Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [201]
The history of the Pont au Double is closely linked to that of the charity hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu. When that establishment had run out of space and patients were crowded four to a bed, it received permission to build a wing that spanned the river. A two-story structure was built, and when Parisians asked if they could use the hospital’s passageway to avoid the Petit Pont’s traffic jams, officials recognized a moneymaker and started charging a toll. Horsemen paid double, hence the bridge’s name. The hospital bridge and its replacement lasted until 1847, although the toll was abolished during the Revolution. Today’s metal span dates from 1883.
Small, of course, the Petit Pont is great in historical importance, since a bridge of the same name has stood on its site for at least two thousand years. It was here that Caesar found the bridge he described in his Commentary on the Gallic War. And although centuries of building have widened and raised the Île de la Cité (only the Square du Vert-Galant at its tip shows the original level), today’s Petit Pont is still, at 106 feet long, the shortest of Paris’s bridges.
The Pont Saint-Michel, first built by prison labor in 1387, is the last of the island bridge circuit. Bridges on this spot have been lost to floods, ice, and boat accidents. Today’s stone span dates from the Haussmann era, and as you pass under it the arch frames a lovely view of the sparkling new Pont Neuf.
The island bridges are just the first chapter in the saga of Parisian ponts. Beyond the Pont Neuf lie some of Paris’s most beautiful bridges. There may be no more romantic bridge in the world than the graceful Pont des Arts, especially in the soft golden light of evening. The seventeenth-century Pont Royal is a dignified monument historique, while for sheer theatricality there’s the Pont Alexandre III, its baroque splendor a fitting frame for the gilded dome of the Invalides.
And the bridge story is still being written. Jean Tiberi, the city’s mayor from 1995 to 2001, made the beautification of the Seine a special mission. His ambitious program produced the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor (formerly known as Passerelle Solférino) in 1999, bridging the Tuileries Gardens with the Left Bank, and initiated the project for another footbridge, the Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir near the Bibliothèque Nationale, which was completed in 2006. He also launched the project for the Seine promenade, an uninterrupted seven-mile riverwalk that will eventually make the river, its banks, and its bridges more accessible than ever.
So the next time you’re in Paris, give the bridges more than a passing glance. Look at them, linger on them, lean on them a moment to watch the Seine roll by. This is where it all began, and there has never been a better time to discover, or rediscover, the bridges of Paris.
Boats
As the Seine flows right through the middle of Paris, it is impossible to avoid crossing over it, walking alongside it, viewing it from atop a monument or hill, or even riding upon it in a boat. To me, a Seine cruise is one of the most supreme pleasures of Paris, even if it’s just for a short commute (some lucky Parisians really do get to work each day by boat). The best known, and oldest, of the tourist boats are the long, flat Bateaux-Mouches. The origins of these curiously named vessels come not from Paris but Lyon. In the nineteenth century, small boats that carried passengers on the Rhône and the Saône rivers were built in a part of town popularly known as Mouche—apparently the first engines on these boats made a whining sound like flies, or mouches, so the name stuck. Today in Paris visitors may choose between the Bateaux-Mouches (bateaux-mouches.fr), Bateaux Parisiens (bateauxparisiens.com), and Batobus (batobus.com). Not all of them operate year-round, nor traverse the same route, so check the details in a current guidebook, at the Paris tourist office, or on the Internet. They also differ in price, the Bateaux-Mouches being the most expensive.