She realised she'd never ride
through Paris in a sports car
with the warm wind in her hair...”
The words from The Ballad of Lucy Jordan kept going through C's mind as we planned and executed our journey through Paris – not in a sports car but in our own boat, which does have a sliding roof. We can assure you that this is something neither of us would have imagined possible at the age of 37! We didn't have thea warm wind in our hair but a very cool, early morning breeze and rain. The weather may not have been exactly as we would have liked but it was a fantastic and memorable experience all the same.
It's perhaps not surprising that there are a few regulations and constraints relating to taking a boat throught the centre of Paris on the Seine. Boats are required to have a VHF radio and someone on board has to be able to use it. We have VHF and C has been talking to the lock keepers all the way up the Seine, so we qualified there – although no-one even bothered to ask about it, let alone to check we had any sort of radio on board. The idea is to tune into channel 10 so you can listen to – and presumably communicate with – other boats.
Pleasure craft must, as always, give way to all commercial traffic on the river and with all the tourist boats, there can be a great deal of traffic on the Seine at times... and everyone we spoke to told us that it was these tourist boats that cause the most difficulty and discomfort to pleasure boats. They go fast, have right-of-way and create a lot of wash for us to slop about in – and don't give a stuff about it. We had always been thinking about an early morning departure from the Port de l'Arsenal. When we found out that the tourist boats didn't get underway until 10am at the earliest, we knew that plan was a good one. The lock back down onto the Seine was open from 8am, so we'd have time to enjoy the views and be past the Statue of Liberty on the Allee des Cygnes, the end of the tourist boat run, well before 10 o'clock.
The other constraint to navigation in Paris is what is known as the “alternat”. Navigation around the two islands one-way only – alternating over the course of an hour and controlled by traffic lights. Boats going downstream (i.e. us) have a green light for 15 minutes - from 25 minutes to the hour until 10 to. Upstream traffic has the green light from 10 past until 25 past the hour. The remainder of the time allows for boats to clear the zone before the opposing traffic begins.
So, in a manoeuvre of military precision, we started through the lock at 8.15am, which took us onto the Seine just after 8:30am and were ready and waiting at the Pont Sully when the light turned green at 8.35. We did have to let a couple of barges go first and then we were on our way... past Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Conciergerie; under the Pont Alexander III, past the Musee d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower; past the Statue of Liberty and on down the river... We had both done the tourist boat trip in Paris but it was certainly much more exciting to be doing it ourselves. J drove most of the way but C had a turn as well so she could have bragging rights too!
As well as the well-known sights (sites), there was so much of interest to see: the bridges, of course, new and old, the building and parks along the side, and the huge variety of residences both beside the water and on it. Those beside it ranged from mansions to tents (and worse) – the spaces under bridges are favoured by the homeless as they give some shelter from both wind and rain. Those on the river were a little less extreme in range – but fascinating all the same. While some retain all the features you would expect of live-aboard boats; others have abandoned all boating features, other than that of being afloat. Apparently it can be quite a lot cheaper to live on the water in Paris than to live on the land (rates are non-existent on water, although there are other costs) and, of course, you get the best views of the water from on it! Given the number of live-aboards that we saw, the advantages must be significant!
No comments:
Post a Comment