An Evening on the Seine

After our visit to the Eiffel Tower, we grabbed dinner nearby and then headed down to the nearby docks for a sightseeing cruise on the Seine. We were treated to a gorgeous view of the tower while we were waiting to board and I was excited to see it in “sparkle mode.”

We had debated about buying tickets for one of the dinner cruises offered, but decided that we’d rather spend the money on something else. We went for a Sweety cruise on Vedettes instead, so we could have a crepe on board. Unfortunately, they were out of crepe mix, so we had to settle for candy bars and hot tea instead.

Ours was the last cruise of the evening, and there was only one other group onboard with us. The front part of the cabin had evidently been used for some kind of private party involving champagne on the previous cruise, but the staff cleared it out shortly after we departed and we were allowed to sit in the front area. We spent part of the time in the bow area, but it was too cold to sit there for very long.

The cruise was narrated in three languages: French, English, and Spanish. It was very hard to hear the narration on the outside part of the boat, but the speakers inside were fine. I actually learned quite a bit from it. One of the buildings that was pointed out was the Palais de la Legion d’Honneur, which evidently inspired architecture in Washington, DC, including the White House. I also didn’t know that the Musee d’Orsay was an old train station prior to the cruise.

It was fun to get another view of the highlights of Paris after seeing them from above earlier in the evening. The cruise gave us our first up-close sightings of highlights like the Louvre and Notre Dame, increasing my excitement level even further. The cruise took us all the way down to Ile de la Cite and back.

I absolutely loved taking the cruise at night. Seeing the lights reflecting off of the river and the buildings all lit up gave Paris an almost magical feel. It was not ideal for photography – being on a moving boat at night isn’t very conducive to taking quality pictures without a high-end camera – but we were there to enjoy ourselves. If you want to get good pictures, I’d recommend a day cruise, but for sheer atmosphere, the night time is definitely the way to go.