AP-Travel Online, July 20th, 2006
Parisians adjusted to Tahiti time on Thursday for the opening of the Paris Beaches _ a city-sponsored initiative that turns Seine's riverbanks into a tropical getaway.
With the landlocked capital gripped by a heat wave, tourists and vacation-less Parisians flocked to the artificial beaches throughout the day. They relaxed on deck chairs and received free shiatsu massages, courtesy of the project's sponsors.
Now in its fifth year, the monthlong event expands this summer to include a new beach on the Left Bank. The half-mile stretch of white sand offsets surrounding architecture: the futuristic Simone de Beauvoir bridge and ultra-modern Francois Mitterand Library.
"It's fun because it's in the middle of the city," said Sarah, a 20-year-old Australian student, tanning in a bikini. "We came to the city and it just happens that it's on. It's lively."
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe inaugurated the first Paris Plages in in 2002. Skeptics called it silly and contrary to the Paris aesthetic, but visitors embraced it.
Last year, 3.8 million people came, and the idea has inspired other European capitals, including Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam and Budapest, to open similar sand-in-the-city installations. Other towns around France, too, have followed the capital's lead.
Another new attraction in Paris this year is a new sports complex floating on the Left Bank that houses a lap pool with a retractable roof.
The complex, named after jazz era icon Josephine Baker, is the 21st-century version of another floating Paris pool, which sank into the Seine in 1993 after more than two centuries of service.
