A Photographer in Paris Part 1
This past September my husband and I spent two weeks in the City of Love for our 10 year anniversary. Neither of us had ever been to Paris but I have always had a love for places or things that have history, and it doesn’t get more historic than Paris! Every building had a story to tell. Every window had black wrought iron designs that twisted every which way. I even found myself taking photos of doorways because of the intricacy of each entry. Everything just made my heart swoon.
We rented out a beautiful flat from a couple on Air BnB close to the Eiffel Tower. We would walk to the quaint little shops; the boulangerie, the fromagerie, the chocolatier, and purchase our meal for the day. My husband Jake and I don’t speak French but we would always give a full hearted bonjour to everyone we met. We were always greeted with a smile and a friendly hello, we weren’t fooling anyone with our accents but we loved it all the same.
One of our first stops was at the famous Louvre museum. Everything was organized and easy to get to, but there was just too much to see in one day – so we only did 2 of the 3 sides. We paid our respects to the Mona Lisa – from a distance, paid $7 (Canadian) for water and watched countless others file in and out to of the world famous museum. Jake would always wait patiently for me to change my settings in each different room and let me composite my photo just right. When I saw the figure of Virgo we waited almost 5 minutes for people to clear out just enough to for me to get a shot with no one in the way. She was my favorite statue by far, and it seemed so fitting to have her at the very top of a grand marble staircase…
The Eiffel Tower & a romantic boat ride
That same day we wandered over to Bateaux Vedettes du Pont Neuf for an evening boat tour. The hour long cruise showcased the best of Paris from the river: the museums, the landmarks, the young couples drinking wine by the river’s edge. The lights bouncing off the bridges and the ever-present sight of the Eiffel Tower lit up like a Christmas Tree made it all so magical.
The Eiffel Tower itself was something to see. Standing underneath the tower, taking in the grandiosity of the structure can really take your breath away. We didn’t make it to the top, but we’ll save that for our inevitable return. Our Paris trip was broken up by a brief jaunt to Venice, but that’s a story for another day.
A photographer in Paris will continue in part 2…
Travel tip:
Get some sort of toiletries bag that you can hang up on the back of the bathroom door as there is usually zero counter space in the tiny apartments/hotels to put anything down on.
Travel Tip:
Wear comfortable shoes. They say it’s best to blend in with the natives – dress as they dress, but frankly there are so many tourists (most of which aren’t hard to distinguish) it’s not worth the blisters and pain for the sake of being fashionably camouflaged.
