A Boat Tour on the Seine

It is said that a visit to Paris， France would not be complete without an evening boat tour on the Seine. This would be easy to understand for Chinese like me: the world has had many great civilizations nurtured by a great river. A great river breeds life， dream， poetry and nostalgia as convincingly and vividly illustrated by the Book of Poetry， the Chu Rhapsodies and the Border Town in ancient and modern Chinese literature. In order to make our visit to Paris complete， we decided to take an evening boat tour on the great river that traverses the French capital.

As the evening descended dreamingly， we took the last tour boat on the Seine and started our journey into the evening， light， history， poetry， architecture and art. Our departure point was near the Eiffel Tower. We were to sail past the isle of Cité， the ancient center of Paris where the medieval city was re-founded. We were to come back after boating around the isle of Saint-Louise.

The boat tour gave us a unique angle to see the bridges on the river. We were informed that 37 bridges span the Seine River in Paris， one about every 500 meters apart and 26 of them more than a century old. The garish search lights from the Eiffel Tower gave a dreamlike feel to the river， the sprawling city， and the bridges.

We approached Notre Dame. The grandeur and sculptures of the gothic cathedral were shrouded in shadows， radiating a sense of mystery. For most Chinese， Notre Dame de Paris is a literary masterpiece， a movie， Esmeralda the Beauty， and Quasimodo the Hunchback.

The Louvre Museum is a wonder on the Seine. A fortress first erected in the 13th century， it grew into a symbol of culture. In 1793， the royal palace opened to the general public as a museum of art. The catalogue of the Louvre today indicates that the art repository is home to a wealth of 400，000 artworks. The most famous ones at the Louvre are said to be Venus de Milo， Mona Lisa and Liberty Leading the People.

The passengers on the sightseeing boat enjoyed the view on the river. Looking around at the bright reflections of lights on the river， I suddenly recalled a story about Flaubert’s lamp. It is said that French novelist Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) was in the habit of writing into small hours. The lamp at his window became a light for people sailing on the Seine. I looked around. Which on the river was Flaubert’s window? #8239;

The bridges on the Seine illustrate the history of the river. The oldest bridge in Paris is at the western end of the isle of Cité. It is called the new bridge because it was the first bridge on the Seine in the city. In ancient Europe， a city would come into being with a church， a marketplace， and a city hall. With the three structures as a core， a city would grow. Paris followed this growth pattern. Amazingly， the old Paris has kept itself free of major architectural changes since 1845. In my eyes， this clinging to its past splendors embodies Paris’s confidence in its culture. A city without confidence could not hold fast to its cultural heritage while there are so many opportunities for tremendous physical changes to alter a past.

The most ornate and extravagant bridge on the Seine in Paris is the Pont Alexandre III， a gift to France from Tsar Nicholas II， whose father Alexandre III concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892. There are two bridge towers on either side， each tower with a bronze statue representing science， art， industry and commerce respectively. There are also 32 sculptures on the bridge serving as the foundations for lamps. I wonder what Napoleon would have said had he known about the symbol of the friendship.

I was deeply impressed by the statues in white marble on the bridge heads on the right bank and the left bank. These nymphs indicate human ideals such as liberty， equality and fraternity and these ideals are made noble and universal by France.

We on the boat enjoyed the evening tour on the Seine doubly for another reason. The people on the banks waved to us amiably. The tourists on the boat greeted the people on the banks in different languages and waved back. This symbolized a kind of Utopian interaction and harmony.

The Seine is the soul of Paris. It is neither wide nor narrow; the waters flow unhurriedly and quietly. It reflects the changes of the world and the flow of time. Events and people all come to the river and become part of its legends.□