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Tugboats And Barges In Paris

There are boats tugboats and barges on the river, and they may serve very well as a lesson in French. At Paris, a Seine barge may be anything from a berrichon, a mar-gota, a flute, to a chaland. It all depends upon the size, and the sizes range from those a hundred to those one hundred and fifty feet long, from fifteen feet broad to twenty-five; they range from two hundred and fifty to six hundred tons, and the tugs from one hundred to two hundred and fifty tons.

You will discover a numbered series of tugs called Guèpes (Wasps); at Rouen they are called Abeilles (Bees). There is a series named for birds. One amusing series of barges is named for the cities of the world, the clumsiest I have yet seen being called Carthage. Then there are those named for French provinces, and others which show sentiment : Fructidor, which suggests historical admiration; Alea Jacta Est (the die is cast), with only a canal waiting to play its rôle of Rubicon.

The Solitaire denotes an attitude of mind; the Oxus and the Aetna must be of foreign breed. Jupiter seemed to be out of the running when I saw him, but not so the tug Neptunus which had as so often happens in Paris Phoebus in tow.

There is a great deal of sentiment in anything which floats, and the slower it floats, the greater the sentiment.

Quotes About Paris

  • Our lives are structured by our memories of events. Event X happened just before the big Paris vacation. I was doing Y in the first summer after I learned to drive. Z happened the weekend after I landed my first job. We remember events by positioning them in time relative to other events. Joshua Foer

Paris Facts

  • Paris is a modern and dynamic city with significant universities, cultural life, commercial, business, administrative, scientific and political activities.

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