Fairground ride in Paris

French Journal Day 141 (Travel Diary Day 221)

The streets were predictably busy. Thousands of tourists flocking to see one thing – the Eiffel Tower – we were no different. Until I came to Paris I’d pretty much avoided taking photos of monuments that have been captured literally millions of times. There’s little scope in the way of unique composition in such places. Nevertheless, the weather was too beautiful to sit inside and work.

As we exited the Metro station we had no idea in which direction to go. It wasn’t long before we rounded a corner and were presented with the huge structure only a few hundred metres away. I’m not sure which is more impressive, the tower or the way in which the tower is framed and centred from Trocadero square – either way it’s a phenomenal sight.

We walked around the surrounding parks and decided not to take the lift to the top – the line was a couple of hundred people long. Instead, we sat on some steps overlooking the tower, waiting for the lovely sunset that would ensue. With our cappuccinos and crepes we were quite content to sit and take in the busy surroundings.

My legs were a bit sore from our morning run in the park. I didn’t tell Rachel that. I think she’s secretly smug that she is officially a better runner than I am now.

Come 6:30pm it was time to get the tripod and camera out and compose the shot I’d been looking at for an hour. I took a few more photos around the area before we slowly made our way back home.

Since being in Paris we haven’t had a night in to relax, and we’re happy about that. Tonight will be our first and only night this week of watching a movie and taking it easy with a red wine or two.

Today’s Photo – The fairground ride in Paris

This is one of the shots I took while strolling around after sunset. I decided not to publish the main shot I’d waited to compose. I have no doubts that people would have seen that composition many times over. I chose this shot as my first Eiffel Tower photo simply because although it’s probably been shot before, I’ve never seen it done and hopefully people viewing this won’t have seen anything too similar either.