But this quaint resort is beginning to brighten up, with the grand Hôtel de la Plage now transformed into La Fabrique, a funky lounge bar and restaurant whose DJ gets guests dancing on the waterside terrace, while a year ago, the elegant Marie Collet, turned the top floor of her imposing house into a two-room B&B.
I floated silently past all kinds of amazing riverside homes – old manor houses, tiny cottages, boathouses and mysterious creeks, and ogled, like a particularly inquisitive fish, at the secret riches of waterside life.
It is packed to bursting every lunchtime with a noisy mix of workers in overalls, students from the nearby architecture faculty and curious tourists; you can sit inside the cosy oak-beamed dining room or grab a waterside table and watch boats pass by on the busy Canale di Cannaregio.
But carry on past the Ghetto, across the bridge onto the Capuzzine Fondamenta, and the crowds melt away as you come to the quiet waterside terrace of La Bagatela.
Combining history and urban landscape with lesser-known waterside areas, this walk gives an insight into the city.
Meanwhile the ubiquitous Mr Chihuly has built a bridge of glass connecting the waterside site with Tacoma's downtown area.
Victorian wrought-iron bridges, originally built for the bargees' horses, link a convention centre and symphony hall with waterside wine-bars and restaurants.In this section Tough love from Tony Pile 'em high Ruskin's last stand?
Eyal is restoring Jaffa's unused train station, while the old port is being turned into a chic waterside neighbourhood.Eyal grew up in Old Jaffa and works with his childhood friend, Fayeez Abu-Nasser, a stonework specialist.
A few miles south on Staten Island the storm took an awful human toll in waterside neighbourhoods inundated by the surge.
InterContinental, an American hotel operator, has just opened its first project in the country, an opulent waterside hotel on Hanoi's West Lake.
ANCIENT amphibious vehicles known as "ducks" are a common sight in American waterside tourist spots.
