 |
| Que de Grenelle is the main street immediately adjacent to the Seine and our Viking Cruise Port in Paris Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
I AM old enough to remember when websites were intended to be informational and functional (heck, I am old enough to remember when there was no such thing as a website 😆). They were designed to give information about a company and its products and access to information and communications. They were usually set up for a customer to get true "support" with questions, problems, etc. That was before social media and "influencers" took over. Today, it appears to me that websites and anything else most companies do digitally are solely focused on selling. Nowhere is this more evident than on cruise line websites. They are often difficult to navigate for anything other than signing up for a new cruise. And they are all pretty much rife with hyperbole. A rant, I know, but one of my favorites is their euphemistic description of a bus tour as a "Panoramic" Tour. Sounds impressive. It is nothing more than a bus tour! And that was our Viking Excursion for the next day.
 |
| I made this image only a few steps up the access road to our Viking Paris Port Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
BUT BEFORE I cover "Panoramic Paris," being overnight in the city, and knowing there would be views of the Eiffel Tower around the cruise port, I made it a point to get up and out early. I wasn't disappointed, as there were a couple of nice image-opportunities in the early morning light.
 |
| Que de Grenelle in the early morning light - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
SHORTLY AFTER breakfast, we boarded our bus for our "panoramic" tour of the city. When I "beat up" on the cruise lines for using hyperbole, I am not necessarily saying that a bus tour is always a bad thing. In fact, in many cases, it is a pretty good way to get a proverbial "ten-thousand feet overview" of the city. And to learn some history and cultural facts at the same time.
 |
| Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
WE LEARNED, for example, that the unique building above is modular and that the units can actually be moved around. I just found it a kind of cool looking building.
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
I KNEW we would do some driving around the city this morning, but the main goal from my personal perspective was that we would gain entrance to the famed Notre Dame Cathedral. Almost exactly 7 years ago, we had an overnight stay in Paris - only 2 months after the devastating fire that destroyed much of the old, timbered portions of the magnificent cathedral. Being one of the most known spectacles in the world, I had looked forward to visiting and photographing the great church. The fire, in addition to being a historical disaster, was a great personal disappointment to me. We made the best of it, seeing it from outside the scaffolding, and I even made a picture or two that I thought were nice. But I knew that sometime in the future I would return. It turns out that this day was my opportunity.
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
HARSH MID-DAY sunlight and crowds really kind of foreclosed any new shots of the exterior. And at the same time, I always knew that any interior photographs were going to be a compromise. Indeed, as I have noted here in the past, I have pretty much given up trying to shoot indoors with my primary camera on these tours. They move too fast and often don't really give me time to think about the shot, change lenses if necessary, and make settings changes. I know I could (and one day maybe will) set the camera up with auto-iso and other settings, but just haven't had much success.
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
RATHER THAN miss some of the opportunities, I have resorted to using my "smart" phone. These days, the images from these ubiquitous cell phone cameras are pretty good, especially for my purposes here. All the interior shots from this trip were made with my current Samsung Galaxy S24 plus phone camera.
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
WHILE I don't generally have high expectations of these shots, sometimes I get a result I really liked. The phone-camera shot above is my personal favorite shot of the church interior, and I felt it was worth spending some time in post processing.
 |
| Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
AFTERWARD, WE walked around the area of the 4th Arondissment ("district"), where the Cathedral is located. The church itself is actually on a small island in the middle of the Seine: Île de la Cité. But the rest of the Arrondissment is historically famous, housing several ancient Gothic Churches. It is also where Sorbonne University is located, as well as a couple famous private high schools. It is generally a place where only the very wealthy live - and attend school. I made a couple shots of local eating establishments. One of them Odette) was the place where we met for our walking tour back in 2019 and I recognized it immediately. The other was almost just a single "storefront" in a huge building on one of the main streets. I liked the look.
 |
| Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
FOLLOWING OUR short tour, we had a few minutes of free time to get a refreshment and/or use the bathroom. I had my second truly "french" chocolate eclair of the trip. It is a favorite of mine and it was every bit as good as I expected it should be!
 |
| Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
OUR MEETING spot was a beautiful garden kiddie-corner from the Cathedral.
 |
| Dôme des Invalides - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
 |
| Palais Bourbon - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
 |
| Champs-Élysées - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
SOME OF the places are sites I had already seen and photographed (back in 2019), but there were still a couple perspectives I had not had the opportunity to shoot from and I took the best opportunity I could, and worked alot with Photoshops very estimable tools to post-process these into at least reasonably likeable images. These two related images depict perhaps one of Paris' most popular sites: Champs-Élysées and at the other end of the famous street; Arch de Triomphe, made from a couple perspectives I was unable to get standing below it back in 2019.
 |
| Arch de Triomphe - Paris, France |
WE MADE one more stop before returning to the ship. Another shot I have made numerous times: The Eiffel Tower. When we were in Paris in 2019, I had a chance to photograph the tower from several different perspectives, including perhaps the most popular spot, Place du Trocadéro, from directly across the Seine. I had also shot it up close and even made images of Paris from the tower. This one, though, was a "drive - by." But it was actually a good one, and our bus driver stopped right in front of it, giving us just a few minutes to unload and make a shot. While perhaps not my all time favorite, I did like the shot from here.
 |
| Eiffel Tower - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
FROM THERE, we headed back to the ship. We would be sailing away, up the Seine, that afternoon, bound for Vernon - and Monet country.
No comments:
Post a Comment
PLEASE COMMENT