Two Days of Bridges 12-28,12-29-15

The last two days have been spent pursuing one of Deb's pet projects, that of walking across all the bridges in Paris.  There are reputed to be 37 bridges in Paris proper, but I'm sure it includes some metro/railway bridges.  Those can't be walked across without incurring some wrath on the part of the local authorities.  Up to two days ago we'd walked across almost all the bridges in the central area, although there are two yet to be conquered.   But we also had a passel of them out on the edges waiting for us to wander across, so yesterday and the day before we made it a priority.   There were a couple of other attractions for us that were conveniently close to the areas, so we decided to visit them and make a tour of the bridges close by.

On Monday we went to an area in the southeast corner called Bercy, to a series of reclaimed wine warehouse buildings that have been converted into shops and restaurants, it's quite charming if somewhat devoid of the feel of the wine warehouses.  
And somewhat like Larimer Square in Denver it's surrounded by modern buildings.  It does have some relief in the form of a park directly to the north which gives some green space on one edge.  So we wandered through the village and into the park. About mid-park a street leading to one of the unconquered bridges crosses the park and the Seine so we exited and walked across the bridge.  
The Pont de Tolbiac is a modern bridge without much character but that's not the point. From there we walked in a little green space next to the river up to the Pont Simone de Beauvoir.  This green space borders the Bibliotheque Nationale de France which consists of four large towers surrounding a sunken courtyard.  It is quite controversial due to it's architecture and is either loved or hated by the Parisians, no middle ground.  
At the northern end of the bibliotheque is the pont Simone de Beauvoir and it is a beautiful pedestrian bridge, much like a braided strand it has an interwoven span that allows one to walk to either from quay to quay or from the raised edge of the plaza of the bibliotheque to an embankment above the roadway next to the Seine. Or you can walk from the lower to higher or vice versa, it is one of the most beautiful bridges in Paris in my opinion. So we walked across it twice, lower to upper and then upper to lower.

Again we walked along the quay down the Seine to the Pont de Bercy.  It is a combination bridge allowing cars and pedestrians as well as an elevated train bridge across the river, done in a partial Romanesque style it is also a lovely bridge.   
It was getting later in the day when we crossed so we didn't pause too much but pushed on down the river along the opposite quay to the Pont Charles De Gaulle another modern bridge modern but without much visual charm.  That put an end to our day and we caught our Metro back to the apartment.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I had a dentist appointment that took us up into the northwest of town to the 17th arr. After the appointment we decided that we would notch up some of the bridges in the south west of the city which were as yet un-defiled.  But first we took time to go for lunch at a restaurant we had found a few months back near the dentist office.  Coincidentally it is near an apartment which we used during one of our exchanges several years ago.  It is called la p'tite Cuisine, on rue Poncelet and it is definitely a keeper.  Both Deb and I had salads for a first course, very fresh and palate cleansing, followed by a blanquette de veau for Deb, while I had a risotto with crevettes and cepes. After our first visit we agreed we should come back and this second visit only reaffirmed our decision, it was delicious.  We shared a pichet of white wine from Quincey which matched delightfully with our dishes.

Following lunch we walked through the 16th arr. down to Place du Trocadero opposite the Tour Eiffel.  It was a madhouse!  It was almost as crowded as if it were summer, I kind of forgot that it's the Christmas break and people from everywhere must have descended on Paris for the holidays. Hard to reconcile the two distinctly different scenes I've recently observed, right after the attacks here in November, there were less than 100 people below the tower and today there must have been close to 1000, like summer.   Luckily our goal was to walk across the Pont d'Iena which is what we did and then took a hard right away from the crush of people and along the quay.  We saw a minimum of ten 3-cup shell games going and people were being fleeced like lambs while the shills watched for the flics.  
We in the meantime walked down to the Pont Bir-Hakeim, it is another of the older bridges that were created to accommodate cars, pedestrians, and trains on an elevated track again a visually lovely bridge.  
We walked across and then turned around and walked halfway back on the opposite side of the bridge to a stairway leading down to an island in the middle of  the river.  
It is called the Allee des Cygnes, and it is basically a build up barrier separating the left from the right bank of the Seine, likely to facilitate barge traffic.  But down the middle of it is a paved walkway that goes from the Pont Bir-Hakeim to the Pont de Grenelle.  Probably about a quarter mile long it with at it's lower end one of the scale models of the statue of Liberty, which in full scale also graces New York harbor.  We walked along the allee then sat and watched the barges and Bateaux Mouches plying their way along the river.  
We spent a few minutes admiring the statue of Liberty then caught the bus back for the apartment.

So we managed 6 new bridges in the last two days and it leaves us with less than 5 to reach Deb's goal of walking them all.