Paris
Paris, situated on the Seine River is the capital and most populous city in France. The city's municipality is over 2.2 million people. Year after year Paris is the most visited city in the world. I read that each year 44 million tourists visit the city and in June, 2014 I was one of the lucky tourists. The photography opportunities were endless if not the easiest in some cases. We found ourselves walking miles everyday exploring different neighbourhoods.
Meet Seymour who was the trip leader. Seymour had lived in Paris and I think he tried to show us every street in the city! He was a great tour guide and gave our group many helpful tips when doing street photography. It was great meeting and spending time with him.
The first couple of days we walked in the streets near our hotel heading towards the River Seine and Notre Dame.
There were street artists everywhere. |
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I met Sam last year in Italy and he joined our photo tour in Paris.
In Paris, love is in the air everywhere you look. After Venice, Paris is considered the second most romantic city in the world. I met Chris and Gretchen, part of our tour (pictured directly above) in my trip to Italy last year and we (including Sam) had a great reunion. |
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Gretchen and Chris in front of Notre Dame. This cathedral is considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. Notre-Dame is the parish that contains the cathedra or official chair of the archbishop of Paris.
Notre-Dame was completed in 1345 and suffered desecration during the French Revolution in 1790's. An extensive restoration began in 1845 and further restoration and maintenance began in 1991.
A photo taken just outside of Notre-Dame. The woman was sitting on the curb with some friends.
Notre-Dame has a narrow climb of 387 steps at the top of several spiral staircases. It was well worth the climb as the views of Paris at the top were spectacular. In the distance you can see the Eiffel Tower.
Another view overlooking the Seine River and beautiful city of Paris. I think Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I thought this when I visited and lived with a French family in high school and after returning I still feel the same way. Many small individually crafted statues were placed around the outside to serve as column supports and water spurs including the famous gargoyles. And I thought the Gargoyle's job was to watch over and protect the city!
We ended up strolling down to the Seine to see the scenery and watch the people. I never got a chance to take the river boat ride on this trip but I remember cruising on my previous two trips to Paris. The first trip I was 11 years old and the family went on a sunset dinner ride. I still remember the family photo. The second time I was 17 years old and it was a rainy miserable day on the water but our tour still went on in spite of the weather.
The Seine is a 776 km long river which rises at Source-Seine, 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France. The river flows through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre. Over 60% of the river is negotiable by commercial riverboats and nearly its whole length is available for recreational boating.
I don't know what the tourist was looking at -perhaps it was some beautiful architecture details as in the photo above.
There were so many photo opportunities as we walked along the river.
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There were dogs everywhere in Paris- my kind of city. For the most part I found that the Parisians did not like having their photos taken. However, if there was a dog involved it was a whole different story. The people that I met out walking with their dogs were all so friendly but isn't that always the case! |
Europeans still rank as the world's heaviest smokers. About 28 percent of adults smoked in 2011 in Europe as more French picked up the habit. Cigarettes in France cost 7 Euros a pack which is roughly equal $10 CND. |
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There were some beautiful looking apartment/condo buildings in Paris. |
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This little boy clearly liked sun glasses.
As in a lot of cities there seemed to be construction everywhere. There were also lots of bicyclists everywhere not to mention cars. Driving in Paris turned out to be a challenge especially on World Cup soccer nights.
I wouldn't mind living in this building at all.
After walking miles (no exaggeration), it was finally time for our welcome to Paris dinner. The restaurant that was chosen was excellent. After dinner I peeked into this empty dining room. I should mention that food in France was the most expensive of any of the places I have ever been. My morning croissant and tea were approximately $15 CND. A cup of tea was $8.25.
The restaurant was very beautiful with delicious food. I thought that the food in France was just as good as Italy and that is saying a lot. The bread was fantastic-probably the best in the world.
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The outside patio at the restaurant. It was after nine when we finished dinner and you can see how light it still was outside.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel going by the Seine River again.
Sunset on the river.
The streets were full of people all looking forward to the World Cup Soccer match that France was playing in.
Everyone kept their eyes glued to the television set in the bar.
Well almost everyone!
World cup soccer fever was everywhere in the city.
Not too many people at the fruit stand- they were all watching the game.
Comments
Montreal has adopted a law from Paris forbidding photographing people on their home turf and then selling the photos without written permission.