Picnic on La Siene

I was assigned to help with convoyage as my last bit of work for American Village. This meant I had to watch the campers on the train while we went to Paris. For doing this my train ticket was covered as well as a complimentry night at a hotel that they reserved for me. I did not use that reservation as I already had a place to stay with a former flatmate from Australia.

She met me at the train station and then I headed to her brother's place. She also let me know that we were invited to join some other friends for a picnic.

The location of the picnic was on a wooden bridge crossing the river in Paris: La Siene. It was about a twenty minute walk from her brother's place. I forgot to bring my camera and as famous places were pointed out to me I started regretting not having it. In the end however it was not a big deal because I later passed these same places when I did have my camera.

The first place was Notre Dame. It is a huge cathedral and is where we often use the subway to go to and from places. The wooden bridge was right near the louvre, perhaps the most famous museum in the world. Standing on the bridge from certain places you could also see in the distance the Eiffel Tower.

It is legal to drink in public places in France, so we brought with us a bottle of wine. The bridge was full of pad locks, usually with names written on them. I imagine it is something common for honey mooners to do.

Summer days are a lot longer in Paris (as well as in Normandy) then south western Ontario. It doesn't start to get dark until about 10 o clock. As a result a picnic and other outdoor activities can and do start later in the evening. It is also more common to have a late dinner here. At camp we ate dinner at 7pm and that was probably early for dinner, or that is what my experience has been.

The summer night did not treat us so well. It ended up being pretty windy so it got cold and we went home early. It was just as well as I was still pretty tired from camp and we could also get an early start on visiting Paris the next day.