Actually that was not the end of our long day. We had bought tickets for a Seine River cruise and intended to ride it as the sun set. That is slightly tricky business, because we didn’t reserve a dinner boat, and all the other boats are filled on a first come first served basis. Somehow, we timed it just right by dodging ahead of the tour busses that parade through the boat yards. We got to the dock exactly in time to walk on first for the 9:40pm sailing.
It was the evening before Bastille Day and all of Paris was outside, partying.
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| Shutter speed was a little slow here |
As our boat passed under its first bridge, a few people made shouts to test the echo-acoustics. I might have been one of them. Also a few people wanted to do the wave (ok – it was a sweet family from Alabama with a little boy named Riley.) Somehow the two things combined into a chorus of whoops and shouts as we went under the next bridge. This gained us attention from the thousands of people who were having picnics on the banks of the river. They waved and cheered and hollered back. Feedback loop established, we made 30-second friends with most of Paris as we headed south (or is it east?)
The sight of all of these people, sitting and sharing wine and food outside on a summer night just put me over the edge. Old and young, singles and families all were mixing together and having a good time. I will come back for this someday.
The lights came up, though not until well after 10pm. Like Seattle, on clear summer days the dusk lingers. We had a great time and caught the metro home. Tomorrow would be Bastille Day, and we would be packing up and getting ready to leave France for Germany.
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| Photo credits to Riley! |
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