Sur Seine means on the Seine. The Seine River is the primary river that cuts through Paris, France. It is the central marker for the city. When traveling the river, there are locations on the left or right banks, and describes the types of venues and clientele that can be in these regions. The Seine is also a central place for a variety of cultural aspects, including the gypsies that take advantage of people that flock to the Seine - usually tourists - as well as beach goers. Recently, Paris has modified the roads along the Seine to make them "beach" like complete with sand and showers, as well as playgrounds and places for people to sunbathe.
The Seine is also a place to shop for some interesting items. When I was here 28 years ago, I remember touring along the Seine and purchasing souvenirs for friends and family. I recall finding some tapestries that had woven into them pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc D'Triomphe, Monte Mart, and the Opera house. But this year these were not available. Instead, there were prints on nice card stock of these venues. Some were in color, some were in water colors, and others were in sketch form. But what caught my eye was the first place we visited with my sister-in-law, oil paintings on canvas. These were some of the most beautiful paintings I had seen in a very long time. I suspect they were made my starving artists because there were several of the same venue, such as the Eiffel Tower, but it was clearly detectable that each one was painted by hand because they were not entirely identical. Some colors were different, and others had different shades. But they were of high quality and at 15 Euros of one and 25 Euros for 2, it was a good deal. After shopping some of the other vendors for other types of prints, we headed back to the oil paintings and I purchased 6 of them. Fortunately I had Jeannine with me; she's a real shopper and negotiator. According to Jeannine, the vendor did not speak French all that well and felt she could get a better price. She haggled with him in French, and was able to get him down to 65 Euros for all six paintings, or barely 11 a piece. It was awesome.
After shopping for some of these works of art, took some photographs on the Pont Neuf (New Bridge) which was built as the first bridge to connect the left and right banks several hundred years ago. We headed further down the Seine a few bridges, and then crossed. We were approached by another gypsy trying out her craft with the ring trick, to which I simply walked away and said NO! They have this trick they do where they kneel down to the ground and pick up what they suggest is your lost ring. If you want it, you should pay them for it. Sometimes they do a slight of hand trick for you, and then expect payment. Jeannine's father was approached this way when he visited, and simply took the ring and said thanks, then walked away. The gypsy was lost as to what to do, so came after Mr. Reynolds. Fortunately my brother was there to tell the gypsy to scram; fortunately for the gypsy he did. I was not interested in an altercation on my last day in France. So I simply let it go.
When we reached the end of the bridge we were crossing, we came across another gentlemen painting. He was painting water colors, and they were simply magnificent. The paintings were so good, it seemed they might not be real. But according to Jeannine the were as real as they get. We took some pictures of him painting and eventually purchased some of his work. They were not cheap, at 10 Euros for a small 4" square, but they were worth it. Throughout the remainder of the day we visited several art galleries, either by window shopping or actually going into the gallery. I was impressed that the art of painting is still very much alive in France, and I look forward to a future trip to explore what develops next.
After lunch, Jeannine took us to the Luxembourg Gardens. The gardens have a palace at them where some famous Catherine once lived. I cannot remember the details because by this point my brain was saturated with information. But the gardens around the structure, which is now used by the French Government Senate, were breathtaking. In the back of the building, there were lots of garden spaces, but also a pond with a central fountain where children were playing with sailboats. It made for a nice post lunch place to relax. The chairs that were all over the place were extremely comfortable. The temperature was in the lower 70's with the sun behind the clouds, and a gentle breeze made the entire experience the easiest place to fall asleep, thus adding to the relaxing charm of Paris. After waking up, we headed out of the park towards a shopping area to purchase some wine glasses for rob and Jeannine. Just before we exited the park though, we came across a set of tables that spanned several square meters where men and women were playing chess under the canopy of the trees. We watched one game which was very exciting until the older of the two playing made a really stupid move and lost the game. It seems that he either gave up or was put off by the crowd. Nonetheless, it was interesting to find such a place.
For Parisens, Sur Seine is definitely a place to relax and enjoy life. I enjoyed it immensely and look forward to another visit in the future.
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