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You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road After Dark – randy khan – Paris

On The Road After Dark – randy khan – Paris

by WaterGirl|  September 16, 202010:00 pm| 39 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, On The Road After Dark, Paris After Dark, Photo Blogging

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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.

Submit Your Photos

That photo of the ferris wheel at dusk seems almost magical to me, oh how I wish I could be there.  ~WaterGirl

randy khan

I thought I ought to contribute to the Paris photos. My wife has been going to Paris every year for decades because she has a close friend who lives there. (Some years, between my frequent flyer miles and her sleeping on Colette’s sofa, the trip practically was free.) The last several years, though, I’ve been going with her, and this year’s visit was part of our last real trip before the pandemic shut things down. We usually go in the winter, when it’s cheap and there aren’t a lot of tourists.

This selection is over several years, hitting some of my favorites.

On The Road After Dark - randy khan - Paris 7
Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, FranceFebruary 12, 2020

I’ll start with my absolute favorite place in Paris, Sainte-Chappelle, for centuries the church of French royalty. It’s the first place my wife (then girlfriend) took me in Paris on my first trip there, and it’s a wonder. We go back regularly when we’re there just to bask in it, and it’s even better since they restored the windows maybe 10 years ago. Part of the reason it’s so amazing is that you enter on the lower level, which is nice but nothing special. Then you walk up a tiny stone spiral staircase and emerge into a room where you’re surrounded by stained glass. It’s mind blowing. This is the rose window, which is marvelously detailed. (If you zoom your browser, you should be able to see some that.)

On The Road After Dark - randy khan - Paris 6
Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, FranceFebruary 12, 2020

One more Sainte-Chappelle image, from one of the tall windows, which cover three walls of the upper level.

On The Road After Dark - randy khan - Paris 5
Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, FranceFebruary 10, 2020

Père-Lachaise is one of the most famous cemeteries in Paris, filled with famous people (and there’s a brochure to help you find them). This is the grave of Abelard and Heloise. Maybe.

The cemetery opened centuries after Abelard and Heloise died, but the proprietors, looking for a way to make it attractive to prospective patrons, moved the remains from their earlier resting places to the cemetery and built this monument. Inside, there are individual graves with appropriate medieval grave sculptures (and, by the way, medieval grave sculptures are great). However, it’s not clear that the remains actually belong to Abelard and Heloise, and I believe there’s at least one other place that claims to have one of them.

On The Road After Dark - randy khan - Paris 4
St. Ouen, Paris, FranceJanuary 28, 2019

This is a part of Paris with a lot of street art and a lot of antique markets. I thought this piece was fun.

On The Road After Dark - randy khan - Paris 3
St. Denis, Paris, FranceJanuary 28, 2019

St. Denis is where most of the kings and queens are buried – including Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, who were moved there. The tombs are fascinating, but I thought the stained glass windows in the crypt (yes – the church is built on a hill, and the back end of the crypt gets sunlight) were great. I really love stained glass, in case you hadn’t guessed.

Paris, FranceJanuary 13, 2018

If you go to Paris and don’t go to a bakery, I’m not sure what the point is. The reason for the gold crown sitting on top of the cakes at the bottom is that they are King Cakes, sort of like the ones that you can get for Mardi Gras, but really more of a New Year’s thing in France. Each one has a little ceramic something in it, usually, but not always, a baby. This bakery had little busts of its founder.

On The Road After Dark - randy khan - Paris 1
Paris, FranceFebruary 18, 2017

Just a view from, roughly speaking, the Orangerie towards the Cenotaph and the big Ferris Wheel at dusk.

On The Road After Dark - randy khan - Paris
Cluny Museum, Paris, FranceFebruary 17, 2017

In honor of some of the front-pagers, I’ll finish with a big foot.

It’s actually a reliquary in the Cluny, which is awfully cluttered, but has a room with fantastic tapestries that is worth the visit just by itself. Sadly, my photos of the tapestries aren’t worthy, but the foot also was a highlight.


An afterword:

I think about Ste.-Chapelle a lot, particularly after the Notre Dame fire.  As mind-blowing as it is today, I remember that it had to be even more incredible when it was first built.  I’ve been in plenty of cathedrals with great windows, but nothing like the wraparound blast of light you get there, and combined with the reveal when you come out of the dark spiral staircase, it must have seemed like a miracle to people who lived without electric lights or picture windows.

And the other miracle is that it’s still with us.  Notre Dame will be restored, but if something like that had happened to Ste.-Chapelle, well, I don’t even want to think about it.

On a totally different note, if you go to Paris, definitely check out as much medieval grave statuary as you can, just for the animals at their feet.  There’s a good selection at the Louvre and at St. Denis.  Or if you’re in London, the V&A has some, too.

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Reader Interactions

39Comments

  1. 1.

    Lapassionara

    September 16, 2020 at 10:06 pm

    The foot rocks! Do you think Adalhard is related to Abelard? Love the photos. I too like going in the winter.

  2. 2.

    Laura Too

    September 16, 2020 at 10:14 pm

    Oh my, the bakery! I can only imagine…and the bread…Some day!!! Thanks you, these are delightful!

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    September 16, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    Is it me, or is there something Terry Gilliam-ish about that golden foot?

  4. 4.

    Emma

    September 16, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    In the last pic, my brain automatically added the squishing sound from Monty Python’s opening XD I love me some pastries, and I wish French bakeries in the US (or at least in my western WA suburb) did things besides macarons and croissants. Those king cakes look good… Edit: I see Amir beat me to the MP reference

  5. 5.

    Wag

    September 16, 2020 at 10:23 pm

    I love your photos of the stained glass.  I, too, am enamored of the light.  Great photos!

  6. 6.

    Wag

    September 16, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    @Amir Khalid:   It isn’t just you.  I agree wholeheartedly.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    September 16, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    I would definitely stop at the bakery on the way to the ferris wheel.

    @randy khan

    I want you to know that I renamed your golden foot photo so that I can easily search for it in the media library so I can insert it in the comments when appropriate.

  8. 8.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    September 16, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    My fondest food memories of Paris are the street food from my first trip there in 2000. I discovered the amazing sandwich called the Croque Monsieur, which as I recall was about the same price as a cup of that amazing French coffee (both around 10 francs, and yes they were still on the franc then).

    Coffee seems to have gotten homogenized in Europe since the Euro-zone. Everybody’s serving espresso. It’s great espresso, but I miss that uniquely French coffee.

  9. 9.

    arrieve

    September 16, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    I’m suddenly hungry for French pastry. A religeuse, maybe, with puff pastry filled with chocolate creme. Or one of the meringues covered in chocolate icing. Or a perfect fruit tart. And several croissants with butter and jam.

  10. 10.

    randy khan

    September 16, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s an honor.

  11. 11.

    Laura

    September 16, 2020 at 10:36 pm

    King cakes are likely a treat for Epiphany (the day of the 3 Kings) and the baby of course, is the fella they went a’visitin’. The only reason not to go to a bakery in Paris is if you’re gluten-free (as I am), except when you’re fortunate enough to have a spouse you can to drag into bakeries who obliges my wish to let me watch him nom delicious treats on my behalf, or as proxy, or some other (paltry) excuse for indulging in the experience in all ways save eating.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 16, 2020 at 10:37 pm

    @Emma: We have a very nice one in Madison.  It also doubles as a cafe.  Sometimes you can go there and eat authentic French food while watching French rugby (hey, I enjoy it).  The owner/baker is from Normandy and trained there as a baker; his wife is also French but her mother came from northern WI which is how they ended up here.

  13. 13.

    arrieve

    September 16, 2020 at 10:37 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: The street food is wonderful. Crepes filled with cheese or chestnut paste. Sausages in a baguette covered with cheese. Berthillon ice cream.

    I love croque madames, which is a croquet monsieur with a fried egg on top. You cut the egg open so the yolk runs over the toasted bread and melted cheese and ham and béchamel. It is sublime.

  14. 14.

    Barbara

    September 16, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    Great pictures. You have included three of my favorite Paris haunts. I have pictures taken from the top of that ferris wheel!

  15. 15.

    Another Scott

    September 16, 2020 at 10:43 pm

    @WaterGirl: This really is a full service blog!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    September 16, 2020 at 10:44 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Saturday crepes all day.  Sigh.

  17. 17.

    randy khan

    September 16, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    @Lapassionara:

    It looks like they’re not related, and there’s about 200 years between them.  But Adalhard was a cousin of Charlemange.

  18. 18.

    Emma

    September 16, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: oooh, they have croque monsieur, there are few things I wouldn’t do for a good croque monsieur/madame…

  19. 19.

    Wag

    September 16, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    @Laura:   My son has celiac, and in Paris we found a gf bakery that was out of this world. All kinds of pastries and tarts.  And macaroons everywhere are gf.

    https://www.chambelland.com

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 16, 2020 at 11:19 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Ha! First thing I thought of!

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 16, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    That’s hilarious. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of it.

  22. 22.

    BigJimSlade

    September 16, 2020 at 11:22 pm

    @Amir Khalid: (this is the meaning of life) SQUASH!

  23. 23.

    Benw

    September 16, 2020 at 11:25 pm

    Damn these are some great pics

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 16, 2020 at 11:27 pm

    @BigJimSlade:

    The Liberty Bell March in my head is going to keep me from going to sleep tonight.

  25. 25.

    BigJimSlade

    September 16, 2020 at 11:27 pm

    I love the stained glass too (tough to take great pictures of… sigh…), but the bakery (patisserie) and the ferris wheel take the cake, or at least the pain au chocolat.

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 16, 2020 at 11:28 pm

    @Benw:

    Oh, yeah, I was forgetting we were in an OTRAD post. Pictures are terrific.

  27. 27.

    Auntie Anne

    September 16, 2020 at 11:50 pm

    Love the pictures!

  28. 28.

    Benw

    September 16, 2020 at 11:58 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: stay focussed! :)

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    September 16, 2020 at 11:59 pm

    @BigJimSlade:

    You need to work in Eric Idle’s delightfully awful parody of Johnny Halliday’s French accent for extra topicality.

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    September 17, 2020 at 12:08 am

    Teaching a writing class for under-10s:

    Me: So, everyone, what does a story NEED?

    Small boy: A character!

    Small boy 2: A setting!

    Small girl, a gleam in her eyes, in a near-whisper: REVENGE.

    — Jackson Pearce is trying to stay off this site (@JacksonPearce) September 16, 2020

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  31. 31.

    frosty

    September 17, 2020 at 12:14 am

    We found the most amazing patisserie in Bayeux, Normandy, on the same trip that I posted our Paris pictures. I, too, took pictures of the display cases. It was one block from our Air BnB and we went there every morning and each came away with 3 or 4 items. It was impossible to choose!

    We weren’t in Paris long enough to research more than a couple patisseries, but the one in Bayeux beat every one I saw.

  32. 32.

    randy khan

    September 17, 2020 at 12:32 am

    An afterword:

    I think about Ste.-Chapelle a lot, particularly after the Notre Dame fire.  As mind-blowing as it is today, I remember that it had to be even more incredible when it was first built.  I’ve been in plenty of cathedrals with great windows, but nothing like the wraparound blast of light you get there, and combined with the reveal when you come out of the dark spiral staircase, it must have seemed like a miracle to people who lived without electric lights or picture windows.

    And the other miracle is that it’s still with us.  Notre Dame will be restored, but if something like that had happened to Ste.-Chapelle, well, I don’t even want to think about it.

    On a totally different note, if you go to Paris, definitely check out as much medieval grave statuary as you can, just for the animals at their feet.  There’s a good selection at the Louvre and at St. Denis.  Or if you’re in London, the V&A has some, too.

  33. 33.

    BigJimSlade

    September 17, 2020 at 12:48 am

    @Amir Khalid: I just assumed everyone could hear that automatically. It was certainly in my ears :-)

  34. 34.

    BigJimSlade

    September 17, 2020 at 12:49 am

    @Another Scott: LOLOL

  35. 35.

    BigJimSlade

    September 17, 2020 at 12:51 am

    @frosty: Their patisseries should be great — their tapestries are world-renowned! (sorry) (well, kinda)

  36. 36.

    J R in WV

    September 17, 2020 at 6:54 am

    Love today’s photos!

    This is great stuff, well chosen variety,  bakery,  wow!

    When wife was negotiating their union contracts in NYC a couple of years her sub-let was across the street from a great patisserie…fruit tarts … um! Better than a good deli…

    Thanks!   Now back in bed!

  37. 37.

    There go two miscreants

    September 17, 2020 at 8:07 am

    Great pictures! I tried to get a decent shot of the ferris wheel lit up at night, but none were really satisfactory. I like yours!

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    September 17, 2020 at 9:35 am

    @randy khan: I just added this up top, after the last photo.  I can take it out if you like.

  39. 39.

    randy khan

    September 17, 2020 at 3:44 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Oh, certainly – if I didn’t want people to see it, I wouldn’t have said it in the first place.

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