Dancingqueen

My husband and I are seniors ages 66 and 62. We are going to Paris in a few weeks and have a reservation to take a boat tour of the Seine in the evening. It leaves at 9:00 pm from the Bastille area and returns there about 2.5 hours later. We are staying in the St. Germain and I was thinking we could walk back. I am aware that it is a 40 minute walk but I do not know if it is safe to walk back from this area. Thank you for any advice.

Happygoin

Yes, it's safe. You'll have lots of company, on a summer night. If you choose to walk along the river though, which would be lovely, I'd stay up on the sidewalk and not down on the quays. Not that they're unsafe, perhaps just unsavory.

cynthia_booker

Certainly safe. No problem, except for how to dodge the crowds.

tom_mn

Yes, no need to worry about safety here.

Robert2533

We have walked through most of Paris well after midnight and never encountered a problem.

kerouac

My first thought was exactly what Cynthia wrote -- there will be so many people out that crowd control is the only possible problem.

pariswat

Perfectly safe.
Pay (some) attention to pickpockets, even if most will be sleeping.
Pay atention to bikes, I could even be on one.
It will be a nice walk !

annhig

My husband and I are seniors ages 66 and 62.>>

Gosh, I'd never thought of myself and DH as seniors before. [though he always gets his OAP discount when he can!].

you'll be fine. If you are going on the St Martin Canal trip, it's a lovely way to spend an evening - you should enjoy it. there is a trendy restaurant at the canal basin at Bastille, but we found a lovely traditional brasserie nearby, which might be a nice place to eat before the trip:

http://www.thefork.com/restaurant/la-cavetiere/11637

it's just on the left side of the canal basin, towards the northern end.

have a great trip!

Christina

Some places in the US have senior discounts at age 55, and in France, they also call those ages seniors. In fact, SNCF starts senior cards at age 60. The term senior isn't a pejorative, at least in the US, it's just an age group, no different than saying you are a youth age group. It's just a fact, not an insult.

I've walked in that area at that time and it wouldn't bother me.

annhig

yet another example of the gulf between us, then Christina.

pariswat

Senior is certainly not pejorative in France or Belgium.
Being a foreign word, it acquired a dimension of its own, and means more 'entitled to something' than referring to age. Entitled to reduced fare, or 'senior member' of a travel card, for instance.
Or 'senior consultant/executive' for freelance, meaning the one who knows more (and is paid a lot more).
Junior is nearly totally ignored on the other hand.

Robert2533

You'll also find that parts of Paris will be very quiet as you get to midnight. On one walk back from a late dinner in the 15th and saw no one until we neared the end of rue Saint Dominique.

kerouac

Nobody wants to be a junior!

Dancingqueen

Thank you so much for the information. I appreciate it and will give the restaurant a try!

AJPeabody

To quote my grandmother at 90: "I'm not old, I'm a senior citizen."

kerouac

In France, before they started using the term "senior" as a pleasant euphemism, the designation was "le 3ème âge." But as lifespans continue to increase, the term "4ème âge" has been added to refer to people over the age of 90.

Robert2533

And I thought "4ème âge" had to do with the age of enlightenment (Voltaire, Rousseau and a few others).

manouche

You will have lots of company on certain streets, and all of a sudden, there will be absolutely nobody when you cross to the opposite corner.
But that's fine, because if there is absolutely nobody on that deserted street, there won't be anybody who will bother you.
Most Paris streets are quiet at night, but this doesn't mean they are dangerous.

manouche

I forgot to add that you'll see lots of children, whose parents are dragging them back home from dinner or shows well after midnight - lots of them, too.

Bitter

Maybe your tour is specific, but it seems to me in years past there were boat tours that departed closer to the St. Germain area. (FWIW).