Pont Neuf (the "New Bridge," which is actually the oldest in Paris now) crosses from the Left Bank to the Right Bank with a section of it crossing the Ile de la Cite near the tip of the island, and becoming one, for a while, with the island. As you leave the island on the bridge, you can look down into this part of the working city where bikes and wagons are left and where the tourist boats that dock here can be boarded. The tall wall to the left shows how high the
Place du Pont Neuf and the street itself is above the
Square du Vert-Galant below.
Here we're crossing further toward the Right Bank, looking west toward the Louvre and the Pont des Arts. The span of the Seine on this side of the island is wider than the one between the island and the Left Bank.
Pont Neuf has large half-circular parapets or whatever they're called that give pedestrians a wonderful vantage point and make the bridge look attractive. Each parapet has a lamp where the arc meets the sidewalk.
I took this photo looking back toward the Palais de Justice with the wonderful round towers of Henri IV's palace.
I like this shot of the Samaritaine department store from the bridge with the base of the lamp in the foreground. The lamp posts have nice decorative bases with the face of a bearded guy who might be Neptune.
What a gorgeous deco sign. You can see it better if you click on the photo. The building started out in Art Nouveau style and was later redone, largely in Art Deco.
Still on the bridge, but near the Right Bank is this sign saying that Pont Neuf was begun under Henry III and finished under Henri IV. The dates are from 1578 to 1607.
Bikes only in this lane! You can also get an idea of the cobbles. I was just wishing that I'd taken an overall picture of the bridge from the vantage point of being a pedestrian, when I realized that nobody else had done that, either! I looked all over Google for topside pix of the bridge. I found only
this one, a painting by Renoir. It's beautiful, but of course from an earlier time. And I also found this interesting vantage point. Well,
here's one from the top of the Samaritaine. And
here's another.
These bikes are parked on the Rue de l'Arbre Sec. We've come off the bridge and walked along the front of the Samaritaine, then turned away from the river on the first street past the facade of the department store. I like the colors here. You can see it's Fall. And I like the purple pant leg with the red strap. As we passed the Samaritaine, I noticed the absence of the lamps I've always loved. Since the building is being refurbished, I hope their removal is temporary. You can see what they look like in
these poor photos from an earlier trip to Paris. Well, darn, I'll have to remember to make the link later, because my web site is invisible to me right now - there's something weird in the connection to the site (for us) periodically - everyone else can see it, which is good.
The Square du Vert-Galant is a park at the very tip of the Ile de la Cite in Paris. It's quiet, and very strange-feeling. Strange in a good way. You can see both banks of the Seine, because it's like being at the prow of a boat in the river. In the seasons I've been in Paris, it's always quiet here. I wonder what it's like in summer? I can imagine people coming here to cool off. You enter it by going down a series of steps from the Place du Pont Neuf.
The park is historic for a number of reasons. Jacques DeMolay, Grand Master of the Knights Templars and Guy of Auvergne, the Preceptor of Normandy, were burned to death by Philip the Fair, King of France. The area at the tip of the island was actually built up from several pieces of ground with water flowing between them. It existed as a field of mud for some time. Philip watched the two men burn from his palace on the island.
At the moment, it's simply a nice park in the shape of a triangle.
Here's the "prow" of the island. The first bridge you see is the Pont des Arts, a metal bridge for pedestrians built between 1802 and 1804. It was the first metal bridge in Paris.
There's the other end of the Pont des Arts with the Louvre behind it.
Here's another photo of the Louvre (on the Right Bank).
The Samaritaine is just at the end of Pont Neuf on the Right Bank. It's a huge department store which opened in 1869 and features both Art Nouveau and Art Deco design. It was named for a hydraulic pump near that location that provided water to Parisians from 1609 to 1813, and had a bas relief of the Good Samaritan on it. The Samaritaine was one of the world's first department stores. It had to close in 2007 due to structural security issues, and is expected to open again in 2011.
Here's looking back at Pont Neuf and one of the tour boats that docks here. It may be a dinner cruise boat, I'm not sure.
From the prow of the island, we look back toward the passageway where we entered the park. Place du Pont Neuf and the statue of Henri IV are at the top of the granite wall at street level.
Over on the Left Bank side of the park, we get a view of the boats that dock on this side of the river. I've seen them every visit, and I think they're very picturesque boats. I'm not sure what type of boat they are, whether they carry goods or what. The first bridge is the Pont des Arts.
This photo was taken looking the other direction on the river. The bit of bridge you see is Pont Neuf. It's worth clicking on the photo to get a better look at the boats.
I think these boats and this dock area near the bridge are a really special part of Paris.
Now you can see the steps we came down from the Place du Pont Neuf. This area near the level of the river is all part of the Square du Vert-Galant.
I don't know what the faces stand for or who they're supposed to be, other than ornamentation. I don't know what the metal ring in the wall is about, either. Anyway, it looks historic and European.
This photo is a little out of context. We've stepped back into the park again to view the arched doorways where we'll exit the park. There are stone steps leading up to the openings, then you turn either right or left and climb more steps up to the street level and the statue of Henri.
Approaching the arches . . . look, they have large fake columns around them, making me think of temples in Egypt, which I've never seen, only in pictures. Note the plaque in the center.
Here's the plaque. It's another memorial to Jacque de Molay. 
