La Seine and Its Bridges, Paris

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If you are one of those people who can't get enough of the River Seine, then this is your place. Here you can walk (or cycle) along this nice promenade and have the Seine on both sides of you, because it is on a long narrow island right in the middle of the river. Cygnes means swans, by the way, but I didn't see any, just a couple of ducks.

Second photo: Boats at the Port de Grenelle, with some modern buildings in the background, as seen from the Allee des Cygnes.

Third photo: The Statue of Liberty, at the downstream tip of the island near the Grenelle Bridge.

Fourth photo: Looking upstream from the Grenelle Bridge.

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In the historical centre of Paris, on the Île de la Cité, at the meeting point of the Quai de l'Horloge, Boulevard du Palais & the Pont au Change, on the Tour de l'Horloge, ON the corner of the medieval Conciergerie building is the most antiquated clock (horloge) in all of Paris! Not only is it the oldest but, yes, dear readers, it was also the first public clock in Paris. It lends its imagery & name to the nearby quai (Quay of the Clock) and continues the Gothic note of this historic area that is so closely interwoven with royalty.

While it is not exactly off-the-beaten path, most people do overlook this interesting architectural curiosity that had been marking time since its installation by Charles V in 1370 (or 1371 dependent upon your resources). It was damaged during the Revolution and several reports I've read state that it no longer works BUT the dials do seem to move! You see on my photo that the face reads one time (around 12:07pm) yet in this photo you see another time (9:24am). Here's another photo but I cannot see the time on it clearly.

In any case, the clock was refurbished by Henri III who added the inscription that would read in English:
He who already gave him two crowns will give him a third one
This is in reference to God giving Henri III a heavenly crown after He already gave him the crowns of France & Poland.

The blue background of the clock you'll see covered with the very royal fleurs-de-lys while the figure on the left signifies Law & the figure on the right signifies Justice.

Photos: April 2003 & Feb 2006

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Probabily you know, and it's true. One of the most romantic thinks in the world: a walk near the Seine.
Problablement ja ho sabeu, i és veritat. Una de les coses més romàntiques el món: Un passeig vora el Sena.

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My favorite bridge. Surely one of the best place to feel magic feeling of Paris. And it's also a perfect placefrom where you can take of picture of the island 'l'ile de la Cite' (see the picture). You'll meet lot of lovers and musicians here.

We have lot of boats on the seine river where you can find restaurants, big parties, cafés with concerts every nights or parties.
You'll find nice boats for night life here :
* In front of the national library (bibliothèque nationale in french), 13 rd district. You can go to the Batofar, Guinguette pirate ( an old jonk boat that lloks like a pirat boat)
* In front of the musée d'orsay. You can find there the Concorde-atlantique boat, famous for student parties and house-techno parties
* Some boats in front of the Eiffel Tower (but not so much). You'll fing there for exemple the Maxim's boat.

Dolly Wilde's place
1 rue Gît-le-Cœur
(close to the Left Bank of the Seine)

A close friend of Natalie Barney's and the flamboyant & unusual niece of Oscar Wilde (gee, wonder where those characteristics came from!), Dolly had quite the reputation in the '30s while living in Paris. She also looked remarkably like her uncle.

Website below provides link to a biography about her called Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story of Dolly Wilde.


This was also the residence of Gilbert Seldes, a close friend of e. e. cummings, the poet, and he was the managing editor of The Dial. Seldes called this building Chez Murphy because of its proximity to Gerald & Sara Murphy's apartment (just around the corner).

I read about both of these expatriates in Expatriate Paris: A Cultural & Literary Guide to Paris of the 1920's by Arlen Hansen, a fabulous compendium of Paris stories.

Gerald & Sarah Murphy's Home
23 Quai des Grands Augustins
(or 1 rue Git-le-Cœur)
(along the Left Bank of the Seine)

The Murphys were the type of folks of which myth was made. F. Scott Fitzgerald placed them as the Dick & Nicole Divers characters in Tender is the Night, in fact they were great friends of the Fitzgeralds.

They were also great friends of the Hemingways. Hemingway attributed the demise of his marriage to his first wife, Hadley, to the influence of his rich friends, the Murphys, because they introduced to him the woman who tore his marriage apart (not that HE didn't have a hand in the matter); all chronicled in his memoir of Paris, A Moveable Feast.

This address is just around the corner from where Oscar Wilde's niece, Dolly Wilde, used to live at 1 rue Git-le-Cœur, and just down the street from e.e. cumming's "pisseur" incident. If you travel further down the quai on your way to the Musée d'Orsay, you'll discover where Oscar Wilde was "dying beyond" his means at 19 Quai Voltaire.

Their most famous address, however, was the Villa America on the Cap d'Antibes which Fitzgerald wrote about. It may be these writing that popularized this area of the Riviera, lent it a certain '20s flair, a cachet. People such as Dorothy Parker used to visit them here.

Also great friends to Cole & Linda Porter as testified in the recent movie De-Lovely (starring Ashley Judd and Kevin Kline).