Canal Saint-Martin

This canal runs north to south, connecting a waterway with the Seine.  You can take the tour in either direction.  For a look at the canal tour company's website, click HERE.

We were staying at Bastille so that's where we started.  We ended up in north Paris, but returning home was downhill all the way, so we walked.  We stopped at Place de la Republic for dinner, where we had the choucroute & onion soup of earlier mention.

 A part of our tour boat as we were about to board.  That's Susanne in the yellow shirt, dark slacks.

Boarding. A bit of Susanne on the right. The captain greets us all.

It was one of those grand and glorious late summer days, warm in the sun but a light cool breeze. 

There's our good friend the Bastille column.

See that black hole just to the left of the red flag?  That's where we're going. The first mile or so is in a tunnel below Place de la Bastille and travels under Boulevard Richard-Lenoir before getting to the first locks. 

Here we are in the tunnel.  The white circles in the ceiling are open to the surface for light & ventilation.  

Yes, that last light at the end.  You can  brag that you've actually seen one...the light at the end of the tunnel.

Approaching the tunnel's end and the first lock.

 Entering the lock.

Filling with water.

Lock's full.  Moving on the the next.  The canal is narrow for this part of the tour.


The overhanging trees make a lovely sight.


The fellow in the white shirt on the right, next to the small white building is controlling the opening & closing of the locks.

 Another lock seems to overflow its gates as it begins to fill our lock to raise the boat.  This is all 19th century technology.  Only the power to move the gates & the controls are modern.

With the constant cycling of water rising and falling in the locks, the lock wall takes on a life form of its own.


This closeup is an interesting abstract photo of sorts.


Can anyone guess where I was on the boat when I took this shot through the porthole?


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One of our guides & also the photographer (what's a cruise without a photographer?) & one of the pedestrian bridges over the canal.

I could load you up with more locks shots, but let's move on.

The canal begins to widen so we see more of Paris. 

Modern buildings.    

More modern buildings.

A really wide part of the canal.  Large enough for boats to be permanently moored along the banks.

An older building,  a local Hotel de Ville, the city hall for this section of Paris.       

       

I had to shoot these buildings.  They seemed to be wrapped in duct tape.

That's a sister craft heading to where we started.  Towards the end of the tour, the canal narrows again.

We then left the boat to begin the walk back.   

But we had to have a shot of a canal lock from the pedestrian bridge.