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Vantage Paris

Another fun thing about organising my archived photos is the realisation that, over the years, I’ve been very lucky to have seen Paris from many vantage viewpoints around the city. Nearly all of these locations are accessible to everyone all year round, free or ticket-requiring. If you are looking for a place to see Paris from higher grounds (without breaking the bank by hiring private flights), up up you go!

Viewpoints of Paris

1. Eiffel Tower: This is an obvious one, and my last visit there was as a family outing. We were very pleased to have a wonderfully sunny weather, despite strong wind earlier that day which caused closure of the top-most level. It had reopened by then, but the crowd trying to access it was too crazy for us to even consider tackling. The mid-level viewing decks worked perfectly fine for us.

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The 300 steps of Tour St Jacques

For a very long time, the Tour St Jacques (i.e. St James’ Tower) had been under scaffolds for restoration works. It wasn’t until shortly before my move to Paris that it emerged cleaned and repaired to the eyes of the public. However, access to the tower itself remained elusive. No more. Between 5 July and 15 September this summer, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, visitors can ascend this former bell tower to the church of St-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie via some 300 spiral stairs to the open summit, but only if you are quick enough to book a spot among the 136 per day.

Dedicated to St James, the detroyed church and its tower form part of the landmarks on the French pilgrimage route of El Camino de Santiago. This tower that measures about 12m by 12m in base dimension and attains 62m in height (including that of the statue of St James on its pedestal) is the sole structure within the heart of Paris where a complete 360° panoramic view is on offer. A summer day blighted by heatwave may be unappealing as a day to work those gluts and go all the way up, but the effort is richly rewarded.

Tour St Jacques

Tour St Jacques

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Encore plus de neige

Paris remained magical on Sunday morning. In fact, even more so in comparison to Saturday. Throughout the day, snow continued to fall all over the city (and other parts of the country), depositing layers of powdery ice over everything as well as everyone who ventured out from their cosy apartments.

Frédéric and I went out for an impromptu date morning, but first up, after seeing Carina’s blog post, he requested if we could stopped by at the Louvre before heading up to Montmartre, my destination pick. Of course! After we wrapped ourselves well, we were out the door.

January snow in Paris

January snow in Paris

January snow in Paris

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Views from la Tour Eiffel

It has been a good many years since I last ascended the Eiffel Tower. If I recall correctly, the last time I went up would be in 2004 with Beejay (his 21st birthday present; a trip to Europe from Andrew and I!) but Andrew assured me it would have been 2006 when he was visiting Paris with me and his then new wife. Either way, 6 years, 8 years, those were a lifetime away. Fast forward and what do you know – us three siblings visiting anew together, them with spouses and kid in tow!

Given the fame of the Iron Lady, to have each deck of the tower filled with visitors is nothing new. But the number of pushy “photographers” trying to jostle for a spot of their favourite views, that’s a whole new level of crazy. It mattered not to them that they were pushing aside a lady carrying a young child but luckily my niece is pretty much the zen-kind of little girl, so she just looked at them curiously then got back to surveying her surroundings.

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Day 317: Another piece of Montmartre

Walking around Paris can bring you to unexpected local areas. I discover this view of Montmartre purely by chance when Alex and I yesteday walked too far along rue St Anne following our late lunch while en route to Jacques Genin. Introducing rue Lafitte in the 9th arrondissement and view number 3 of 36 views of Montmartre.

In the foreground, if you look carefully, you’ll see the Notre Dame de Lorette. Its style is a tad like the Madeline, in neoclassical form. I have yet to visit the interior though. Yesterday’s weather was simply too nice to be suck indoor. We were walking randomly to get acquainted so I now have more ideas of where I can bring my camera to in the next few weeks for photo of the day ;)

Day 302: Montmartre spying continues

Remember my recent greedy/wild photography mission? Here’s a new shot of Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur, and today the view point is none other than the newly-opened 5th floor gallery of Musée d’Orsay! After a week of strike action by the staff of the museum, it finally reopened on Thursday and I made good use of my MuséO card to gain entrance for a look at the new gallery.

From this shot, in the foreground, you can see Jardin des Tuileries in full autumn glory and the adjacent buildings of rue de Rivoli. But note the tiny golden statue at the left hand side, just peeking above the roofs. I’ve tried magnifying the photo to check, but couldn’t quite make it out. I’m deducing one of the golden sculptures above Opéra Garnier, but I can’t be absolutely certain. There’s something odd that makes me doubt this deduction. It needs further confirmation.


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