Carrion Luggage

Going In Seine

Yeah, this one's been in my pile for a few months, and it's dated early July. I doubt many people are swimming there today.

    Paris reopens Seine River for public swimming  
Parisians have begun bathing in the Seine for the first time in over 100 years after a ban was lifted. The French capital has created three swimming zones along the river as part of its Olympic legacy.

If I were a lesser person, I'd make a joke about "Parisians have begun bathing..." But I'm not going to stoop so low as to make that implication. Why, I wouldn't even approach it tangentially.

France's capital Paris reopened the Seine River to swimmers on Saturday for the first time in over a century.

Journalism at its finest, folks. I'm sure no one had any idea that Paris is the capital of France.

Paris authorities have created three outdoor pool zones, complete with changing rooms and showers and supervised by lifeguards.

If the Seine is so clean, why would they need showers?

The swimming zones also have beach-style furniture, offering space for 150 to 300 people to sunbathe.

No word on nudity?

Bathing in the Seine was officially banned in 1923, primarily due to health risks from pollution.

"We can either fix pollution, or ban swimming. Let's ban swimming."

Around €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) was spent on improving water quality, which officials promised would benefit not just the Olympic athletes but residents and tourists for years to come.

Jokes aside for the moment, this is a civil engineering effort, so of course I appreciate it. I'll probably never know the details of all they did, but it's one of those things where the work will go largely unnoticed by the general public, but serves them.