Europe Trip- Paris | Seine River Cruise Tour

18th November 2014

After visiting Eiffel Tower, we enjoyed a unique view of old Paris from the Canal Saint Martin. Our trip in Paris was rather short and tight-scheduled. Hence, many of the major attractions of Paris including Notre Dame and The Louvre Museum were visited through the sight-seeing tour on cruise along Seine River.

Bateaux Mouches Seine Cruise which run by the oldest company on the Seine River, starting service after World War II. Free shuttle services were available.

 

The printed handouts in different languages were provided.

Well, only my dad and I went to get one and it's very useful to understand the tourist spots that our cruise passed by. I really appreciated the handouts as I realized that I couldn't remember some of the places I had gone to. The link of the website : http://www.bateaux-mouches.fr/en/ 

The cruise was very big and spacious. It was a double-decker open-top boat with orange seats. We quickly chose the the best seat and unobstructed view was really good. The departure point was Pont de l’Alma (right bank) in the 8th arrondissement. We spotted the beautiful architecture of Eiffel Tower.

With the "Iron Lady" 

It's a great way to see the city from a different perspective. It's more like a cultural tour for me with the unique experience amid of all the great monuments and enchanting bridges on the borders of the river.  The Paris canal cruise had passed by many bridges (named as pont in France Language) such as Pont des invalids, Passerelle Leopold-Sedar-Senghor,Pont Alexander III Bridge, Pont de la Concorde, pont du Carrousel, Pont des Art, Pont Neuf, Ile de la cite/ Pont de la Tournelle, Pont Bir Hakeim, Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir, Pont au Change, Pont d’ Austerlitz, Pont de l’ Archeveche, Pont de Sully, Pont d’ lena; Galeries Lafayette 

Pont des invalids

Passerelle Leopold-Sedar-Senghor

Pont Alexander III Bridge

The most popular and ornate bridge that we came across. This deck arch bridge spans the Seine in Paris and connects the Champs-Élysées quarter and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower quarter. This bridge was built specifically for the Universal Exposition of 1900.

Palais Bourbon/ Assemblee Nationale-the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic.

Parisan artwork

Pont de la Concorde

Museum of the Legion of Honour 

Musée d’Orsay- facade of the old train station which was built in 1900. Now it's the museum of masterpiece collection of the 19th Century. I kept telling my dad that how nice the museum is, hoping that I had free time to spend there after the cruise tour.

Louvre Museum

Pont des Arts

The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the Seine river.

The padlocks of lovers were locked at the bridge.

Institute of France Hotel de la Monnaie

Pont de l'Archevêché

“There are two bridges in Paris with the locks, you must be very careful which bridge you put your lock on because Pont des Arts is for your committed love, while Pont de l'Archevêché is for your lover.” - Bonjourparis.com

I had been wondering why having two bridges with love padlocks. Thanks to Bonjourparis.com for the elucidation.

Pont au Double

The arch bridge was used to linked two sections of hospital Hôtel-Dieu, then named after the "double denier" that people had to pay to cross it.

Notre Dame

Pont Neuf

The Pont Neuf runs between the right and left banks of the Seine River in the middle of Paris, on its way touching one end of the Ile de la Cite where Notre Dame stands.

Notre Dame- the jewel and gothic architecture which had completed in 1350.

I wished I could visit this famous cathedral one day.

Pont de la Tournelle and Ile st louis

Paris quai-front housing

Statue of Ste Geneviève

Pont d' Austerlitz

The Pont d'Austerlitz is a bridge which crosses the Seine River in Paris, France. It owes its name to the battle of Austerlitz. Another famous bridge that you shall stroll onto in Paris.

Dad posed with part of Viaduc d'Austerlitz (railway bridge)

Pont de Bir-Hakeim

The Pont de Bir-Hakeim, formerly named as the pont de Passy.

If based on List of Bridges in Paris, Paris has 37 bridges across the Seine, of which 4 are pedestrian only and 2 are rail bridges. I think the Seine River cruise tour just covered part of the famous bridges.

The weather was getting much colder and we went into the glassed-in bottom half of the boat. In the warm room, we listened to the pre-recorded narration to have better understanding on these historical bridges and buildings on the both sides. If the time is permitted, I would suggest having walking tours on the both sides with cruise tour during the evening.