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.
Just prior to the conclusion of the Paris After Dark series, featuring lots of great pictures from lots of jackals, WaterGirl asked me if I would be interested in choosing some favorite images and adding them to a couple of posts as sort of a finale to the series. I’ve never been to Paris, so maybe she was just rubbing it in :-)
I also don’t take photographs of cityscapes or people very often, so I thought it would be interesting to do this, and to compare my choices with hers. Turns out we did pick several images that appealed to both of us, and there were also several in each of our sets that did not appear in the other. That’s not too surprising, since there are so many great images in this series. I suspect everyone who followed the series had some favorites that didn’t get on our lists, because there were just so many good ones!
So here are a dozen of my favorite images from the series. Thanks to WaterGirl for conceiving the idea for this series, and for including me in the finale despite my woeful inability to get to Paris in the past!
Steve’s photo of a green and welcoming walkway is colorful, well-composed, and really makes me want to be there! WaterGirl most definitely would like to be there, too.
What a great view from arrieve! Foreground figures add interest, but the vision of the city through that clock face is simply marvelous. (Another WaterGirl favorite!)
Street art can be mundane, political, amusing, or all of the above. This is a fascinating bit of street art captured by MissWimsey, and I’d love to hear more from that artist about how this came about.
I love artichokes, and this display of great-looking artichokes makes me hungry. The colors snap, and the composition is wonderful. The hint of a buyer or seller in the upper right adds a nice touch to this image from MollyS.
There were so many gorgeous pictures of church interiors in the Paris After Dark series that it was tough to make any decisions about favorites. But this one from Wag shows the majestic vault of the ceiling as well as the incredible light filling the space. The tourists and gawkers at the bottom of the image help to direct our gaze upward.
This was another of WaterGirl’s favorites.
The story that went with this image was special, but this image from slipz is powerful . All these sainted statues, smoke, and a light show along with the crowd! And the ghostly statues above reflect the crowd below. Gorgeous!
Cemeteries made a lot of appearances in the Paris After Dark series as well, and again, it was tough to pick a favorite. But springtime and renewal, epitomized by this great flowering tree, lend an extra tough of poignancy to the long rows of headstones and mausoleums in this image from Argiope. The lone human figure, back turned toward us in the distance adds another reminder of the fleeting nature of the living world.
These pastries look spectacular, and I do my finest Pavlov’s dog imitation when I look at this image from randy khan. I’m hungry as I write these words, and I really want to be in this bakery right now!
Stained-glass rose windows made lots of appearances in the series, and this time, as you will see, it was impossible to pick just one. I like this one from Auntie Anne for the informality of the image. It’s a church, but there are no services ongoing, and folks are sitting, standing, gawking, and taking cell-phone pics, all in the presence of this magnificent work of art.
This is WaterGirl’s favorite stained glass photo.
A glorious stained glass rose window, encased in rich gold colors and saintly visions, from Omnes Omnibus. I can almost smell the incense!
Lapassionara
What a great idea! These are wonderful!
Omnes Omnibus
Sainte-Chappelle is a lot like Bruges. Virtually any photo taken there is postcard ready.
WaterGirl
I’m going to make a pastry run… who wants some?
WaterGirl
Any thoughts on where to go next for After Dark? Assuming we want to keep After Dark…
Pick a specific place, like we did with Paris? Have a “Favorite City” series? Have a “Favorite Place” series? Have a “Place Where I Grew Up” series?
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Want to go in on a Poilâne order? I think only the bread is delivered, but the idea of getting a hunk of bread directly from Paris…
EDIT: you can get some actual cookies and such!
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Seasonal photos?
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Oh, they have flan. Swoon. And butter biscuit cookies. Sigh.
BigJimSlade
Very nice ‘best of’!
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, interesting. Say more.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: @Omnes Omnibus: Paris worked well, so why not London? I know a lot of Juicers who have been there.
WaterGirl
@BigJimSlade: One more Farewell to Paris night, then we are off to Chile for 8 days while we figure out what’s next.
That gives us this week to figure it out, and next week for folks to start submitting for the following week.
Auntie Anne
Let’s please do another After Dark series – these are such an antidote to the stress each day. I like the idea of a favorite place – lots of room there for folks to participate.
London works for me too.
Wag
@WaterGirl: Me, please!!!!
trollhattan
This has Jack all to do with the lovely photo series–the COVID-delayed Tour de France ended yesterday in Paris and was the most stirring, amazing, thrilling race since LeMond beat Fignon in the day 21 time trial in 1989. Wow, what a race and across the three weeks there were zero positive COVID tests among the riders (176 started).
Le Tour usually signifies midsummer to me, starting as Wimbledon finishes, but alas was nowhere to be found this year. They dug deep and made it happen, bless their French souls. Three weeks of Phil Liggett for me is sports bliss.
/infomercial
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Photos that people think epitomize a season for them and/or for a location. We could do it in Vivaldi’s order.
Wag
@WaterGirl: Europe outside of France?
National Parks?
Islands?
Food photos?
MissWimsey
@WaterGirl: I submitted some photos for an Amsterdam After Dark post ;) (Get your minds out of the gutter, the trip was Rated G as I was on a solo trip to Paris and Amsterdam.)
SiubhanDuinne
This has been a great series! Thanks to Water Girl for masterminding it and to all the Jackals who contributed.
Nice job on the “best of,” Albatrossity!
lashonharangue
@WaterGirl: If people are interested in another European city I suggest Budapest. My spouse lived in Paris for a year and traveled around Europe when she was young. She felt Budapest was the only city in Europe that came close in beauty to Paris.
randy khan
@WaterGirl:
Possible cities:
U.S.: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle
Non-U.S.: Tokyo, London, Rome, Sydney (and require everyone to have at least one Opera House photo! Okay, maybe not.), Amsterdam, Beijing, Johannesburg
Or countries: Japan, Australia, Russia, Italy
Or just favorite places
WaterGirl
I’m hoping we get tons of ideas tonight and tomorrow night, then maybe we can start narrowing down the options later in the week.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: It was interesting that Le Tour’s end and the 24 Heures du Mans were on the same weekend in September. The 24 Hours hasn’t been held in September since the disruptions of 1968.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: So you are thinking we would all start with spring for a series, then summer for the next series, and so on?
randy khan
I have to say that wag’s is the best Ste.-Chappelle photo, but it’s interesting how many of the bests were from there.
The bakery photo was one of my favorites, so I’m delighted to see it here.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: It’s a thought. People on this thread seem oriented toward another place. And that’s cool too.
WaterGirl
@randy khan: I love so many of these Paris photos. It was fun going through them all as Albatrossity and I were picking our favorites.
We had 6 that were in both of our picks, I think we started with 52 favorites, which we knew were too many!
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I really like your idea, I was just trying to make sure I understood. At first I thought you might be thinking we would all do a spring, summer, fall, winter series. I like the idea of each season as its own series.
As I said, I am hoping for lots of wonderful ideas before we start narrowing down.
WaterGirl
@randy khan: I think Dave (Albatrossity) was more drawn to iconic places and stained glass. I had some of that, but was more drawn to street scenes. As you can see, he also had some street scenes.
That top photo is definitely a place I would like to be.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Whatever we do next, I like the idea of it being open to a lot of people, not just folks who have been able to do a lot of world travel.
But there are tons of ways we can do that, I suspect.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: I like the National Parks idea, I’d add state parks, maybe?
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good ideas!
One thing I have loved about Paris After Dark is that tons of new people submitted to On The Road for the first time.
Especially the lurkers, I love that some lurkers came out and submitted, also.
frosty
Favorite places is a lot like a regular OTR: everybody will have a different one. What pulled this together was all the submitters with different views of the same place.
Could be tough to replicate. One other city? One National Park that many people have been to?
ETA: Hint – Yellowstone has a lot of facets, much more than some other parks. It’s not just a geyser.
WaterGirl
@Auntie Anne: It’s like the morning OTR is like the warm-up to the day, and After Dark is like the cool-down. :-)
There’s a lot to be said for that, especially in these times.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: That’s impressive. I have never really watched, perhaps I should have!
guachi
It’s just weird to see Act Blue still raising $2,000,000 per hour.
StringOnAStick
@trollhattan: Normally we pay to see every moment of the Tour, and spend hours watching it and carefully avoiding sports news when we get behind. This year we settled for the 30 minute daily compilation because we’re starting the process of moving to another state and there’s just too much to do. Next year though!
WaterGirl
I am heading for bed, and I’m hoping for 50 more ideas in this thread by the time I check back in the morning. I’ll settle for 25 if I have to. :-)
WaterGirl
Oops, before I go, I want to thank Albatrossity for so graciously agreeing to be part of the Farewell to Paris.
VeniceRiley
@WaterGirl: Since Paris brought out a lot of great shots by a lot of Jackals, perhaps staying with well traffic destinations. Other cities or maybe dramatic parks like Yellowstone or Tetons or something like that. Famous beaches?
Mike in NC
Good God, when will we ever be allowed to get on airplanes and cruise ships without worrying about dying?
Wag
@frosty: I agree that Yellowstone could be interesting
VeniceRiley
You know what else we could do? A then and now series. Either you have a then or a now or both, Ideally. Like a WWII Dresden and NOW. Or a famous glacier then and now. Or an old city photo from your hometown then and now. Same spot type if possible. It could even be a challenge: Show the old photo, add a google map pin, and let another juicer go get the now for you.
rikyrah
Absolutely gorgeous ?
randy khan
@Wag:
I could totally go for National Parks (and monuments).
randy khan
@Mike in NC:
When there’s a vaccine widely available.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@VeniceRiley: I love old pictures, like nineteenth-century NY and Paris and such
@randy khan: one of the lower items on my bucket list is seeing every presidential library
Amir Khalid
@randy khan:
Which is, like, a year or more away. So if you have holiday ambitions, start saving your pennies. There’s plenty of time.
Doug
@lashonharangue: Budapest is great! Lived there for a year not long after the collapse of communism.
WaterGirl
Suggestions from this thread, so far:
Kristine
@Yutsano: I used to watch Ina Garten’s cooking show when I had cable, and she would occasionally order bread from that place. I always wanted to give it a shot.
AM in NC
@Wag: I love the national parks idea.
Also would suggest American cities after dark. We have a lot of great ones that are very different from each other, and it would give more jackals a chance to participate.