Fountains of le jardin du Trocadéro, with le Tour Eiffel in the background.
Our Silver Paris
Welcome to my Paris travel journal,
where I share our experiences of our special journey to Paris.
Please use these posts as a guide for your own travels
to this amazing and wonderful city!
Or simply read, and dream...
Our last day. Our last afternoon. We pretty much did all that we wanted to do, and saw what we wanted to see. A friend told us to do what we wanted, and leave with no regrets. At this point, we could say that we had done that. Since this was our anniversary trip, we wanted to share a peaceful, unhurried afternoon together, not much walking, no waiting in lines, just enjoying each others' company in Paris.
We had a beautiful morning in place des Vosges and Victor Hugo's home. This afternoon, Fernando wanted to see the Eiffel Tower--the one structure that most symbolizes Paris--one last time. I agreed that this would be the ideal afternoon, so off we went on the Métro. For this trip, however, we would start at le jardin du Trocadéro.
The word Trocadéro is taken from a fort near Cadiz, successfully captured by the French in 1823. It is here at le Trocadéro that you will find le palais de Chaillot, a large building with two long, curved wings. Le palais, built in 1937, houses le musée de l'Homme (Museum of Mankind) and le musée de la Marine (Naval Museum). You'll see le palais in some of the pictures further below, once we walked around the fountains.
The palais is to our backs in the above photo, and its curved wings are to our right and left. We are standing in the central terrace, which opens onto a panoramic viewing stage. I know you don't need me to tell you what you'll be viewing!
In front of the panoramic viewing stage is a large pool of water with various fountains that shoot out water at various times. We spent a long time on this main viewing stage, taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower--by itself, tilted angle, with the fountains... You get my drift. :)
The main pool below is the Fountain of Warsaw. It is a long basin, or water mirror, and in the below image, the side fountains are spouting out their water. So pretty!
Then, a little fun with my camera. I had already taken some images of the Eiffel Tower with the upper fountains in the foreground. This time, I wanted a softer, more flowing look for the fountains' water. So I set the camera for a slower shutter speed (see the settings below) and got this shot to my liking.
You may not notice too much of a difference, but if you have a good eye, you'll be able to tell the difference--in the fountain images above, you can see the individual water droplets. In this one below, the water is smoother and softer, due to the slow shutter speed. (Hey, I know this is a "travel guide" for Paris, but it is a photography blog, after all! All you non-photographers can skip over this part and simply enjoy all the images I took.)
17-85mm lens at 17mm, ISO 100, f/22, 1/40 second
We walked down the steps and around to the ground level walkway for a nice shot of the Eiffel Tower.
Then we walked around to the right to enjoy the carousel. You may be able to see just the tippy-top of the carousel in the above image, in the lower-right portion of the image. That's where we walked.
The carousel in le jardin du Trocadéro.
Isn't it the prettiest carousel you've ever seen? It is for me.
We retraced our steps a bit to enjoy the cannon fountains, which were now shooting out water in the Fountain of Warsaw. Again, for you photography buffs, camera setting are listed below the images so you can see how I achieved the different looks.
17-85mm lens at 47mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/1000 second
17-85mm lens at 41 mm, ISO 100, f/29, 1/30 second
These water cannons are able to eject jets of water about 164 feet (50 meters)!
17-85mm lens at 33mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/320 second
We walked around so that we were facing le palais de Chaillot (below), and the main pool, the Fountain of Warsaw. All the fountains were off at this point, and you can see the water cascading over the edges of the upper pool into the lower pool in the foreground of the image.
Then, we crossed the bridge, pont d'Iena, and wandered toward the Eiffel Tower. For a Saturday, the lines weren't that long. We cut through the line, took a shot of the tower almost at its base, and continued on into le parc du Champ de Mars.
In le parc, we found a spot to sit. Too bad we didn't bring a blanket! But, the ground was dry, and we rested there for a long time, just sitting, chatting, enjoying each others' company and the spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower right there in front of us.
Alas, the minutes ticked on, and we knew we'd better get back to our appartement for dinner and packing and an early bedtime to catch our super-early-morning flight. On our walk through Champ de Mars, I spotted this tree--it just begged to have its picture taken. Look how perfectly it fits into my camera's frame!
Of course we stopped at the edge of the parc, to look back and admire le tour Eiffel one last time. It was a beautifully perfect day for lounging on the lawn, as so many people did.
*sigh* Then it was time to go.
Hand in hand, we walked down the path. We had finally gotten our honeymoon, 25 years in the waiting. What an amazing, special trip we shared together!
If you're dreaming of Paris, keep on dreaming! If you plan it right, and do it smart, it can be a dream within reach. We have a glass jug into which we put coins whenever we get change (I use cash for groceries). That was our Pennies for Paris jug, and started us on our way. Today, just over a month past our special trip, the bottom of that jug is again covered with coins--because of course we're going back someday soon. :)
Treasuring life's moments,
Christine
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