts. It was just too flooded with people! He scootered around the outside and found me a neat gravy boat. I found some dishes - as usual - for very cheap. After the flea market, we went back to the bridge - the Pont de l'Archeveche - to buy a padlock and put our names on it. We asked a passerby to take our picture. Then we locked the padlock on the bridge and threw the key into the river -- we are locked together in love forever! A little later we caught a bus to the cruise dock to take a river cruise on the Seine. Well, our bus didn't quite go all the way to the dock. We had a nice walk along the Seine (about a half mile) - I mean I walked and chased Reed on his scooter. We got to the dock and we got right on the boat with a ramp they provided. It was so sunny, I was afraid we might get sunburned. The cruise was narrated and pointed out the different buildings and bridges we passed by. It was a very nice cruise. |
Then we walked about 1 1/2 miles to Napoleon's tomb. It is quite the elaborate tomb placed especially in the Dome church. Napoleon died in exile in 1821 and it wasn't until 1861 that King Louis Phillippe decided Napoleon's body should be brought back to France.
Reed's comments - the picture of Jan and I putting our lock on the bridge was beautiful, with Notre Dame in the background. We took another picture there, with us kissing, but Jan didn't want to post that one! While we were on the cruise, we passed under a bridge that had a large golden sculpture that looked really great. I told Jan to take a picture, but she said she wasn't going to take a picture of a nude woman! (I hadn't even seen that it was a woman; just something big and beautiful to me.) It reminded me of a couple of times in the Louvre when Jan came over to me and asked if I had noticed a particular painting. I had, but for some reason I had missed the fact that it was showing a nude woman somewhere in the picture. Maybe this is the difference between what I might have noticed as a 13 year-old, and what I notice at 63. Or maybe I am more senile that I thought. When we ate lunch at the bistro, it was right on the Seine, and boats were right next to us. When the first boat began moving away, Jan thought we were moving on the river! I jumped right in, and said that we were moving, and it was a dinner cruise. I'm always trying to take advantage of the situation! Jan did walk about 2 miles today, and her feet are definitely complaining. At the flea market, when I decided I would just scooter around the outside, that meant I went on to the street -- the booths used up the sidewalk space right to the curb. But that's alright - I can compete with bikes, motorcycles, cars and busses. That's just the way I roll. I was surprised that there was no handicap access to Napoleon's tomb. There was a wide, huge cement front porch that had 14 concrete steps with no railing. They could easily build a switchback ramp on one side, but they haven't. I saw a lot of people in wheel chairs there. Oh well. I have loved this time in Paris. A lot of hamburgers - and they were all made well. And wonderful bread and pastry. Life is good, God is good, food is good. Back to southern England tomorrow!