How are you going to keep them down on the farm . . .

There is a very old song - think it dates from WWI - called How Are You Going to Keep Them Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paree but it came to mind Friday as we left Rhinau, a small French village surrounded by fields and where most homes have barns in the backyard, to Paris which is nothing like that.  The TGV from Strasbourg takes only 2 hours to get to Paris so we were there by 12:30.  The train route goes west across Alsace into Champagne close to Reims and Chateau Thierry before reaching Paris.  We will be here a week.  

The blue dot represents where the TGV was when I took the screen shot enroute to Paris

As it has been over 50 years since my sister was in Paris, we started with a boat ride on the Seine with the Bateaux Mouches.  One of the wonderful things about Paris is that many of its renowned sites are close to the river so you can see most from the 1 hour 10 minute tour that costs only 15 Euros.  It starts near Pont Alma which is also where there is a memorial (a gold flame statue) to Diana, Princess of Wales, as it is near the tunnel where the car accident that took her life is located.  One downside to the Bateaux Mouches is that it is difficult to hear the commentary as it is done over speakers rather than using headphones.  So, you miss a lot of what is being said.  

So, we passed under the Pont Alexandre III with its gold-topped pillars toward Assemblee Nationale, the Musee d'Orsay, the Tuileries Gardens, and the Louvre before reaching Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame.  It was heartbreaking to see this famous church now in almost ruins following the fire that destroyed much of it on April 15th, 2019.  By the time the structure fire was extinguished the building's spire had collapsed, most of its roof had been destroyed and its upper walls were severely damaged. I think there are estimates that it will take 10 years for its reconstruction.  (More about this in a following blog.)

The Musee d'Orsay

Notre Dame

The Restored Samaritaine

We then sailed around Ile St. Louis and back towards Pont d'Alma although the tour continues on to go by the Eiffel Tower.  It used to go further up the Seine to Ile aux Cynes where you can see a replica of the Statue of Liberty at one end of it.  As mentioned in an earlier blog, it was created by the sculptor, Bertholdi, who was born in Colmar in Alsace.

We had a drink in a cafe near Pont d'Alma following the boat ride.  This is a rather high-end part of Paris with lots of the fashion houses and the "beautiful people" who work in them.  You could certainly pick out the locals from the tourists here!  

Not a local!!

The day had been a successful start to our visit here.