For a week, the novelist Joyce Maynard said good night to Paris from the deck of a péniche, within full view of the Eiffel Tower. Who cared if it rained the whole time?
There’s something about sleeping on a boat. It’s the rocking, of course, and the sound of the water. It’s also the cocoon effect of containment in a small space tucked away from the world. I’m not talking about cruise ships and luxury yachts here. I’m talking about a vessel that gently rocks, just enough to let a person know she’s not on dry land. If you suffer from seasickness, this could be an issue. As for me, I never sleep better than I do on a boat.
Now imagine this boat is docked in Paris. You wake up to a view straight out of a French movie from the 1950s and finish your day under a full moon.
In June I got to experience that (all but the full moon, but more on that later).
My fixation was not a recent one. I’d been eyeing boats — specifically péniches, riverboats used originally for commercial purposes — for more than 30 years, as long as I’d been visiting Paris. Then, at a party in Paris last fall, my last night in the city before heading home to the United States, I met a Dutch couple — Jan and Lydia — who invited me to their péniche for a drink.
Docked along the Right Bank — midway between the Pont de la Concorde and the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor — my new friends’ péniche sat in the middle of my favorite city, but in a world of its own, away from traffic and crowds. As perfect a combination as I could dream up.
The evening was warm. We sat on the deck as Jan set out wine glasses and a bottle of Champagne. Across the water, the Eiffel Tower sparkled.
“If you ever hear of someone who might like to rent their péniche for a week or two,” I said, “let me know.”
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