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.
I would be over the moon if ever took a photo as stunning as the first one below. Neat photography trick, that’s one to remember. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. On the other hand, there’s probably no bad time to be in Paris! ~WaterGirl
Wag
We took a Spring Break trip with the twins to Paris 2 years ago. It was my first time back since Summer of 1985. So much was timeless, exactly as I remembered it. So much had changed.
We were at the Tracadero, and a Parisian photographer asked to take pictures of the girl as she practiced her gymnastics. He put the camera so that it was nearly into a shallow puddle, giving him the greatest reflections I’ve ever seen. the Wife tried the same technique with her iPhone, and this was the result.
We did a tour of the catacombs of Paris. fascinating and macabre.
A modern art installation in the Pompidou Center. We saw incredible art everywhere, from Ancient Greek art to modern art that blew your mind.
A Parisian couple, out for a walk.
Sometimes the building housing the art was enough.
I took nearly this same photo from the same spot in 1985. Paris, unchanging.
A nice juxtaposition of old and new.
A final church to close out the tour. My favorite chapel in Paris, simply because of the intensity of the colors. Amazing.
Republican Convention Thead
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
When we went, The windows of St Chappelle was only partially cleaned – one side mostly clear.
Also, my digital camera batteries kept taking a shit in the catacombs – true story.
BigJimSlade
Ahwgh – what a great set :-)
Love the first one, of course, really love the Sacre Couer from Notre Dame, I think I have a profile and the gargoyle pic coming up next week, and Ste Chappelle (say it like Da-a-a-ve Cha-PAILLLLLLL) – I didn’t like my inside pictures enough and posted an outside shot, though I love the inside – what a jewel!
Hey WaterGirl! Would it be possible, when you submit a OTR post, for it to email back in the confirmation email to include the copy we posted – I’m trying to remember if I wrote about the sandwich I had between Notre Dame and Ste. Chappelle. Something like intro: abcd; pic1: abcd, etc. nothing fancy, but just so we could refer to it later?
Wag
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: We we’re severely jet lagged when we visited the catacombs on the first day. Probably a really good way to see them. Vaguely disoriented and punchy.
Omnes Omnibus
Are the first two pics a before and after?
Wag
@Omnes Omnibus: Fortunately not.
Auntie Anne
Those are gorgeous. I ❤️ the picture in Sainte-Chappelle. You have a great eye for unusual shots!
Matt McIrvin
Sainte-Chappelle is so beautiful, definitely one of my favorite places when I was there in 1991.
WaterGirl
@BigJimSlade: Those kinds of changes would cost $$.
You talked about bread and cheese and sardines and wine and jam and what you ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the word sandwich is not in there.
I don’t want to copy what you wrote because it would spoil your Paris OTR to share the info here. :-)
Lapassionara
Wow. I love these. Thank you for sending them.
There go two miscreants
Nice! Loved the views from Notre Dame.
Barbara
Any time I go to Paris I try to see Sainte Chappelle, if the sun is shining. I went there nearly 30 years ago and I still haven’t gotten over it. The glass is just as stunning in Chartres, but the structure is so large that you don’t feel enveloped by it the way you do at Sainte Chappelle. Great pictures. I am loving the interesting Eiffel Tower shots we are seeing tonight and in past posts.
Wag
@Auntie Anne: Thanks. Shot with my iPhone using a panoramic view shot vertically instead of horizontally.
feloniousferb
Loved the pictures! Watergirl was right, that first one really was amazing.
Mary G
These are amazeballs! I love them all, but the couple with the matching bald heads and white half boots are pure Paris.
mrmoshpotato
Picture 2 – BONES!
opiejeanne
WOW!!! That first shot.
I love St Chappelle and have a couple of photos of it, but I love yours looking up at the ceiling. It was so crowded that I didn’t think to do that, even though I tried to shoot Notre Dame that way.
The gargoyle is funny. He’s watching everyone down below on the street.
TomatoQueen
Marvelous
Wag
@Mary G: I took a series of photos of that couple. I’ve made up stories in my head about them. I have decided she was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemo. As a way of supporting his wife, her husband shaved his head and bought matching clothes and a fur coat to walk their neighborhood with her.
BigJimSlade
@WaterGirl: Got it. (and sorry, didn’t mean to have you look up what I wrote!)
Well, I recall walking from Notre Dame to Ste. Chappelle and stopping at a cafe for a small lunch (college trip and very limited budget, so even a $5 sandwich was pushing it). But they had a camembert with mustard on a small baguette (cheapest sandwich on the menu). So simple, but interesting and high quality stuff! I really gained some respect for the French culinary ways.
Mary G
@Wag: Just what I was imagining. The hot pink purse is the perfect touch! “I may have cancer, but I can still be chic!”
Wag
@Mary G: Exactly. She has that certain “je ne sais quoi” attitude. And he’s saying “WTF! Me, too!”
stinger
What a great set of photos! Thanks to extended power outage and other causes, I’ve been missing too many OTR posts lately. At least I can go back and find them easily — thanks for that, WaterGirl!
J R in WV
WOW!
Great photos !!! Thanks for sharing with us. Paris is amazing… I hope we manage to go there again after Trump’s plague is under control, or over all together. I think the vertical panorama of the chapel is the best… what light!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Good shots.
donatellonerd
just stunning. the best Louvre photo i’ve ever seen. and all your clouds.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Barbara: Sainte Chapelle is my absolute favorite place in Paris. since I love stained glass. On our first trip to Paris, it was closed because of a strike by the Monuments and Museum workers. I went by the entrance anyway, just to be as close as possible, and saw a notice for a concert to be held there that night (the strike did not affect the concerts). Well, it was wonderful. We got to sit and drink in the atmosphere for more than an hour, listening to a chamber group playing The Four Seasons and watching the sun set behind the Rose Window. Marvelous
I was planning on visiting Chartres on the trip we had scheduled for this July (sigh), but am determined to see it, if the FSM wills it.
Doug
Visiting Sainte-Chapelle is like walking inside a sapphire.
bjacques
@Wag: whoa! That couple are regulars at the Venice Biennale preview days. Ms. bjacques runs a gallery and had managed to finagle tix for many years. Somewhere I have photos of them from 2005 or 2007.
sherparick
Thanks for the wonderful pictures. It has been 19 years since my last visit to Paris.
Laura Too
@bjacques: That is so cool, I can just imagine the shock of recognition! What wonderful photos. Thanks WG for the work you put in to these. I am never up late but I look forward to seeing these first before AL’s trip through Covid Ed-should have my degree soon.
Wag
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Sometimes grabbing an unexpected opportunity is the best option.
@Doug: What a fantastic analogy. You are absolutely right
@bjacques: Interesting. I’d love to see your picture of them.
catatonia
Love the view from the Trocadero, especially at night. You round the corner off of Avenue Kléber, and, boom, there,s the Tower and behind it and to the left, the dome of Nappy’s tomb, all illuminated in yellow. Pick your jaw up off the street afterwards. Was in Paris over Xmas just before the COVID hit the fan. Thank Fortuna that we went when we did