Paris barge vacation turns into tourist attraction > Houseboat a home in historic heart of city

When they go to France, some people like a barge trip through the countryside; others prefer the beauty of Paris. There’s a way to experience some of both: by staying on a houseboat moored at the Pont Neuf in the very heart of historic Paris.

My wife and I, our 6-year-old son and another couple spent six days in the Hendrika Johanna, one of the few barges available to tourists for a short stay in Paris. From its deck, we looked out at all times of day and night, and in all directions — a full 360 degrees of view — on some of Western civilization’s most beautiful and historic sights: the Pont Neuf itself, Paris’ oldest bridge with its famous statue of Henri IV; the Louvre, perhaps the world’s most famous palace/museum; the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the world famous school for painters, sculptors and architects; the beautiful Eglise St. Germain d’Auxerrois, parish church of French kings; and the incomparable Ile de la Cite, site of the Palais de Justice and Notre Dame Cathedral.

A stroll up the gangplank, and we were on the Left Bank, among the famous bookstalls along the Seine, within walking distance of the quarter’s myriad sidewalk cafes, restaurants, art galleries, museums, antique and book shops, student hangouts, historic buildings and gardens, and picturesque streets. Across the bridge and we’re in the historic mecca of the Ile de la Cite; cross another and we’re on the quaint Ile St. Louis, or the Right Bank and its more elegant shops, the Opera district, and the elegance of the Rue de Rivoli. The Metro takes us to the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysee, Montparnasse and beyond.

A more central location cannot be found for a Paris visit.

Sound good? There are both advantages and problems in touring Paris from a home on a river barge, but it can be fun for the right people.

One of the nicest things about staying on a barge at the Pont Neuf is that it makes you more a tourist attraction than a tourist. While going about our business on the barge, we were constantly being photographed, painted, pointed to or visited by people touring what many consider the world’s most beautiful city.

It was not unusual to look out a porthole and see an artist painting our boat and the bridge, or a photographer snapping our picture. We waved at tourists peering down from the bookstalls on the quay, and our 6-year-old learned to call “Bonjour” from the boat to classes of little children who trooped along the dock behind their teachers. More than once we found a painting of our boat, with the Pont Neuf in the background, on display in a Paris art gallery.

A hundred feet across the water, a saxophonist played “As Time Goes By,” lovers kissed, and old men fished beneath the willows of the Square du Vert-Galant, one of Paris’ more peaceful spots, at the tip end of the Ile de la Cite.

Nightly, the Bateaux Mouches — large touring boats that ply the Seine — zoomed past us on the river, crammed to the gills with tourists, as loudspeakers announced in French and English what they were seeing. After a day of sightseeing, we watched them with bemusement from our little deck, sipping our coffee and cognac beneath a full moon, listening to classical music from Paris radio, looking up at the floodlighted facades of some of the world’s most magnificent architecture, and thinking we had the best tourist quarters in all of Paris.

Rental of a barge is expensive, but so is a hotel or apartment. For your money, the Hendrika Johanna offers a living room, dining-kitchen area, two small staterooms each with a double bed, two bathrooms and an additional toilet, a low-ceilinged crew’s quarters where our son slept, and a washer-dryer (but no dishwasher). If you’ll put up with a fold-out daybed in the living area, there is room for six, plus a child or two in the crew’s quarters.

The barge, a 19th century, Dutch, two-masted vessel, carried cargo before being remodeled with living quarters. (The masts have to be lowered to go under bridges if the boat moves very far.) Owned by a Parisian movie set designer, it was restored lovingly with wood paneling and floors, but that was some time ago. The effects of neglect and Paris dirt are evident.

You can recoup some of your cost by cooking in your kitchen and sitting on your deck (on warm days, that is) taking in the Paris scene. Lunch in a good Paris restaurant can cost $50 per person, and dinner more than that. For a fraction of the cost, two good cooks in our group — after finding one of Paris’ most delightful markets five minutes away in the Rue de Buci — served delicious meals featuring moules mariniere, escargots, cuts of lamb and beef, green salads, Camembert and Brie, baguettes (those delicious long loaves of French bread) and, of course, bottles of French wine.

Living in a boat is not like living in a hotel. Things are more likely to go wrong. When the plumbing malfunctions, it takes longer to repair. Ceilings, of course, are low. There is no television. The beds are not soft. There are insufficient shelves — and no chest of drawers — for clothing storage. The boat rolls gently with the waves from passing boats. One bathroom has a bath and sink but no toilet. There is no concierge at the door to give helpful information. Although we perceived no security problems, those desiring a guard at the door might be more comfortable in a hotel.

The rental agency’s Paris staff, however, met us on arrival, gave us coffee and breakfast food, answered questions in good English, and were faithfully available by phone to answer questions, offer advice and come when called. They spent several hours in our barge solving plumbing problems. The heat — we were there in March — was adequate. Surprisingly, we found life on the boat, beneath the traffic of streets and bridges, remarkably quiet and peaceful.

We were terribly disappointed on arrival to learn that the city of Paris, in repairing the structure of the Pont Neuf, had moved some boats around, mooring another boat directly beside ours and blocking some of our porthole views. But we were pleased to find the neighboring boat occupied by a charming American couple, he an architect and she a businesswoman, residents of France for 20 years who choose to live on their boat year round.

They are part of a large but little known community of boat dwellers who live along the Seine in Paris. We are among very few tourists who have had access to that community, and an even smaller number who have accessed it in the very heart of the city’s most historic section. We came home convinced it was one of the most pleasing travel experiences available.

Lon Savage is a resident of Salem, Va.