Seine River - Frenchless in France

Notre Dame

Walking along the Seine, you will eventually reach Notre Dame which is in the midst of years of repair after the tragic fire.

This bridge looks like it’s made of copper but it is cast iron. It’s called the Double which refers to the payment once required to cross it. There are 35 bridges spanning the Seine within Paris by the way.

The cathedral with the sun shining behind it.

There are photos showing various things about Notre Dame during and after the fire. This is behind a plastic shield so not very clear but you can see the cathedral on fire while crowds watched.

The famous Rose stained glass window. I don’t know if they removed the glass already or will. I’m surprised it didn’t melt with the heat of the fire.

On another walk (we are meeting twice a week) we went further down the Seine than before. I don’t know if we will be doing this next week as it is predicted that there will be rain. In any case, when the sun is shining, it’s a beautiful walk.

I like that you can see three bridges in this shot. I was surprised to see rocks in the water here too.

A mother duck showing her young ones the ropes.

A boat that was once a restaurant on the water. I hope it opens again. Places are supposed to be able to open starting next week but with many restrictions for seating and cleaning. I’ve always been intrigued with the figure on front. It has spider webs on it right now.

Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. The faces were supposed to scare away evil spirits.

The Seine

We walked along the Seine and enjoyed the view.

There’s the Louvre Museum across the water.

We moved to the other side of the Seine and got some nice views of the bridges as we went along.

Spring

I’m so happy to get out and see Spring flowers. Nature really does carry on no matter what is happening to humans.

We joined our friend again for a walk along the Seine. Nothing better than the Eiffel Tower with roses in the foreground.

The roof of the newest Russian Orthodox church in Paris.

Something to do with art and sea creatures. I didn’t stop to check it out.

I went to get a blood test the other day-just as a checkup sort of thing-and while there Maurice said, “Why don’t we get the serology test to see if we have antibodies for the virus”. You can have it here without a doctor’s prescription but have to pay 38 Euros to do it. To our surprise, but not really, we were both positive for antibodies. I sort of suspected it. Looking back, I remember a day with really bad diarrhea and a strange rash but it went away at the end of the day. Maurice went through a period of a loss of appetite and lost quite a bit of weight. That was it. Somehow we got the virus. I personally think we got it before we were wearing masks and washing our hands all the time, and wiping down the groceries. Probably if we had started a week earlier we would have been able to protect ourselves. I was showing relatives around Paris and we were in museums, restaurants and bars, and rode many metros and buses. So there you are. We feel relieved and sort of scared at the same time. Now we wait to see if we are in any way contagious and if we are immune. Who knows when that will be.