Moving On

We took it pretty easy during our last few days in Paris--neighborhood strolls, a movie, evening get-togethers with boating friends, a little shopping, and some final preparations for departing the Arsenal on June 27. 

Wandering the streets of Ile Saint-Louis (the smaller of the two islands
in the Seine that comprised the heart of the old city), we were astounded
by how many buildings had plaques denoting past owners and/or
residents: for example, the photo in the lower right was that of a residence
of the Nobel prize winning physicists Marie and Pierre Curie.

The House of the Doves on Rue de la Colombe, the site of a 
medieval legend about the rescue of two doves from the ruins of
a collapsed building who became symbols of marital devotion--and  
where a patient French bulldog (at left) waits for its owner to exit
the wine bar that now inhabits the ground floor. 

Covered flower market on the Ile de la Cite.

Grass and glass--the Accor Arena, a popular concert and sports
 venue near the Paris Bercy train station.

                                           

Our New Zealand boating friends from last year, Margaret
 and John, cruised into the Arsenal on Sunday, June 25,
 and we were able to have a catch up/farewell dinner on 
Monday evening.

It took until Sunday for us to get back to the National Archives and actually go into the building. There were more people around than when Mecki and I had visited a few days earlier (the surrounding streets were packed with people shopping and strolling on a warm weekend day), but it's not one of those items on the "must see/must do" lists of most tourists, so once we got off of the shopping streets we weren't fighting crowds.

The Museum of the National Archives is housed in the Hotel (Mansion) de Soubise, an 18th century building built on the site--and incorporating remnants--of two previous mansions, the original from the late 14th century and its 16th century successor. It was the residence of the family of the Prince of Soubise until it was seized during the French Revolution and sold. In1808 it was acquired by the government of France and assigned by Napoleon to the National Archives. To house an ever-increasing number of records, several record repositories were added to the site during the 19th century. 

The museum allows for a visit of the living quarters of the Prince and Princess Soubise, where several of the rooms are used for temporary exhibitions and for the display of facsimiles of some of the important and interesting archival materials (such as the last letter of Marie Antoinette). When we were there, the special exhibition was on the French Revolution.

After several rounds of renovations over the centuries, 
the turreted tower is the only remaining piece of
the original 14th century medieval building.

The Princess' Ceremonial Room. The furniture and the wall
coverings are authentic; the ladder and plant material were part 
of a contemporary artistic installation.

The grand staircase.

From 695, a declaration on land ownership
from King Childebert II.

All good things must come to an end, hopefully to make way for other good things. It was hard to believe how quickly our 3 weeks in Paris passed, but there we were on Tuesday, June 27, leaving the lock of the Arsenal and heading upstream on the Seine.

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were making the turn
into the lock.

The first section that we travelled on the river was very urbanized and not exactly scenic. But as we continued on during that first day of cruising--and certainly on the second--it was much greener and quite attractive. Each lock has two chambers, big and bigger, to accommodate commercial barges that can range up to 110 meters in length. There aren't a lot of moorings for pleasure craft along this stretch of waterway, so on the first day of cruising we moored on the upstream quay of the lock at the town of Evry. 

Evry is a spread-out, and in many ways commercialized,
exurban area of Paris, but we did find a 12th century
church in the old village center.

The Seine has many residential barges along its banks.

This was one of the odder locks we entered. One side was sloped
(to accommodate wide boats) and one side had cylindrical
metal supports with gaps between the cylinders. Very strange.
The Seine locks are definitely designed for large commercial
boats, not for smaller pleasure craft.

The second day of cruising (Wednesday, June 28) brought us to the town of Melun, where we were able to find space on a rather long quay that is used in part by pleasure craft and in part by commercial boats (tour-type boats rather than cargo haulers). Melun is only about 25 miles from Paris, although thanks to the curves in the river we cruised about 40 miles during our first two days. It's definitely a historic area, with origins going back at least to Roman times, but many of the stops on the walking tour talk about what used to exist on a particular site, not what currently remains. Castles, mills, religious buildings, fortifications--either completely gone or only minor vestiges remain.

Melun has some pretty parks on the island and
along the different arms of the Seine split by the island.

No signs were seen that declared Melun a "flower city",
 but given the number of blooms on the bridges, they
certainly should be able to make the claim.

The remains of Saint-Sauveur Priory. Established originally in
the 10th century, the vestiges here date from the 12th century.
Most of what existed in the priory's heyday disappeared
 during the French Revolution when it was sold as National
 Property and divided into workshops, shops, private homes, etc.

The "Melun Dodo" is a bit of environmental art, created from
recycled materials.

The 12th century Notre-Dame collegiate church. 

A prison is situated on the eastern end of the island, immediately
adjacent to the Notre-Dame church. For nearly 4 decades in the 
early 19th century the church was enclosed within the prison walls,
finally being "freed" in 1850.

We're in Melun for 2 nights and have had the good fortune to be moored behind a barge that we recognized from our time at the DBA rally in Auxerre in 2017. We've enjoyed socializing with owners Alex and Louise. We also took advantage of better-than-expected weather today to visit a chateau in the vicinity that was an inspiration for the chateau at Versailles. But as it's getting late, the details of that visit will have to wait for another day.