12. Three kilometres of tunnel - Canal Saint Martin and then Port de Plaissance to the Seine

Continued ..........

We have walked through beautiful afternoon sunshine for about 3km down the Canal Saint Martin, and passed four double locks.  We have made better progress than the tourist boat in the original photos.

Then, all of a sudden, the canal goes underground.  

Above ground are gardens, fountains .........

.... table tennis .........

..... playgrounds......

..... petanque rinks ...... This was Petanque Club No. 3 complete with petanque bag hooks and hat pegs.  We never found Clubs 1, 2 or 4.  Petanque is like bowls with metal balls and played in sand.  Obviously, exclusivity is cherished!

...... and fountains, and seats ......

...... and cross roads, and more petanque .......

.... and acres of open-air market space.  We'll have to come back here on market day!

 

And all of a sudden, in twenty steps, we go from the tranquility of kilometres of tree lined gardens to the Place de la Bastille at 5 pm on a Friday.  Gridlock! The canal is underneath this lot!  

Ahhh .... It's all too much!  We decide to have put our feet up for a while, order a wine and watch the workers heading home.

And immediately on the other side of La Bastille, the world changes once again.  

This is where the Canal Saint Martin comes out of the tunnel and becomes the Port de Plaissance (Port of Pleasure).  This is the official port of Paris for pleasure craft.  If we had decided to cruise one of the north-eastern canals through the wine area of Champagne, we would have collected a little canal hire boat and set off from here.  I have to say ...... I'm a bit glad we didn't decide to do that.  I don't fancy having to learn to negotiate the locks with these great big boats and those tourist barges.  And they say the Seine is a bugger to navigate if you don't know what you are doing ..,. WHICH WE DON'T!   So I'm glad we have decided to to go way down to south west France for our canal boat adventure.  After watching these locks operate for a day, I can't say I'm filled with confidence, but Capt'n Paul has no such fears.

See that dark spot under the lower bridge?  That is where the tunnel ends and enters the Port de Plaissance.  See La Bastille above it?  

And here is the other end of Port de Plaissance.  The dark area to the right, at the end, is the lock that shunts you into the Seine to join some serious water traffic, like that fuel barge in yesterday's email.

Here is the final lock.

And the final lock keepers house.   Mmmmmmm ...... this one is better!  May have a winner here!