Paris Beach
 

I don't understand exactly what this beach is like. Was there just a lot of sand dropped on one section of the adjacent Seine sidewalks? Are Parisians just sitting on the chairs getting sun? Where do they swim? Is there a charge to use the "Beach"?

princess, its a topless beach and then at night it really gets crazy. People swim in the Seine if the bacteria count is low enough and its only a 15E cover charge for admission. You get a rebate of 5E if you sit on poodle poop. You file your forms where you do your VAT claims at the airport.

Away ten days, come back to wash my socks for the next foray tomorrow, and still it's the same old on Fodors. Usually this is the place where people say it's good to see things haven't changed.

If you decide to swim, watch out for the jet skiers. They can get crazy after a bottle of vin rouge.
((H))

Just did a search on google.com for "paris beach" and got plenty of info. Here are the URLs for some articles, which even have photos:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...isbeach03.html

http://www.ratp.fr/ParisVisite/Eng/A...2003/event.htm

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...E13762,00.html

There are more....

The quai of the Seine is blocked off for a large section, yes part of it had sand dumped on it. There was supposed to be a pool set up floating on the Seine but that didn't happen, but they do have some misters and sprinklers to cool off. There is no charge.

They truck in thousands of tons of sand, and some potted palms, also. There is no swimming and the Seine is too polluted to be in. They have a playground area and a volleyball court, as I understand it, as well as the beach chairs. The Figaro had an article on it today calling it "bobo" (bourgeois-bohème) and said while Parisiens don't seem that fascinated by it, all of the foreign journalists are making a big deal of it.

What is even more curious is that Budapest thought this was such a great idea that they built one also, and now there is a "Budapest beach" along the Danube. Same idea--they brought in sand and put it along the Danube, plus some potted palms, beach chairs, etc. The Danube is too polluted for swimming also, and the AFP article on this today said some folks were disappointed--they quoted one guy who came with his wife and four kids to sunbathe who said (paraphrasing) -- he thought there was going to be a lot more sand, it ressembled a sand tray more than a beach. That article said the Budapest sand strip was 20 meters wide which was twice as big as that by the Seine.