Paris on Bike

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We left Taiwan at late night of Friday, May 4 on a direct flight of EVA airline to Paris and arrived in the early morning of Saturday, the 5th.  We rented a car and drove straight to Reims at the heart of Champagne region.  We arrived at our destination before 11 AM and had a chance to visit the Cathedral before having our first French meal on the trip.  After lunch, we drove through a small segment of Route Touristique de Champagne in the Champagne-producing region before heading back onto highway A4 to Metz in the Lorriane region to spend the night.  The next day, Sunday, the 6th, we made our tour of the old town of Metz before driving to the old town of Strasbourg, Petite France.  We had lunch at Petite France then headed south on highway A35 to Colmar, deep in the wine growing region of Alsace.  We stayed in the Petite Venice, the old town of Colmar.  On Monday, the 7th, we visited two small villages, Kayserberg and Riquewihr alone the Route du Vine Alsace before crossing the northern end of Vosges mountain and coming back into the Lorriane region to visit Nancy.  We stayed close to its old town, Place Stanislas.  Tuesday, the 8th, we drove from Nancy back to the Charles de Gaulle Airport, returned the car and took a taxi to Paris downtown.  Grace was busy for her meetings during the next three days.  We did some shopping together on Wednesday morning at Galleries Lafayette, I then spent three hours photographing Eiffel Tower.  On Thursday, I walked through most of the familiar places in Paris by myself.  I did not do any photography on Friday, instead, spent the whole day at Musée d'Orsay.  However, I did spend sometime at night to photograph the Arc de Triomphe.  We flew back to Taiwan on Saturday, May 12, a short but compact trip!

L'Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile

Paris

Invalides from Pont Alexandre III

Petit Palais

Place de la Concorde

Louvre

Institute de France 

Seine

Cathédrale Notre-Dame

Fontaine Saint-MIchel

Place de Odéon

Eiffel Tower, Paris

ABC Wednesday: U is for Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, downstairs, we are not talking about the British television drama of the 70's.  We are talking about the two restaurants of Musée d'Orsay, of Paris.  Grace was in Paris for several meetings a few weeks ago and went to the museum.  It has been totally renovated (I first saw the museum when it was under construction in the 80's).  She was late for lunch and went upstairs to the Café Campana just by the Impressionist Gallery.  It is a typical Parisisn brasserie and designed by the famous Brazilian designers, Campana brothers.  As you can see it was almost two thirty in the afternoon, the restaurant was packed.  No place for her to sit.

She could not get close to the clock at Campana, instead, she went through the Impressionist Gallery and photographed through the clock at the opposite end facing towards Louvre.

Down stairs, there is Le Restaurant, the former restaurant of the Hôtel d'Orsay.  It was first opened in 1900, when the place was the Gare d'Orsay.  The new construction was by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte.  It is as magnificent as ever.

Here is a more detail view of the ceiling from the original 1900.  You can imagine where Grace finally ended up having her late lunch.

These photographs were taken using the new Nikon V1, a much smaller mirrorless camera with interchangeable lens.  Consider its size, the results are not too bad.

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ABC Wednesday: U is for a Usual Trip to Paris

Several weeks ago, Grace made another of her Usual trip to Paris.  She did her Usual things of seeing her scientific and business advisors.  She went to her Usual restaurants and clothing stores.  One thing a bit Unusual was she took a lot of bracketed shots, which means the same images photographed at different exposures.  I was then given the task of doing the HDR images for these bracketed shots.

She took quite a few pictures from this window.  I tried all kinds of combination using my limited HDR skill.  None of them came out good till I had this one into black and white.  It is so Unusually good, so Parisian.

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Skywatch Friday: Sunrset at Paris

Grace took this beautiful sunset of Paris in October, 2010

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ABC Wednesday: Z is for Zig-Zag Through Paris

I (Grace) flew to Paris in late April, right after the Iceland volcano ashes subsided.  I had a free Saturday, so off I went with my camera around Paris.  I started at Place des Vosges located at the Marais district between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements.  It is the oldest planned square.  The sound of the cello filled the Square.

All the housefronts were built to the same design of red brick with strips of stone quoins over vaulted arcades that stand on square pillars.

Two pavilions in the north and the south, that rise higher than the unified roofline of the square center offer access to the square through triple arches.

The wall of the arch way from the square to the street is painted.  The black and white version of this photograph evokes a certain sense of nostalgia.  

Here I was, in front of the colorful art gallery with my reflection on the window.  

It is another view of the store front with the arcade.  

After I left Place des Vosges, I walked along Rue des Francs Bourgeois where I saw a pretty woman sitting by the window with sun shining onto her blond hair.  

I noticed this little girl with a red dress running along by her father's side.

Then along rue Veille du Temple, I saw two young women wearing bright colored wigs and big sunglasses, kind of retro look. 

Further along, I saw a guy with wings giving away some kind of brochures, kind of unreal?  He was right in front of a Corsican restaurant.  It was time for lunch!

The interior of the restaurant is rather rustic, and the food was very authetic.

This the other side of the wall.

After the lunch, I went across the bridge to Ile Saint-Louis in the 5th arrondissement.  It a small island next to the more famous Ile de la Cite where Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle were built on.  Many storefronts are charming!

On this tiny island lies a magnificent catholic church, St. Louis-en-l'ile.  It was built in 1622.  From the exterior, you can't tell how immense and impressive it is. 

Finally, I ended up at Place de l'Opera.  The afternoon sun was shining onto the statues on top of the Opera House which made the building even more glorious!

At last, time for dinner, I went into a highly decorative restaurant to have my favorite Parisien seafood plate.  What a nice zig-zag through Paris!

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.