Jeff Rasley
Photo by Allison Planck; Minolta x-700
THE HEART OF THE CITY:
The Seine River
Part of adjusting to a new city is trying to understand where you are located within it. During this process, one will choose a relative 'center' of a city in order to better assess where they are located in relation to IT. This is important to do because this chosen spot will act as an anchor in case you do get turned around or lost. Luckily, Paris already has a pre-approved locus in the form of a geographic characteristic: the Seine River. Not only does it make any map of Paris easier to read, but it also holds at its outer edges the most famous of the French monuments - a two in one bonus. The Seine, culturally, is an extremely important feature to the Parisian people as it represents the heart of the city. It is a very common meeting ground for seeing friends or getting dinner after work. Picnicking is practiced extensively along the whole length of the river throughout Paris, accumulating the heaviest amount of people at the small grassy park called Pont Neuf.
Left: Crossing the Seine by Notre-Dame Cathedrale Right: Dinner on Pont Neuf on the Seine River
Photos by Allison Planck; Minolta x-700
One of the best views of Paris, however touristy it may be, is on the guided river-boats that go up and down the Seine. Our group chose the Bateaux-Mouches to guide us under the low bridges and through the windswept river channel. Not only was it an extremely breathtaking experience at sunset, but it is also a great way to understand how the Seine's location interacts with many of the other monumental features of the city, such as Notre-Dame, Tour Eiffel, and the Louvre. Some of my most memorable experiences in Paris include the times when I simply just strolled along the river banks and people watched until the Eiffel tower lit up at dusk.
