Fishing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower... you've got to be kidding me.

Last week Faustine and I were on a nice walk along the Seine River, which runs through the heart of Paris. We were passing by the Ile de la Cite (the island home to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the founding location of Medieval Paris), when we saw a bizarre sight: two well-dressed men in dark suits and ties fishing in the Seine.

These two businessmen were casting as the famous Bateaux-mouches, or tourist riverboats, floated by full of doe-eyed visitors, with guidebooks and cameras in hand, who were scrambling from side-to-side to catch the latest photo opportunity... on your right the famous Eiffel Tower, on the left the magnificent Louvre and historic Grand Palais, to the right is gothic Notre Dame...

I felt the sight was quite strange. I mean, cosmopolitan fishing on your lunchbreak? And in that river? Really? I am sure there must be fish in the Seine, but would you ever dare to eat it? I would avoid that fish-fry like the plague.

In another weird fishing tale I saw two men fishing for carp in the Bois de Boulogne forest/park (which for our intents and purposes would be similar to NYC's Central Park). They had caught two already that morning, but I don't know what they wanted to do with over-sized, over-polluted, algae eaters. But... they were Frenchmen so who knows what they were thinking! "Ze feesh, zey are quite aggreeseve. Zey geeve a guud resistance and rebel against zey vulgar forces uv maan."

It's gotta be tough getting on the Metro, loaded with fishing rods and tackle. Word to the wise, don't sit next to anyone that smells like carp.

I did a google search and actually found some stuff about fishing in Paris. It seems that in 2001, Paris (and the Seine) hosted a world fishing competition, but the location was chosen more for public relations than for sporting reasons. In addition, I was able to dig up a video of some successful Parisienne carp fishermen. Mute the video because the song is annoying.

Click on the Image above for the YouTube video "Carp Fishing Paris." Turn your volume off because the song is obnoxious and not safe for work.