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.
With the day we had yesterday, I’m not sure how many people will have actually looked at the submission from last night, so here’s a link in case anyone wants to take a look at part 3 today.
Steve from Mendocino – Paris
The Palais Royal is a vast complex of government offices, apartments, etc. It used to house the Louvre until the construction of the pyramid. I have no photos of the pyramid, partly because of my reactionary distaste for modern architecture next to the surrounding classic Parisian architecture but mostly because, by the time it was built, I’d abandoned the practice of schlepping a camera around with me at all times. The pyramid has vastly improved the organization and presentation of the Louvre collection, so I consider my aversion to be wholly invalid.
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is near the Palais Royal, so I include it here. This photo shows its alignment with the obelisk in the Place de Concorde and with the Arc de Triomphe – a nine kilometer stretch.
The gardens of the Palais Royal with one of those classic chairs that used to dot Paris public gardens.
Fountain in the gardens of the Palais Royal.
Wide angle view of the Palais Royal from the gardens.
Apartments in the buildings of the Palais Royal. Whenever I look at this and the next picture I imagine living in an apartment like this overlooking public gardens in Paris.
Fence/gate to the gardens of the Palais Royal.
Colonnades of the Palais Royal.
Lapassionara
Okay, I have been looking forward to seeing these photos all evening. Thank you. What year were they taken? Not that it matters. I am just interested
JanieM
The picture of the Arc is the first one I have ever seen that gives me an idea of how majestic it is.
This set really makes me want to go to Paris — for some reason, much more than all the previous Paris sets, whether Steve’s or other people’s. Probably not gonna happen, but who knows.
I love the last two shots, with the repeating lines receding into the distance.
Steve from Mendocino
@Lapassionara: early to mid 70’s. Possibly late 60’s. First trip to Paris was spring of 68 right after the riots. The statues in the Tuilleries were splashed with paint.
Auntie Anne
Thank you, Steve. I’ve been looking forward to seeing these all day.
CaseyL
I dislike imperialism and absolute monarchy as governing philosophies – actually, I loathe them – but there’s no denying those impulses make for gorgeous public monuments.
(Just like I hate what industrialization has done to the world, but adore seeing the sheer… machine-ness?.. of hydroelectric dams, giant old printing presses and factory floors, and counterweighted drawbridges. )
These are wonderful photos, and your post last night provided a much-needed breather between bouts of rage.
Thank you for sharing them with us.
rikyrah
One day, Paris ….
One day??
Benw
We have created a masterpiece, look and weep!
Dude I would but my legs are tired.
Never mind that, gaze on our garden and rejoice!
Look that’s cool but I’m super sore.
FINE HERE’S A CHAIR
Awesome can I have a croissant?
DON’T PUSH IT
Comrade Colette
@CaseyL:
Same, and add to that my utter contempt for the Catholic Church as an institution throughout history – but my love for and awe of the works built in its name through European history is unbounded.
ETA: Steve, I’ve been loving this series. Thanks for sharing!
Comrade Colette
@rikyrah: One of our greatest pleasures when we lived in Paris was showing first-time visitors all its wonders. It truly is spectacular, at both the most grand and intimate scales, as Steve has been showing us. I hope you can get there soon and that you enjoy the heck out of it.
kgus
That’s three kilometers between the arches, not nine.
oldgold
My Grandfather fought in WW I.
After the war, while on leave in Paris, he claimed go have witnessed a plane fly through the Arc de Triomphe .
BigJimSlade
@Steve from Mendocino: Thanks Steve, excellent stuff. But regarding the distance in the first shot. I thought at first, that must be some crazy zoom to have 9k in there and the L’Arc de Triomphe looking that big. So, I mappedometered it – it’s about 2 miles. I love the shot, though :-)
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Amazing how many different Parises there are, as we’ve seen in different people’s photos. I was there a couple summers ago, and was wandering around the Jardin des Tuileries, which according to Google Maps is just a few blocks from all this. Yet I never knew it was there. Thank you for the pictures.
WaterGirl
@Benw: Did you write that? Amazing.
KSinMA
Thanks for the great pictures! Love the lamps in the colonnade.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Comrade Colette: Nicely put! My feelings exactly. I don’t believe in a Christian God, but love European and British cathedrals.
Steve from Mendocino
@kgus:
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is at the eastern end of Paris Axe historique (“historic axis”), a nine-kilometre-long linear route which dominates much of the northwestern quadrant of the city.
Looking west, the arch is aligned with the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, the centerline of the grand boulevard Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe at the Place de l’Étoile, and, although it is not directly visible from the Place du Carrousel, the Grande Arche de la Défense. Thus, the axis begins and ends with an arch. When the Arc du Carrousel was built, however, an observer in the Place du Carrousel was impeded from any view westward. The central part of the Palais des Tuileries intervened to block the line of sight to the west. When the Tuileries was burned down during the Paris Commune in 1871, and its ruins were swept away, the great axis, as it presently exists, was opened all the way to the Place du Carrousel and the Louvre
My bad. I was in a hurry when I read this.