- FRANCE - PART ONE -

Eiffel Tour : Part 4

LINKS to other pages in the FRANCE PART ONE site and to the Colin Day Travelling Days series:

The Palais de Chaillot was built for the 1937 exhibition. The twin pavilions are linked by a portico and extended by wings which curve to frame its wide terrace with its statues in gilded bronze. (left)

It is appropriate that the centre of Paris, particularly that section gracing the Seine around Ile de la Cité and Ile Saint-Louis features some of the city's oldest and most majestic historic monuments. For the past half-century, perhaps one of the most relaxing and convenient ways to view these sights has been from the glass-covered decks of the Bateaux-Mouches.

The origin of the term Bateaux-Mouches ("fly-boats") is not at all clear. Some say (and there is much doubt about it) that the name of the oldest operating cruise line on the Seine — la Compagnie des Bateaux-Mouches — originates from that of its founder, Jean-Sébastien Mouche. It is more likely that the name derived from an area of Lyon where predecessors of these boats were built prior to being introduced to Paris at the end of the 19th century. The various arms of the Rhône River — in a marshy area of the river valley around Lyon — were called "mouches". Boats with shallow hulls were well-suited for the purpose and were commonly found plying these "mouches". One of its neighbourhoods of Lyon (part of the 7th arrondissement) is still designated as "la Mouche".

            "Going down ...........

    ........but don't get your fingers
            caught in the doors!"

The dome of the church in the Hotel des Invalides is seen in the left foreground. The dome of the Pantheon (dating from the mid-18th century and now the Paul Getty Museum) is visible to the right in the background. (right)

The Montparnasse Tower (left)