Wednesday

We loved watching the barges on the river Seine. Huge tankers carry grain and gravel downstream. Some carried containers for Franprix, a supermarket chain. The containers are put onto the barge at their port on the river Marne then onto truck in Paris for delivery. Clever. The Paris dock is just below the Eiffel Tower - right next to Promenade d'Australie.

detail of painting

We have used our credit card a lot and only once been asked for a pin! Everywhere it's sign, although sometimes the girls at the checkout forget to get us to sign and move on to the next customer. We wonder what the bank will make of that.

We are staying near the huge underground railway interchange plus shopping centre of Les Halles which is being rebuilt from the park at the top down to the lowest railway line about five levels down. If we peer out the window [the walls are thick] we can see an entrance to the station. We went for a walk around it today. We only get light construction noise but when we got outside the Novotel two streets away it sounded as if they were drilling though granite.

the building works area will be a park again, St Eustache behind

our apartment is the other side the canopy