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In case you missed it, I wrote about our, er, adventure at the Eiffel Tower here.

The Seine River is the main waterway through Paris, and basically splits the city in half. Naturally, there are countless wonderful sights everywhere you look (and the French were kind enough to put many good sights in one general location for us, don’cha know).

But if you want to save time (and your feet!), one of the easiest ways to effortlessly see a whole herd of good stuff is to book a ride on one of the bazillion glass-topped tourist boats. Let’s see now… you have your choice of simple tour boats (with or without guides), moonlight cruises, dinner cruises, moonlight dinner cruises, moonlight candlelight dinner cruises, entertainment moonlight candlelight dinner cruises – egads, the list goes on and on.

Having just had one of the best meals of our lives (yet another story!), we opted for one of the ”simple” Bateaux-Mouches (I have no idea how to pronounce the name, but here in Texas we would probably say “Batoe-Mooshes”) tour boats later that evening. Now, this was in early April, so it was still a bit cold, especially at night, so we bundled up and took a seat on the roof for the best views.

It was simply stupendous! To my mind, the great thing about taking this boat ride is that all you need do is sit there; the sights come to you! After a long day of walking the entire length of the Avenue de Champs-Élysée  (and then some), this is my idea of sightseeing!

So anyway, we started (click on the map above for a larger view) just to the right of the Eiffel Tower, heading right, then turned around just past the Notre Dame and headed back the other direction. We then went all the way to the left, rounded the Statue of Liberty, and returned to our starting point. Everything was lighted up beautifully, and it was a wonderful ride – totally peaceful and serene.

I mean, we’re up to our ears in famous sights: The Grand Palais, the Concorde, the Louvre, Hotel de Ville – and of course the incredible Notre Dame du Paris. And that’s where we finally saw the full moon. In a manner of, er, speaking.

As the boat serenely passed in front of the Notre Dame cathedral, we saw, on the left bank, about 10 people (they appeared to be college-age students, a not uncommon sight in this part of Paris) all standing on the concrete walkway that lined that side of the river.

Just as we came abreast of them, they all waved and shouted loudly to get our attention – then every single one of them promptly bent over and mooned us!

Now, ordinarily, I like to tell stories that illustrate some particular point - you know, a learning experience, or something equally pithy. But, to tell you the truth, with this story I have no idea what that point might be. 

But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:

Ah, Paris in the Spring!

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