NPR’s international reporters share snippets of their life and work from all across the world in their weekly series, Far-Flung Postcards.
The Seine River is available for swimming this summer for the first time since the 1920s!
Docks have been constructed at a number of these public swimming areas, including this one close to the Eiffel Tower. Tourists and Parisians are swarming to them, even on overcast days.
There is a roped-off section where you can swim laps or sunbathe against the light stream of the river. A sense of dreamlike picturesqueness permeates the experience as the barge and pleasure boat activity continues. Two lifeguards informed me that there are much more things to watch out for here than at a typical pool when I visited last month.
The mayors of the city have been vowing for years to make the dirty river safe for swimming. With the construction of enormous overflow tanks to hold sewage during intense rains during the Olympic Games last summer, it finally happened.
With Paris experiencing a string of heat waves, the timing of the river’s opening to bathers couldn’t have been more ideal. Thus, Parisians can once more cool down in their river, just like in Impressionist paintings and vintage sepia photographs.
View further images from around the globe:
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Greetings from Gujarat, India, where a banyan tree is a place for rest, prayers and play
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Greetings from Khartoum, Sudan, where those with the least offer their guests the most
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Greetings from Moscow, Russia, where Lenin’s tomb attracts a new surge of visitors
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Greetings from New Delhi, India, where performing monkeys spark delight and ambivalence
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Greetings from Damascus, Syria, where a crowded bar welcomed post-Assad revelers
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Greetings from Alishan, Taiwan, whose red cypress forests offer timeless beauty
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Greetings from Odesa, Ukraine, where a Black Sea beach offers respite from war
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Greetings from Shenyang, China, where workers sort AI data in ‘Severance’-like ways
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Greetings from Palmyra, Syria, with its once-grand hotel named for a warrior queen
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Greetings from Mexico City, where these dogs ride a bus to and from school
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Greetings from the Gal pagos Islands, where the blue-footed booby shows its colors
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Greetings from Afrin, Syria, where Kurds danced their hearts out to celebrate spring
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Greetings from Dharamshala, India, where these Tibetan kids were having the best time
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