Paris--Day 2, Part III--The Nighttime Boat Tour (and Just Missing the Pope)

On the second evening in Paris, Ian arranged for a boat tour on the Seine right after dark. It was a great time to take a boat tour, if a little chilly.

It was sunset right as we were walking to the boat launch, which was near the Eiffel Tower:


As I mentioned in a previous post, the Pope was in town, and there were police officers all over the place. The Pope was supposed to tour the city in his Pope-mobile right about when we were to going to be on the boat. I found all of this out when I accidentally told a police office not to cross the street when I was making sure the students weren't getting run over. He laughed and I started talking to him a little (in French!) I found out that we were standing on the Pope's path and that he was supposed to be coming by any minute. Here I am talking to the Parisian police:


Here we are waiting for the Pope, who never in fact came before we had to board the boat. The police officers kept trying to get us to stay because he was coming "any minute," but after 20 minutes of waiting, we were pressed for time.

So, after all of that, we boarded the boat. Some of us sat on the bottom part of the boat, which was the least crowded space with the best view:

Sophie hung out with her friends, Jenny and Katie, the entire ride:

The Eiffel Tower at night (which is blue in honor of the EU):

All sparkly:

Unfortunately, those were the only pictures that turned out. The boat was moving too fast for our camera to take very good night pictures. Suffice it to say that it was a very nice way to see the city at night.