Weekly Header Challenge - Don't Rock the Boat

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew
Tom W 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Don't Rock the Boat

I took this week's theme, chosen by Mac, quite literally.  Here is the full image of my header:

This is my dad's boat, and in the image above, he and my mom are giving Jacob and Thomas a ride home from Winter Bay (one of the bays on Lake Bonaparte).  This lake is one of my favorite places on earth!

This boat, a Cadillac, is special.  My Grandpa acquired it for use on the lake, and after his death, it pretty much sat.  The horn (above) makes this awesome Ah-OOOH-gah! sound, and whoever had the boat out would blow that horn upon his return to the dock at Jackson Rock on the east shore.  While the boat sat, my cousin put the horn on his boat.  When my dad refurbished the Caddy, the horn found its rightful spot on the boat, and there it stays.

My dad and mom go for a ride.

Every autumn, everyone takes his boat out of the lake for the winter.  My dad's boat removal turned into a ritual, with lots of people helping to get it out of the water and into the shed.

Set for the winter.

Other boats on Lake Bonaparte.

My cousin Al and his wife Terri own a Jet-Ski, and below you can see Terri whizzing by while their dog Dakota (who since died) eagerly waits.

Dakota gets a ride.

There are a few avid sailboaters on the lake, and on a breezy day it's nice to see them sailing by.

My parents also own bright neon green open kayaks.  They are super fun and easy to maneuver, and although they will rock with the waves on the lake, they are not easy to tip.

Fernando spots for Jacob swimming across the bay.

Pontoon boats are popular on our little lake.

Relaxing on an autumn boat ride, the last of the season.

Fernando and the guys fishing.

Of course, Fernando goes out fishing as much as possible.

Jacob and his friend Nathan headed out on the lake.

The pontoon boats require more power to get removed from the lake at the end of the season.

Power boats!  It's always fun to watch people waterski and tube.

That's it for Lake Bonaparte.  The last image I want to share is one I took in Sebastian, Florida, on a trip where we spent a week with friends in their timeshare beach cottage.  I took this at Captain Hiram's, a restaurant on the Atlantic Ocean.  Their food was amazing, and so were the views!

Be sure to visit everyone else's blogs to see if anyone "rocked the boat!"


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Seine River Boat Tour | Paris Travel

Boat tour on the Seine, from les vedettes du Pont Neuf, approaching pont Royal.

Our Silver Paris

Welcome to my Paris travel journal,

where I share our experiences of our special journey to Paris.

Please use these posts as a guide for your own travels

to this amazing and wonderful city!

Or simply read, and dream...

After our late (very late!) morning jaunt to the promenade Plantée and canal St. Martin and its gardens, we were ready to sit.  But who wants to sit in an appartement, no matter how beautiful, for an afternoon?  Paris afforded a solution, however, and we jumped on it.

We chose one of the boat tour companies, Vedettes du Pont Neuf, which moors its boats at--you guessed it--pont Neuf.  :)

View of the Seine River, from pont Neuf.  Pont des Arts is the prominent bridge.

In the above image, you can see the boat moored--look way on the left, just above my watermark.  That's the boat we rode on.  We purchased tickets and boarded, and I took a picture of pont Neuf for reference.  Plus, it's a beautiful bridge.  :)

Pont Neuf.

After a short wait (tours start every half-hour most days), we were off.  The vedette turned around and headed west, down the Seine (it flows west through Paris and eventually empties into the English Channel) toward the Eiffel Tower.  Here are some scenes from our vedette.

About to cross under pont des Arts, a pedestrian-only bridge.

Sunny day along the Seine River, featuring musée d'Orsay in shadow.

Musée de la Découverte.

Silhouette of the Eiffel Tower.

The steeple from the American Church in Paris rises above the trees of the city.

Beyond the steeple above, we rounded the curve, and voilà--la tour Eiffel!  Here is a picture I took as we passed by:

Besides our first visit to la tour Eiffel, I promise I'll have another Eiffel Tower post with even more images.  For now, that's it.  Sorry.  :)

Just past la tour Eiffel, we turned around again and headed east, upriver back toward the two islands.

Below, we passed by pont Alexandre III and its gold-topped columns.  (Follow it left a hundred yards or so and you'll be standing between le Grand Palais and le Petit Palais.)

Columns at pont Alexandre III.

Below, we passed by the Louvre on the Rive Droite (Right Bank).

Part of le musée du Louvre.

Then, we passed by le musée d'Orsay on the Rive Gauche (Left Bank).

More sights along the Seine River...

The dome of l'Institut de France.

Our vedette passed between Ile de la Cité and the Rive Gauche, and soon Notre Dame came into view.

Detail of pont au Double, now a cast-iron bridge.

Beautiful greenery along the banks of the Seine on Ile de la Cité.

Then, we passed alongside Notre Dame.  It really is a massive structure!

Side view of Notre Dame.

Arches of pont Archèveché; its railings are decorated with lovers' locks.

Underneath pont de Sully.

Our vedette made one last turn to head back west around Ile St. Louis toward pont Neuf to moor.  When it turned, we got a beautiful view of Notre Dame.

Beautiful buildings on Ile St. Louis.

At this, the very end of our boat tour, I experimented with sunstars.  For you with DSLRs, simply adjust the f-stop to the highest number possible (closing down the aperture as far as it will go), and position the sun so it's partially obstructed (by a building, a tree, etc.).

Sunstar on the Seine, approaching pont Louis Philippe.

These are not ordinary sunstars, mind you.  They are French sunstars.  :)

To help you plan your Seine River boat tour, here are some websites that were helpful to us.

• Paris Travel at About.com -- Overview of the boat tours on the Seine.
• Vedettes du Pont Neuf -- This is the boat tour company we used.
• Batobus -- You can purchase a ticket, and hop on and off these boats all along the Seine.
• Bateaux Mouches -- They're famous for their lunch and dinner cruises.

Also to help you plan this outing:

• Nearest Métro station:  Pont Neuf (line 7)
• Cost:  A one-hour cruise from vedettes du Pont Neuf is 13 € for adults, or 8 € if you purchase a ticket via the Internet (oh, for a printer in our appartement!)
• What to look for:  A relaxing one- to one-and-a-half-hour boat ride.  Lots of picture-taking opportunities, especially of the Eiffel Tower!  The bridges are rich in history, so if you're into that (and even if you're not!), pay attention to the tour guide--ours gave each segment in French first (fun to try to interpret), then in English.  This was a great way to see the sights of the city from a different perspective--and a great way to sit and relax for a couple of hours!
• Combine with:  Book-browsing along the Seine, window shopping along one of the nearby streets, or a visit to Notre Dame and/or Sainte Chappelle.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Canal St. Martin, Jardin du Port d'Arsenal | Paris Travel

A restaurant near place de la Bastille.

Our Silver Paris

Welcome to my Paris travel journal,

where I share our experiences of our special journey to Paris.

Please use these posts as a guide for your own travels

to this amazing and wonderful city!

Or simply read, and dream...

On our way home from la promenade Plantée, we walked along part of canal St. Martin, a canal where houseboats and all kinds of other boats moor.  The canal leads into the Seine River.

Running along the canal is le jardin du Port d'Arsenal, another pretty garden walkway planted with native species.  For all you French speakers (ha!), here's the sign upon entering:

The Arsenal basin, an extension of the canal Saint-Martin, was dug in 1805 at the site of the castle ditches of the royal castle of Charles V.  The garden runs along the marina by a terrace planted with maple trees.  A lawn leads down to the docks.  The garden offers an important collection of climbing plants:  clematis, campsis (as in trumpet vine), goat-leaf (as in honeysuckle), and roses, planted along the wall [along] boulevard de la Bastille.

I didn't take any other pictures here (why ever not, I'm asking myself now), so here's a self-portrait along the walkway.

And, here's another image of the canal, taken after we exited at place de la Bastille and looked back.

Kindly excuse the lack of photos!  I had to share the few that I did take, since this was such a pleasant walk, and the boats--decrepit and old, sleek and modern--were fascinating to look at and to try peering into.

There is a canal cruise on which you can either purchase a meal, or bring your own (check my facts--I read this somewhere but can't find it now!).  The cruises are two to two-and-a-half hours long, and are peaceful and leisurely with beautiful views.  We have a canal cruise on our docket of things to do when we return, and you can be sure I'll take more pictures of this lovely jardin and canal area then.

• Nearest Métro station:  Bastille (lines 1, 5, and 8) at the north end.  Quai de la Rapée (line 5) at the south end.
• Cost:  free.  The 2.5-hour cruise on canal St. Martin costs 16 € (13.50 € if purchased online).
• What to look for:  Plank boardwalk lining the canal, with a huge variety of interesting boats.  The jardin is pretty, with native plants and flowers, and arbors--perfect for a romantic walk!
• Combine with:  Place de la Bastille, or window-shopping along rue du Pont Louis Philippe.  If you want two romantic walks in one day, combine with a walk along the promenade Plantée.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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