The Moulin Rouge, with its red windmill pop culture prominence, is probably one of the most famous landmarks in Paris. On our first trip to France, we visited this iconic show. By “visited” I mean that quite literally, as we went to the location but didn’t go to an actual show. In the process, we […]
Christmas is beautiful in Paris. Everything you can imagine: romantic, lavishly decorated, and a bit on the cold side. On our first visit to France, Christmas celebrating was in full swing when we were in Paris in mid-November (since there’s no Thanksgiving, I don’t think anyone gets miffed by Christmas starting in November), and it […]
The Eiffel Tower, or “Tour Eiffel” as it’s known in French, celebrates its 125th birthday (or is it anniversary…it doesn’t seem like inanimate objects are “born”) today. Either way, happy 125 years of existence, Eiffel Tower! The Eiffel Tower opened in 1889, and immediately became the iconic symbol of Paris, and a tourist destination for […]
I’ve already shared how, on our first night in Paris, I foolishly stood in the middle of the road while photographing the Eiffel Tower. I apparently hadn’t learned my lesson a few nights later, because I did the exact same thing while standing on the Champs-Élysées, photographing the Arc de Triomphe.
At first it seemed fairly safe, as there was about 4 feet between the lanes, marked with white lines on the ground. Unfortunately, this area seemed to be the de facto “moped lane” and within a few seconds of setting up my tripod, I was again jumping out of the way as a moped zoomed towards me. (Here’s the long exposure taken while I jumped out of the way!) After that, I decided not to spend too much time trying for this photo…
The Louvre Museum in Paris has a reputation as housing the world’s greatest collection of art in a building so sprawling that one could spend months exploring the art and still not see everything. Due to this reputation, we resolved defeat from the outset and didn’t even bother going inside. While much on display in […]
Sleeping Beauty Castle, or Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant as it’s called in French, is the highlight of the Disneyland Paris “skyline,” but also has a veritable labyrinth of paths winding past and through it, making it a prime location to explore. One of these paths–the one to the left in this […]
The Molly Brown river boat at Disneyland Paris cruises the Rivers of America, navigating around Big Thunder Mountain’s “island” and past the town of Thunder Mesa, Phantom Manor, and the rest of Paris’ version of Frontierland. I understand that it underwent a top-to-bottom refurbishment that basically rebuilt the ship in 2011, and it was looking […]
Paris is the “City of Lights,” which is a fitting moniker for the city. It is perhaps no more fitting than when the Eiffel Tower is set aglow in twinkling lights during its hourly light show. Of course, being a crazy photographer, I wanted even more lights in my Eiffel Tower light show photo, so I stood in the median on the Pont d’Iéna Bridge with my tripod waiting for the perfect moment when just the right assortment of cars passed for light trails and the Eiffel Tower was twinkling just right. Luckily, this median was quite large, so it wasn’t all that dangerous (Sarah might disagree!), at least not compared to places I went later during the trip. Standing in medians to give my Paris photos a bit of added light-excitement became a motif of our trip, and I’m quite lucky I was never hit by any mopeds!