La Seine River

It was our third day in Paris and we were getting warn out from sightseeing. We spent the morning going through the Pont-de-Frandres. Sue had heard about the garden of mirrors which seemed a bit of a flop but there was also a great area for the kids to go wild. All enclosed within an area various unusual equipment was arranged for family fun.

The park is one of the largest in Paris and we eventually came across the Science Museum. Unfortunately this was closed on Mondays so we moved on. We had been tossing up all day as to whether it was worth getting a water cruise. We didn't know where they started or at what time so headed down to the river and started walking. Eventually we found the Vedettes du Pont-Neuf which had a cruise leaving in 30 minutes. It was reasonably priced at 13E per adult and is much cheaper than the bus tours.

The cruise far exceeded my expectations. We got a better perspective of Old Paris and saw all the old bridges up close and personal. I was unaware of the smaller statue of Liberty close by the Eiffel Tower. 

Only be-known to Holly she sat by herself at the front of the boat just in front of the guide. Julia joined her and they entertained those around them only seeking us out when requiring food. The cruise was a real chance to slow down and chill out. The guide was great in that he gave his talk in both French and English.

Not all was easy on this day though. We did have some drama near its end. We were walking through one of the RER stations moving from one platform to another which can at times be a considerable walk. At this station there was a large number of platforms with about five lanes using it. I was walking ahead with Sophia and turned a number of corners to appear at our platform. I turned to find the others not there. I gave it a minute and realised something was amiss. What to do. I told Sophia to wait in plain view and took off back in the direction we had come from. I couldn't find the others anywhere. 

At the main intersection where Sophia and I had turned left the way straight went down a number of long one way escalators. I looked up where we had come from turned and flew down the escalator with Sophia alone on my mind. At the bottom of the escalator the passage turned into a very long travelator after another 20 meters. I ran down this with even more speed. 

Past this were more escalators and exit barriers. Surely they didn't go that far without seeing us. I gave up and ran back next to the travelator. After a sprint I found myself looking back up the escalators. Options, to the left were other stairs and passages. I couldn't afford to get lost now as Sophia was waiting. I did the stupid thing and ran up the escalator the wrong way. After dropping my coke twice and falling over three times I finally reached the top exhausted.  Not bad training really. Every time you slow down to catch your breath you end up further down. 

I rushed back to our platform and found all our members present. They had gone down the escalator and wandered up various stairs before Sophia had spotted them in one of the adjacent passages. All is well which ends well and it only added to our sense of adventure.