22 July 22: We took a Bateaux Parisiens one hour guided Seine River cruise tonight, right at sunset. It was raining when the cruise started but it ended about 5 minutes into the trip. As it was a Friday night, the river was full of dinner cruises and party cruises…so much so that the kids started asking “Why didn’t WE book a dinner cruise?” Frankly, I didn’t think they’d enjoy such a thing. I guess I was wrong. We would have had to bring some dressier clothes.

The tour guide we had gave the information in English and Spanish…no French speakers on board.

The LED “diamond” effect on the Eiffel Tower only happens in the first 5 minutes of every hour starting at 10pm and we were sailing past right when the 10pm sparkling started. And the searchlights were on too. Made for a lot of gorgeous photos.

Tomorrow is a “free day”. Which to the boys means they get to sleep as late as they want…Tim found the inspiration for Gateau’s restaurant in the movie “Ratatouille” — a very elegant restaurant apparently — and would like to check it out.