Arriving in Paris

One city is very much like another city, the only difference can be found in places in Asia where the pollution controls are less severe and you arrive at your hotel with burning eyes and a sore throat and a film of dirt on everything.  Paris was certainly not like that.  Rare in smells of diesel or gas fumes, clear air and navigating traffic that seemed manageable.  (I have a theory on this which I will share in another post.)  As you can see below, leaving the airport was a fairly smooth event.

My first glimpses of the city were from our bus as we headed to our boat anchored on the Seine.  We were lucky to get a front seat so that I could snap away in my jet-lagged mode.

No recession visible in all this bustling construction!  Looked like a convention of cranes.  The new architecture of Paris was both ugly and lovely depending on your style.  The French are not afraid to try anything and everything and it is usually loved or hated, but rarely ignored.  I will try to remember to show some of the more interesting buildings.

While I kept my eyes peeled for the Eiffel Tower, wondering how large it would appear, the Arc de Triumph was the first landmark we actually reached.  And, as you can see from above, the traffic in the center of the city became much more congested but always seemed to be moving.  Twenty percent of the population lives in the Paris region.

We finally arrived at are our ship which was moored among lots of other boats of all shapes and sizes.  Rivers still play a major role in France and 24 exceed 180 miles in length.   We found, to our joy, we were a short walking distance to the Eiffel Tower which you can see competing for attention with the lamp post on the right!  Since we were staying here the first two nights, that meant at least one visit to the big structure.  More about that in the next post.