Paris (AFP)

Under a radiant sun, a privileged few sail on a Seine with sparkling reflections, enjoying their lunch in peace: after eight months of shutdown due to the health crisis, the Bateaux Parisiens have resumed their cruises, without foreign tourists ... for the most part great pleasure for Parisians.

Coming to celebrate the birthdays of her daughter and her mother who lives in La Courneuve (Seine-St-Denis), Corinne Elisabeth, 46, wanted "to change everyday life and give them a little surprise".

"We are from the Paris region, we have plenty of possibilities and we are not taking advantage of them," she told AFP.

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"I said to myself: before the tourists come back you have to go there, and I have booked", she adds, then stops: the waiter has just brought a chocolate cake topped with macaroons and is starting a "Happy Birthday".

“We needed freedom, to live a bit like before: that motivated us,” says his mother, Jeanne Hournier.

Having left at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, the guests watch the Louvre and Notre-Dame peacefully pass through the windows.

Among them, a couple are having lunch with champagne, with their twins a few months old, surprisingly calm, in baskets.

Jean-Pierre Antoine, 76, came with his wife.

"Our children paid us for this cruise for Christmas 2019, and with the Covid it was postponed, postponed, canceled ... It's wonderful, we really feel elsewhere", says the retiree, who lives in Saint-Fargeau- Ponthierry (Seine-et-Marne).

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Open 365 days a year before the health crisis, the twelve Bateaux Parisiens and eight Batobuses which belong to Sodexo Sports et Loisirs, welcomed more than four million visitors and employed 350 permanent employees, to which were added up to 200 seasonal workers.

On June 9, the "promenade" activity was relaunched with a half-fleet and a capacity of boats halved, ie 300 people.

The staff resumed working every other week, while the Bistro, on a barge moored in front of the Eiffel Tower, reopened.

Then the catering on the boats resumed, last weekend, from Wednesday to Sunday.

- "Piano piano" -

"We are very pleasantly surprised, it works beyond our expectations," Arnaud Daniel, director of Bateaux Parisiens and Batobus, told AFP.

"We had a very nice first weekend, with more than 5,000 people for the cruise with commentary and catering for full boats for lunch and dinner with the gauge at 50%", which is the norm until July 1.

"I am one of those people who have not lost any collaborator: everyone has responded, it is a real pride", affirms Mr. Daniel.

Employed since 2010 at Bateaux Parisiens, Jean-Michel Bigot donned his assistant butler's uniform the day before, for the first time in eight months: "It's very pleasant to come back to work, it was a lack", he said.

"It starts again + piano piano +, as the Italians say".

This Thursday noon, 50 guests - including only four foreign tourists - had lunch on his boat, the Cristal, against 250 in normal times and 120 at most with health standards.

Last year, the Bateaux Parisiens closed in mid-March like the entire tourist sector and were only 20 or 30% full, from June 21 to the end of October, for lack of foreign tourists, who usually provide 60% of attendance.

The company therefore sought to attract French families, by establishing free access for children under 12, renewed this year.

"We are really for the moment on a French, Parisian, Ile-de-France clientele ... but we are starting to hear a few words of Italian or Spanish", assures Mr. Daniel, who expects a return of European tourists this summer .

"There will be Americans, I'm sure," he said, hoping to have "a very good year."

Others, less optimistic, prefer to wait: the Compagnie des Bateaux Mouches will not resume its cruise activities until September 15.

© 2021 AFP