The Seine and Riverside

Photography by and copyright © Zoe Marie Bel, 2024. All rights reserved.

What is the grandest avenue of Paris? The Champs-Élysées? The Victor Hugo? Nope, it's the Seine. To walk alongside the river – which is possible for almost the entire breadth of the city – is to grab a vivid plot summary of Parisian history, cuisine, fads and romantic yearnings (oh, just shut up and kiss him already). The stony edge of the riverside is the collective park bench of Paris: everyone unthinkingly heads there to park ass, whether that's with their problems or their lunch, in reverie or in knotted conversation. Cue: foot-dangling and gazing (all folks and all seasons), plus sipping, bickering and stripping (teenagers and the retired). The dangling feet pictured here are the author's and her mother's.