On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
“Locked in love.” Pretty soon, after seeing all the lovely photos in this series, I am going to be locked in love with Paris. ~WaterGirl
frosty
In 2014 we took our sons on a two-week trip to London, Normandy, and Paris, which included day trips to Stonehenge and Mont St Michel. Paris was the last stop, for two days. We stayed in an AirBnB apartment in the Latin Quarter, also known as the Left Bank (of the Seine), which has been the home of artists, writers, and students because of the Sorbonne. This was my third time in Paris and coincidentally I stayed in the Left Bank every time.
Paris was the last stop on our trip and we only got out to sightsee for one day. We took a boat tour on the Batobus downriver on a gray and intermittently rainy day. We boarded at a spot very close to Notre Dame.
While it was a hop-on hop-off route with nine stops, the only one we made was at the Eiffel Tower. While we were on the second level waiting for the elevator we watched a squall line come across the city, which eventually drenched us.
On our way back we passed the Pont de l’Archeveche, one of several Seine bridges where sweethearts placed an engraved padlock and threw the key into the river to signify that they are “locked in love.” A few months after we were there the city began removing the locks because of the weight.
Our apartment was close to a very Parisian small square ringed with sidewalk cafes, the Place de la Contrascarpe. We ended up having dinner there the three nights we were in Paris. I can’t imagine a nicer place to spend an evening – it was the quintessential Paris.
Omnes Omnibus
Woohoo! More Paris.
Wanderer
Beautiful photos.
arrieve
I’m imagining I’m sitting at one of those cafe tables, sipping a glass of wine and watching the city go by.
Yutsano
I keep using these to give my parents suggestions when they can travel again hopefully next year. But they’re only allowing themselves four days in Paris. That doesn’t seem like enough.
EDIT: I have never been to France. But I have been to Germany and the Copenhagen airport.
Virginia
We love Paris. Wish we were welcome.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Four days is better than three, but not as good as five.
Auntie Anne
Oh, those cafes and that square look lovely! I would love to sit in one of those cafes and sip a kir.
There go two miscreants
The cafe pictures are making me nostalgic (although we did not visit that particular square). I liked the picture of the incoming weather taken from the Tower.
Xavier
I noticed people putting combination locks on a local bridge. I guess they’re not clear on the concept.
Redshift
Ah, Mont St. Michel! We took Rick Steves’ advice and stayed overnight there. The abbey is lovely, but during the day the street is lined with tourist traps. But the buses leave to meet the last train at 6, and if you’re staying, the tourist shops close and you have a medieval walled town all to yourself. It’s utterly magical.
opiejeanne
Wonderful pictures.Thanks for sharing them with us.
frosty
@arrieve: @Auntie Anne: Exactly! When we arrived at the Air B’nB I was thinking we could find a nice sidewalk cafe on the Boul’ Mich, but then we discovered this, which was far better. No traffic, a fountain in the middle, and cafes on every side. Just sit and enjoy.
CaseyL
I was in Paris many decades ago, a couple of years post-college*. One of those tours only the young can handle: 7 countries in 28 days, or something like that, staying in “tent villages” most of the time and semi-swanky hotels/hostels the rest of the time. We were in Paris for two days, IIRC – and it was the year the Louvre was closed for renovations! But we did see Notre Dame, and the catacombs beneath, and Montmartre. I mostly remember being overcome by Notre Dame’s beauty, and also being respectfully weirded out when the tour guide pointed out that many luminaries of the period were buried under the chapel floor.
* Mom paid for most of it, and I still, to this day, call it the “Thank-God-You-Didn’t-Marry-the-Mormon Tour.”
Omnes Omnibus
@frosty: The Boul’ Mich gets awfully touristy. You made the right choice.
Lapassionara
Thank you for posting these. I love Paris, especially the small squares.
frosty
@Redshift: Mont St Michel was crazy!! Shoulder to shoulder with tourists. We walked to the top and applied our rule of “I’m not standing in line”* and skipped the Abbey. I can see how it would be a really magical place to stay overnight. All the buildings, piled on top of one another.
* Ruled out the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, but not the armor and everything else, and would have ruled out Notre Dame if we weren’t already weary. OTOH, it didn’t rule out anything we did anywhere else in London or Normandy.
** Although it’s true, we stood in line for the Eiffel Tower, so I guess we’re rulebreakers now and again.
frosty
@opiejeanne: Thank my wife. She had the real camera, my phone pictures didn’t look nearly as good.
frosty
@CaseyL: Was that one of the travel-study tours that the Mormons ran? I did one the year after high school graduation, to Paris (briefly), Pamplona, and Madrid. They wouldn’t let us run the bulls, and several of us were cross-country runners, too. We did, however, find places that would sell us wine!
I have boxes of slides from that trip. I need to go through them and see if I took any in Paris. There’s at least one entire roll of 36 of a bullfight (yawn).
CaseyL
@frosty: No, no; it was entirely secular. Contiki Tours – I think they’re still around, in fact!
I am not Mormon, nor is my family (we’re Jewish). I was in love with, and seriously dating, a Mormon fellow. I did convert, because he insisted, but it didn’t “take” – I went back to being a happy agnostic the instant we broke up.
The tour included a couple of days in Barcelona, with our tent village being right on the beach! We were warned not to go onto the beach at night (the Guardia National would shoot us, we were told) nor swim in the Mediterranean at any time (the water being so polluted it would kill us, we were told). Despite all that, we had a great time.
A trip to a bullfight was offered, but I was one of about 8 or 10 people on the tour who refused to go. We spent the day at the beachside bar instead – a much better use of our time! I liked Barcelona much more than I expected to; it was a lovely city with wonderful food.
?BillinGlendaleCA
No trip to Disneyland, SAD.
frosty
@CaseyL: I “retired”* at 25 and did what the Aussies we met called a walkabout, with a work acquaintance who was quitting at the same time. Three months Railpassing around Europe. I loved Barcelona. Walk the Ramblas, people-watch the people sitting; sit, get a beer, people watch the people walking. I gather it’s as bad as Mt St Michel now for crowds.
We took the beach train and met a couple of Spanish girls on the way and had a wonderful day and evening. A highlight of my life. So far.
* Cashed out my pension (remember those?) and my savings and lived for 18 months without working.
ETA: Very few pictures from that trip because it was impossible to keep an SLR safe from being stolen when you were crashing in hostels. Cash, passport, travelers checks, airline ticket ALWAYS stayed with you, even in the shower. And tucked down by your feet when sleeping.
rikyrah
These pictures of Paris ??
Soothe my soul ??
Many thanks ?
louc
we spent five nights in Paris and another three in Cannes two years ago and I would go back tomorrow if we were allowed.
We never met anyone rude the whole time. In fact, people were friendly and kind. We stayed in a small, inexpensive hotel in the 14th arrondissement and took the Metro to the Left Bank every day. Then we’d board the Batobus to go to whatever tourist destination. A fun non-touristy thing I did was go to the Vanves flea market.
We didn’t cover everything. I want to go back.