Along the river

Another trip to Paris, another day cycling along the Seine.  Yesterday was quite warm, today was much cooler and windy.

We rode on both sides of the Seine, down to the Champ-de-Mars park.  While most people go there for the Tour Eiffel, we go there for the exercise and to see interesting sights along the way.

The Tour Eiffel is separated from the Seine by one street.  Many people arrive to visit the site by bateau (boat).

Bateau dock

A gondola being towed upstream

Across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower (Palais de Chaillot)

It was fun watching people posing to capture the Tower in their photos creatively.  Some people came to lie on the grass.  Others came to draw their own version of the Eiffel Tower.

The art class

As we were cycling around the gardens of the Champ-de-Mars Park, we discovered a monument that we had never seen before: Le monument des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (The monument of the Rights of Man and the Citizen).  This monument was installed in 1989 on the bicentennial of the French Revolution.  It is very complicated, including sculptures of 3 adults, one child, and two obelisques.  Tiny text is written over much of it: the French Decaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen (from 1789).