Paris III – other stuff

We love to walk in Paris. I’m not sure there’s a better city in the world for walking, so we do a lot of walking. Here are some highlights of our walks in Paris this last week.

Berges de Seine
Berges means the banks of a river. I have, since our first visit to Paris 20 years ago, wished that there were more places to sit and watch the activity on the Seine. Well, no more will I wish that. Two weeks ago, Paris opened up a section of the river on the Left Bank, from Pont d’Alma to Pont Royale, that is 100% for sitting, walking, resting, eating, drinking and just watching. It is fabulous.

Parking
It seems that you can park anywhere in Paris as long as three things are observed:
1. There’s not a “No Parking” sign to be seen;
2. You don’t block an intersection (sometimes ignored);
3. You don’t block a crosswalk (often ignored)

This picture shows a few cars obeying the parking rules: there’s not a “No Parking” sign; they’re not blocking traffic; and they’re not blocking a crosswalk. Hence, parking like this is fine. Note that both black cars are parked here; it looks as if the right-hand one is driving around the corner, but no…it’s stationary.

Actually, it also seems that you can disregard the above three rules if you just put your blinkers on. That seems to make parking anywhere okay.