It's been difficult to devote time to research and tourism equally, but being a geographer I'll try to count them as the same anyway. In Paris for a week, we did some of the usual things. I will have to say that seeing the batteaux on the Seine, and then later on the canals that connect all of France, got me to thinking about the historical importance of these features in terms of economy and place, and their larger role in large-scale hydrologic alteration! I'll be visiting with hydrologists and geographers in Lyon next week and will have a better perspective on this. This is also important in the context of England, and even Scotland with its Caledonian Canal too (the boys got to open the locks on its "Neptune's Staircase" at Fort William in September).
We saw the Rhine at Strasborg and Basel, Switzerland, and I was impressed with the clarity of its waters and wonder if the salmon are coming back to it as they are the Seine (see the following link describing the returns of summer 2009 there: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6013819/Salmon-return-to-Frances-River-Seine.html).
Here's a pic from Paris, and one from Basel, and I'll post more to Picasa soon too. Au revoir all!
We saw the Rhine at Strasborg and Basel, Switzerland, and I was impressed with the clarity of its waters and wonder if the salmon are coming back to it as they are the Seine (see the following link describing the returns of summer 2009 there: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6013819/Salmon-return-to-Frances-River-Seine.html).
Here's a pic from Paris, and one from Basel, and I'll post more to Picasa soon too. Au revoir all!
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