Walking the Streets of Paris

The spire of Ste-Chappelle, Notre Dame, and the Institut de France

 December was particularly rainy this year, but the weather didn't stop us from enjoying another great walk along the Seine. Walking along the river allows for great vantage points of many of the best monuments of Paris, as you can see in the picture above! Within the city there are over thirty bridges that cross the Seine, some of which are only pedestrian - such as the bridge we were on while taking these photos.

Locked in for life!

 All of these padlocks are the symbols of couples' life-long love: you write your names on the padlock (or the real crazies pay to get it engraved), lock it up, and then throw the key into the Seine below. How romantic....



To answer your next question, no we do not have a padlock with our names on it.

Of course there are those who always wish to be single!

 The water level was extremely high this particular week. There is a walkway where these trees are that is usually several feet above the river, but now several inches under thanks to our overly wet December. For the river to actually do damage to the city the water level needs to be higher than the wall on the left. This was about the highest the water reached before receding to its normal levels again.