Paris must sees?

[wyx087]

going to a conference next week, have booked hotel to stay the weekend after the conference.

so for Friday afternoon until Sunday late afternoon, it'd be photography time around Paris.


i know there's the big ones like Eiffel Tower and The Louvre. but what time of day is best to visit them? and the best way to visit for photography?

how accepted are street photography? similar law to UK? (public space -> generally okay)

lastly, any other tips on visiting Paris?


many thanks.

 

[Alastair]

You get a great view of the Eiffel Tower from Tour Montparnasse..



.. possibly a better view than that from the Eiffel Tower itself, because you can't see the Eifel Tower when you're standing on it!

The Institut du Monde Arabe has a roof viewing balcony with an excellent view towards Ile de la Cite, probably the best view of the river. From memory access is free, but you do have to go through a security check. The building itself is interesting, last year it had a Zaha Hadid exhibition in a curvy pavilion in front of it.

The Grande Mosquée de Paris is something different. Photography is permitted except in the prayer area. Very nice courtyard garden and interesting buildings. Great mint tea in the adjacent tea room.

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise is a pleasant afternoon stroll. Lots of famous and interesting memorials.

The best meal we had in Paris last November was at Bistro de la B, which you can find at 9 rue de Bievre. It's about 5 minutes walk from Notre Dame. Really good food and an excellent price. We had Sunday lunch there.


(On our four-day visit last November we ignored Eiffel Tower and Louvre, preferring to wander the streets instead. We probably saved ourselves at least 6 hours queuing)

 

[zeitghost]

Been a few years since I last went to Paris (used to go every other weekend as I was going out with a frenchman at the time and he lived in montmartre). I wouldnt bother with the louvre - the queues can be excessively silly.
I would do the sacre coeur on fridays (especially if a service is on - the singing is absolutely amazing and this is coming from an atheist).
You can then walk from the sacre coeur though montmartre and down to montmartre cemetry - really nice cemetry with some impressive tombs (people such as degas are buried here)..
The walk down is also interesting - there are some nice little side streets and possibility of street photography - i never had an issue just taking photos of everything. I used to also sit for ages sketching in these streets and people often used to just come up and talk.
You can walk out of the cemetry down Rue Ganneron down to av de clichy then down to the place de clichy and onto Boulevard de Rochechouart where the moulin rouge and Elysee Monmartre (oldest cancan theatre) are - think the Elysee Montmartre might be closed though as it caught fire a year or two ago.

place de clichy itself is full of life (there used to be a great wine/food place here that used to charge about £3 for a two course meal with a carafe of wine - it was great lots of evenings were spent here).

From place de Clichy you can walk to the opera then down to Place de la Concorde and up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

Sorry I cant let you know which metro stations to take as I used to walk everywhere - would go from Montmartre through quite a few streets to the Rue Rivoli, across the Seine through the otherside, through the lebanese restaurants (yumm) and back. Walking everywhere also means you see a lot of Paris life - I love sales in the Paris shops as Parisienne women are mad when there is a sale (elbows fly everywhere).

Outside of montmartre - try the Pont Saint-michel which does have some nice churches around it as well. It links the left bank to Ile de la Citie where you can also see Notre Dame (pretty interesting to walk around and could always take photos in there and outside if you are feeling touristy). The bridges are cool to take photos of people on though they are busy.

The left bank also used to have lots of small stalls alongside the banks of the seine - pretty colourful and quite interesting (there used to be a great art shop along here to that was sooo old and sold sennelier pastels which I always used to buy whilst there).

anyhow thats all i can think of atm - i sooo need to go back

 

[wyx087]

many thanks! those local knowledge have been really helpful.

had to google all the French words to know where they are and what they are. don't understand any French so hopefully this won't be any problem.

so this is my plan, Friday afternoon to Sunday Eurostar at 8:30, hotel is next to Nord train station, so need to be back at 7pm Sunday to pick up my luggage and walk to train station.



>>Friday afternoon:
Sacre Coeur - Friday service, amazing singing
Montmartre - hill, church with cemetry.
Rue Ganneron (road) -> place de clichy (roundabout)
<dinner, possibly wine/2-course for £3>
Boulevard de Rochechouart (road, there are Moulin Rouge, Elysee Monmartre)
[golden hour photo location?]


>>Saturday:
the Louvre square (not going inside)
Place de la Concorde - park along the river
<lunch>
Arc de Triomphe
Tour Montparnasse - View of Eiffel Tower
<dinner>
Eiffel Tower sunset


>>Sunday:
Institut du Monde Arabe - roof top view of river
Along left bank of river + Pont Saint-michel bridge
<lunch>
Rue Rivoli (famus commercial street)
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise - Afternoon stroll with interesting memorials
<buy food at Nord train station>


i am thinking to add somewhere for Friday evening as don't want to miss photo oppetunities during golden hour.

 

[Arlandria]

I'm not sure if it's open Friday evenings, but for me the catacombs were the best photography spot in Paris. Lots of skulls and bones, and proclomations against disturbing the dead - wonderfully ghastly, and definitely not another postcard shot! The only things to bear in mind are that the only way up and down is by lots of stairs, so keep your kit to a minimum, and flash photography isn't allowed, so you'll need a fast lens to cope in the dark.

 

[wyx087]

many thanks for all the comments. sorry for this late reply, wanted to show my photos when i bump this thread.

so i've created a new thread with my best shots here.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=4781772#post4781772



singing coming from Sacre Coeur on Friday was great. i managed to catch (i think) the last bit. the artist gathering at the back alley was also interesting.

Tour Montparnasse was amazing, much better than going up the Eiffel tower, shorter queue, higher view point and a great view.

saw the Catacomb suggestion on Friday evening, so went there the next day, was well worth the trip. really testing and gotten quite a few interesting shots. fast lens is needed, but i found the VR in my kit lens is even better!