Paris, Le Quatrième

As you can see, the last day in Paris was dominated by the most famous landmark in the world, the Eiffel Tower. The first stop was Place du Trocadéro for an elevated view of the tower. Then I walked towards the tower and over the Seine. The queues are long to go up the tower itself so as you can see by the third picture, it was dark by the time I came down.

The second photograph is a view from the very top of the tower to the gardens below.

The last photograph is of the very last evening in Paris. It was topped off with a carafe of wine on the heated terrace of a local restaurant in Montmartre whilst nibbling on meringue from the patisserie around the corner. I didn’t expect wine and meringue to go so well together!

From Paris, With Sweeties

This was a little gift that I was brought back from Paris. I had to take a picture of them before I ate them because they were so cute and pretty. It’s a shame to eat things like this sometimes. Like those arty cupcakes, you can see the effort that went in and then your shoving it in your gob and dusting the crumbs off your lap five minutes later. Well that’s what they’re for I guess!

But anyhoo, these were little marzipans dipped in dark chocolate and decorated with icing flowers on top. I don’t even like marzipan! It’s gross! But these were lovely, had to put the photo up.

Thank you to the boy that bought them :)

 

Paris, Le Troisième

This was actually my fourth day in Paris but I didn’t want to put the photos of me goofing around Disneyland up, I’ll save that stuff for Facebook!

The plan was to visit The Louvre that day. So I took the metro to Tuileries, had a crêpe at a stall by the entrance, wandered Place de la Concorde opposite the garden entrance, walked through the gardens and saw L’Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, then onto Musée du Louvre.

I have heard people talk at length about how disappointing the Mona Lisa is. I don’t think those people appreciate art or history so. It’s more important than its size. Having said that, it did irritate me how many bloody tourists were all over it! I mean I know everyone wants a look, but stop hogging it with your big head please. Look, and then make way for the million other people in the queue! *rant rant rant* I think I was more excited to see the Venus de Milo to be honest. Maybe because of the Gummy Venus episode of The Simpsons. Oh yeah. I went there. Classic art to modern cult viewing. TV can be educational!

Anyway, after the Louvre, I went on to the Pompidou Center to see the modern art collection. Along the way, I stopped off to see the Fontaine des Innocents which is the last picture above.

Paris, Le Duexième

So these are more of my black and white Paris photos. This was my second day in the city and I tried to fit in as much as possible. Breakfast outside a patisserie in Montmartre, a visit to Notre Dame cathedral, sampled Paris’s best hot chocolate, climbed L’Arc de Triomphe, walked the Avenue des Champs Elysées, browsed the Christmas markets and that night I went to see a jazz band in a restaurant close to my hotel.

That’s another thing about Paris, the music. I said in my last post how black and white photos just suit Paris. Jazz music just suits Paris too. It made me feel like I was in a movie. Even on the first day, there was a busking band of old folks doing jazzy tunes at the side of the street. They even had a little old lady tap dancing with them. It was so funny because she was giving it loads. Shame I don’t have a picture of that one!

So above we have the interior of Notre Dame cathedral showing the nave and vaulting, the hot chocolate presentation at Café de Flore, a view of Paris from the top of L’Arc de Triomphe and another carousel at the Christmas market along Les Champs Elysées.

Paris, Le Premier

There’s something about Paris in black and white. I still have colour versions of everything, I wouldn’t want to forget a single detail. But I think maybe the world’s nostalgic view of the French capital just makes it come to life in black and white photography.

These are some images from my first day in the city on my trip: the art nouveau canopy over Abbesses metro station, the carousel at the bottom of Sacré Coeur, the cathedral of the Sacré Coeur itself and the Eiffel Tower at night from a boat on the Seine.