Travel Tips

After seeing Notre-Dame, cross the Island to go on the West part. There is the Pont Neuf (New Bridge) of which name is become wrong because it is the oldest bridge of the Capital.

On the middle of the Bridge, you see the "Good King" Henri 4th who wanted each French had a chicken to cook the Sunday.

His statue was destroyed during the Revolution and replaced by an other erected in 1818. But the artist was Bonapartist and he put a copy of the Saint Helen Memorial into the horse body and a bust of Napoleon in its leg.

How told us that? The rumor and ... a X-Ray exam.

It was the last prison of Louis the 16th and his wife, just before he was beheaded.
The building can be visited daily from 9:30AM to 6PM.
Price : 5.50€ or 8€ with double ticket Conciergerie-Sainte Chapelle (see the travelogue Ste Chapelle).

Two Centuries ago this bridge (Pont au Change) was covered by houses. They are regularly destroyed either by flood, or by arson.

When somebody was drowned and his body was missing, the custom was to put in the Seine a piece of wood with a lighted candel. It was the of a lot of fires.

After the bridge : the Place du Chatelet with its fountain and, on the left, the Theater and the Quai de la Mégisserie.

This photograph was taken the 8 April 2001 during the Paris Marathon.

The runners are on the right bank motorway (the Seine was lower than the previous week and the flood is temporary finished).

Farer there are the Pont Neuf, the Institut Coupol and the Tour Eiffel. The City Island is on the left of the picture.

Paris is the only city to have a stone beach. It is a bit small but so original.

"Vert Galant" is the untranslatable nick name of Henry 4° because the king loved very much the young ladies even when he was become old. He was "green" and "galant".

The name was given to the garden.

It is the only site (with the Quay) which shows the initial level of the Paris Soil. The 5 added meters come from the human inhabitation.

On the triangular extremity, the Templars were burned by the King Philippe 4° (if you know the French TV serie : The Damned Kings from M. Druon).

Photograph shot in March 2001.

From the Vert Galant square, you can take a boat for the tour on the Seine.

You may also rest on the bank to enjoy the sun (if there is) and the sight seeing.

Beyond the King's statue, there is the quiet place Dauphine.

Triangular and bordered by ancient restored houses of the 17th Century, it is a protected area of calm in the heart of Paris.

Some of the buidings are hotels. I do not know the price of the rooms but the site worths an effort.

The building shown on the picture is the hotel Henri IV, one of the cheapest hotels of Paris. One of the oldest too : it is 400 years old.

Boulevard du palais, in front of the Justice Palace, there is the Flower Market which is transformed in bird market on Sunday morning.

It is a picturesque place to spend some minutes after a visit to the Sainte Chapelle nearby.

Birds are not the only occupiers of the market. There are also : rabbits, hamsters, squarrels and other beasts.

Often, somebody whose cat or dog has had cubs comes here to give (or to sell) the young animals.

The Clock Tower is Boulevard du Palais in front of Change Bridge.

It was the first public clock in Paris.

The tower was built in 1353 and is a part of the Conciergerie.