eiffeltower – Messy Suitcase Travel Blog

November 9, 2023November 9, 2023

Grateful to Be Here: Bopping Around Paris

Just out of 10 days of COVID isolation in a Helsinki hotel room, we missed our first scheduled night in Paris. But we rallied and made it for the last couple of days. We were never so happy to get on a plane! (Masked.)

Not yet restored to normal energy, we couldn’t go inside anywhere in Paris, so we spent a day or two slow-bopping around the glorious city, taking lots of breaks to rest and people-watch. We spent the first morning walking around with our former exchange student (and Spanish daughter) Laia and her cousin Anna. After they left, we had no agenda, which gave us the opportunity to discover new parks and search for the Love Lock that Lisa had attached on a stairway near Pont Neuf in 2018. (Don’t worry, haters, it was NOT on the bridge but on a sanctioned chain, and she did not throw the key in the Seine!) It was long gone, as the Parisians cut them off regularly, but we found a new place to lock our love.

We also walked around on the Isle de la City, saw the roofless Notre Dame Cathedral (covered with scaffolding and dwarfed by a gargantuan crane), strolled along and even dipped our toes in the Seine, sauntered through the courtyard of the Louvre, ate lunch in a sidewalk café, and visited the booksellers’ kiosks along the Left Bank. When our feet got tired, we caught another Seine River cruise and saw the city’s main attraction, the Eiffel Tower! The 1-hour sightseeing tour on Vedettes du Pont Neuf cost 15 euros each, about $17.

We ended the day with a scrumptious dinner in the Latin Quarter.

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Paris Tourism
Vedettes du Pont Neuf

October 25, 2023October 25, 2023

City of Lights: Paris at Night from a Bateau Mouche

A glorious full moon competed with the sparkling Eiffel Tower and the sounds of Offenbach’s “Can Can” as we enjoyed a romantic dinner cruise up and down the River Seine on a Bateau Mouche. What a breathtaking experience! Do yourself a favor and splurge on this when you visit Paris.

Bateau Mouche literally translates as “fly boat” (so named because the boats were originally manufactured in boatyards situated in the Mouche area of Lyon), and these boats have been plying the river showing visitors the best views of Paris since 1949, carrying 2.5 million passengers a year on a tour of Paris from what the company calls “Paris’s best avenue of them all: the Seine.”

We reserved in advance, a wise decision, chose an evening dinner tour, and selected the Prestige Dinner menu, which cost us 105 euros each and now costs 115 euros, or about $123. This included a four-course meal, a bottle of wine, and a glass of champagne, as well as live entertainment. If we’d chosen the Excellence Menu for 40 euros more apiece, we would have had window seats and fancier food; instead we were in the middle of the interior dining room, with a great view of the piano and violin duet playing standards. The boat was surrounded by windows, though, and a short trip to the outdoor upper level afforded excellent views. Next time, I believe I will splurge on the window seats.

Thinking of popping the question? You can choose the “Get a Yes in Paris – Marriage Proposal” package starting at 340 euros per person, which includes a chauffeur to the boat, a special table for 2 in the bow, offers a variety of quality champagnes to choose from. Who wouldn’t say yes to a proposal with Moet and Chandon on a bateau mouche in Paris?

Several competing companies provide essentially the same tour, including brunch, lunch, and simple sightseeing tours.

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Paris Tourism
Bateaux Mouches
Offenbach’s Can Can

October 10, 2022October 11, 2022

Eiffel Tower Light Show

The highlight of the Bateaux Mouches dinner cruise on the River Seine in Paris was when the Eiffel Tower put on a light show at 10 o’clock. Glorious!

We highly recommend this experience for anyone looking for a romantic or noteworthy evening in Paris. the views are unparalleled, and we lucky to have a clear, warmish early-fall with a full moon. Our only regret was that we neglected to inform them in advance that we were celebrating Lisa’s birthday! If we had they would have brought her dessert with a sparkler on top and played Happy Birthday on the violin! (Come to think of it, maybe it’s better she didn’t singe her eyebrows,)