Life along ariver has always been as different as the current that flows between its banks. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Mississippi, Rhine, Nile, or the Seine. These moving ribbons of liquid are constantly changing, presenting new and different faces at every turn. Sometimes it is nothing more than a host of bureaucratic rules. At other times it could be a raging current or a huge fuel barge attempting to negotiate a tight turn with it’s massive hull spread across the entire breadth of the channel.Man will always try to tame these natural sources of power. Try as he might, in the end the rivers will always prevail. Man’s meager structures, his dams, generator houses, and locks eventually succumb to the relentless pressure of the river’s will.
A homeless tent camp under a bridge in Paris. Note the trash cans and the water tank on the far right of the camp.
An ultra modern glass building along the Seine.
Graffiti laughing at a gorilla on the back of a barge.
Large rivers invariably have their industrial areas where commerce overrides every consideration, but just as quickly as they change course their verdant green vegetation covering lush tranquil banks emerge. Around the next turn those same forested margins where fluid meets solid are interrupted by a small village that draws you in and refuses to let go.
Sand and gravel needed to build a city.
There is even a Chinese restaurant where the Marne and the Seine rivers meet.
An adjustable dam designed to control the Seine.
It is these small communities filled with the many faces of the river that have the strongest magnetic pull. They should place a caution sign before every village, as Rabelo is built of steel. There is no power strong enough to counter their attraction. There is nothing to do but stop. These are the places where time slows to a glacial crawl, and leaves the sonic pace of the metropolis behind. This is where you take a deep breath and never let go. These are the places that the tourist guides and brochures have forgotten or never knew existed. They are where the people of the river reside,ignorant of the world around them. This is why we cruise.
Oops, this barge is sinking after hitting a bridge. The Pompiers (firemen) are trying to pump it out.
A huge pusher barge, almost 400 ft. long, on the Seine.
The beautiful Seine just upriver from Paris.
-Tom Miller
Author of “The Wave” and “When Stones Speak”– Chuck Palmer Adventure novels
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About the Author:
Tom Miller graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Geology. He is a consummate adventurer with over 1,000 dives as a recreational scuba diver, and an avid sailor who has traveled 65,000 miles throughout the Pacific including the Hawaiian Islands. Miller has also cruised the canals of Europe on his canal barge and given numerous lectures on cruising the canals of Europe, as well as sailing in the South Pacific. Piloting is also an interest of Miller's, and He has completed over 1,000 hours flying everything from small Cessnas to Lear jets.