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April in Paris - A Photo Journey - There's just something special about Paris. The warm sun, the colorful flowers everywhere, and much more. Join the Café as we walk the walks and see the sights of this unforgettable city!
Hi Café visitors, this is Scott. Chris asked me to share some of photos I shot while we were in Paris for a week this April. The easy part for a photographer is shooting the incredible sights we have the opportunity of seeing every day. The hard part is choosing just a few from that gigantic file of photos!
When we began our London/Paris spring trip, I had about 800 photos on a huge 64 gig SD memory card. On our fifth day in Paris, as we were just entering St. Chapelle (an amazing medieval cathedral in the heart of Paris), I got the "card full" indicator in my Canon viewfinder. I shoot in what photographers call "raw" file format. Simply translated, that means each photo is the highest quality my camera can produce. It also means that each photo uses up a lot of memory space.
Guess how many pictures I'd taken since we left the U.S.? Try 1,600! The crazy thing is, that 1,000 of these were in Paris alone during the first 5 days! Add another 400 or so, and you now know what this photographer been doing since we returned from Paris; reviewing photos!
But all that said; it's worth it, Chris and I would love to give you a sense that you were (virtually) with us! We kept that in mind each day in Paris when we headed out for a new Café adventure!
Enough talk! Let's let the pictures tell the story!
Places
Of course, when you think of Paris, probably the strongest connection in most people's minds is its' internationally famous, instantly recognizable historic sights.
Wait a second! I thought this section was about Places? Yes it is,so just take a wild guess what's behind the girls taking a selfie.
Yup, you got it!
Although the Eiffel Tower is definitely the quintessential Parisian tourist attraction, when you see it face to face, it's quite a magnificent sight to behold. No matter what angle you shoot from, the Eiffel Tower is a stunner.
Of course we had to have a picture taken here! So glad we did, now that we're back home, it proves that the trip wasn't just a dream!
The Louvre Museum
The French have a way of taking normal, functional buildings and turning them into artistic architectural masterpieces!
Sainte Chapelle Cathedral - A beautiful Gothic cathedral located on an island in the middle of the River Seine. It's renowned for it's gorgeous, 13th century stained glass. The light coming in from every angle, through the ancient windows, takes your breath away. Stunning!
The Orsay Museum
Like the Thames in London, the Seine River cuts right through the heart of Paris.
The Grand Palais
When in Paris, no cook should miss E. Dehillerin, it's the most famous culinary supply store in all of France!
The Paris Metro system - we travelled all over the city on it.
People
In so many ways, Parisians are just like any other group of citizens of a large metropolis. But there's just something quite special about them that sets them apart.
We enjoyed an evening French-style serenade on the Metro subway train.
Hey! Are these two posing as Parisians? Yes they are - and loving every breezy minute of it!
Parks
Since our daughter moved to London 5 years ago, Chris and I have had the wonderful opportunity to travel abroad several times a year (we can't stay away from those grandbabies for very long). We have enjoyed observing how Europeans truly love and utilize their parks. In a city of 2.2 million, people get pretty packed in, yet with wide boulevards and parks, large and small everywhere you turn, it doesn't really seem that large.
Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens)
The view from Luxembourg Gardens. See the Eiffel Tower on the horizon?
Even a regular old boulevard in Paris looks like a park!
The parks provide a connection to nature that Parisians totally embrace - even in a city of 2.2 million!
Markets
Chris and I love visiting open-air markets. This is where Paris excels. A couple blocks from our center-of-the-city apartment, we could go three days a week and find everything from produce, to seafood, meats to spices, scarves to jewelry and pastries to baguettes; not to mention the people watching!
Paris has over 70 flea markets! No fleas, just bargains galore!
Shopping in Paris
Parisians take their shopping seriously. And so do the millions of tourists (like us!) who come each year for the myriad of stores of every shape, size, price and interest.
Since we're always looking for interesting props for The Cafe, we lost our brains in the Sabre store. Chris had a little birthday money to spend and an absolutely charming French saleswoman wove a spell on us with her table decor suggestions. When we departed, the birthday money was long gone and much more. We went across the street to recover at ....
... a gelato store. Yes, that's a Parisian gelato store, not Cartier!
We loved just strolling down one Paris street after another and window shopping...
Store security personnel at Kyrie Eleison!
Chris and I are known for being able to sniff out a pastry shop, bakery or patisserie a mile away!
Paris - From Any Angle
For a travel/food photographer, there are unique photo ops by the gallons! My only restriction? Time!
In Paris, something as simple as a door or door handle is turned into a work of art.
Does it look like a farm scene from a hot air balloon? Think again!
How about the side of a building - only in Paris!
And now it's time to say goodbye to this unbelievable City of Light. We love you Paris! You're forever in our hearts!
We're usually early risers and fairly early to bed folks. But the last night of our stay, we requested an Uber car to take us to the Eiffel tower. There's a beautiful light show every hour at the tower and we happened to arrive just as one of these magical performances was commencing. It was the perfect way to end our delightful visit to the City of Lights.
Au revoir!
P.S. When we were planning the trip to Paris, we decided to rent a flat in Paris for our week long stay. We were a little nervous as this was not something we'd done before. It turned out to be an amazing experience. The apartment was charming and well equipped. It was ideally located, right in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Renting was economical compared to staying at a hotel and gave us a more authentic view of life in Paris. You can read all about our little Paris apartment here and here.
kim says
Your photos are beautiful. While taking these photos, were you within walking distance of the little Parisian apartment?
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks Kim, we did walk there but it was a l---o---n---g walk. 🙂
Ted sullivan says
The photos are beautiful! What my fiancé and I are going in April what part of the month were you there? What camera did you use? We have the small point and shoot digitals and a a big Canon as well. Trying to decide what we want to use, and if it is worth lugging around the large camera. Especially if the weather is wet.
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks Ted! So glad you enjoyed the photos. Scott shoots with what he calls his "big boy" camera. It's a full frame Canon 6D. For the professional shooting we do, it gives us the quality and control that's essential for our food shots and culinary travel posts. Point and shoot cameras are good, but limited, since a lot of them don't allow you to manually control depth of field, shutter speed and ISO. But the advantage to point and shoots is that you can slip one one your pocket and not worry about it - so it's a little bit of a toss up. Any time we travel, Scott carries a daypack to put the camera, coats, sunglasses, store purchases, and umbrellas in. It's come in very handy in multiple trips throughout the UK and France this past six years.
vern fan says
Thanks for sharing your lovely photos
Sandra says
What a delight to see all of these and thank you so much. Conde` Nast should definitely give you a call Scott!
Wendy says
Thank you for taking us to Paris! Chris' recipes helped me taste Paris and Scott's photos made me feel like I was there. Both have me dreaming about our next, yet-unplanned, trip across the pond). 🙂
Chris Scheuer says
Aw. thanks Monique!
Maureen R. says
Thank you for sharing your amazing photos of Paris!