Le jardin du Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower | Paris Travel

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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Le Parc du Champ de Mars | Paris Travel

Detail in the stone wall on the outside of the upper sanctuary of Sainte Chappelle.

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...

After an amazing and romantic few hours at le tour Eiffel, we walked east into le parc du Champ de Mars, the subject of today's post.  When walking east through le parc, one must frequently turn around to see the Tower again and marvel.

View of the Eiffel Tower from le Parc du Champ de Mars.

I took only a few photos of this park; I was too busy holding hands with my honey and reminiscing about our previous few hours atop the Eiffel Tower.  To refresh your memory, here are a few shots of le Parc du Champ de Mars from that lofty locale.

Here are the only shots I took on our lovely walk through le parc.

Parc du Champ de Mars.

Green and flowers in Champ de Mars.

Tree-lined promenade in le Parc du Champs de Mars.

End of the walk:  From le parc, we headed over to Rue Cler, just a few blocks away.  Being Monday, many of the shops were closed, so we had fun with a quick stroll and one visit to a wine shop.  A more thorough jaunt down this pedestrian-only street is in order for our return to Paris; for now, click here for a link to Rick Steves' guide to Rue Cler, a must-visit in my opinion--both the guide and the street!

Getting ready to browse the shops along rue Cler.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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La Tour Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower | Paris Travel

Under le tour Eiffel, looking up.

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...

The Eiffel Tower:  Number One on our List of Things to Do in Paris.  How could it not be?  Almost every city panorama photo of Paris includes it.  You catch glimpses of it at different locations around the city.  Le Tour Eiffel has become a beloved landmark of this beautiful city.

We knew that Day Two of our trip would be in the low 80s with sun and clouds.  We just wouldn't worry about the clouds; Day Three was supposed to be rainy, and we weren't sure what the rest of the week would hold.

If you're planning a Paris trip, you may reason like we did:  We could visit the Eiffel Tower--and go up to the top--early on in our trip, to get a feel for "the lay of the land," where things are, and to get the bird's eye view of the city before exploring its details with the individual stops we wanted to make.  Or, visit le Tour at the end of our trip, after we've seen all we wanted to see--then we could spot all the places we'd been, being much more familiar with the city, and we could spend time together at the top of the tower reminiscing about all the amazing things we did that week.  We figured either choice would work.  For us, weather dictated that we had better do it early on in our week.

Walking from the Métro station to the Eiffel Tower

We had a computer in our appartement, and Internet access, but no printer, so we could pre-purchase our tickets, which would have saved a lot of time standing in line.  We were game for standing for a couple hours, though, and that gave me many opportunities to shoot some photos at the base of the tower.

If you do choose to stand in line--and even if you have pre-purchased your tickets--you will see a lot of different people from all over the world.  We stood behind a lady from Italy, with her niece and niece's best friend.  What fun we had with those young girls, who tried to speak English, and then tried along with us to converse in Spanish (which both Fernando and I speak).  The girls practically adopted us as "parents," and we saw them throughout the next few hours, both in line, in the elevator, and up at the top of the tower.

A few of the locals you may spot include the French gendarmes, with their FAMAS assault rifles (according to my sons' extensive knowledge of military weaponry--don't ask), roaming the area for security purposes.  I don't think you want to mess around with these guys.

The gendarme below noticed I was snapping his picture--I took several shots due to people walking in and out of the camera frame--and his smile really was for me!  I still don't think you want to mess around with these guys.

While standing in line, you may also see street performers, who do things to wow you, or at least make you laugh, and they'll always accept a handout.  During our time in line, a guy in a mask--he looked rather creepy--walked around and played practical jokes on unsuspecting people.  He followed one, putting his arm around her and waiting until she screamed when she realized he wasn't her husband.  Some people got mad, too!  But once the crowd noticed and watched for awhile, there was generally lots of laughter.  I didn't really like the guy--he looked creepy, like I said--and Fernando said that he would give him a hug if he came near us.  Which he did!  But since he came up from behind me, I missed getting the shot.  Fernando got him good, too!  He obligingly posed with Fernando for me, though.

Fernando posed with a goofy and slightly creepy street performer while we waited in line.

After finally getting our tickets, we went through security.  Actually, there was a bag check before we purchased our tickets, and metal/security detectors after.  Then it was back in line again, where we made our way into the building and in line for the elevator to the 2nd/3rd level.  (You can purchase a ticket to these lower levels only, if you're afraid of heights or are physically impaired.  In fact, they won't let anyone in a wheelchair or with a cane go up to the top.)

The red cab is the elevator which would take us to the top.

Then we boarded a second elevator which took us to the top.

Looking through the little window in the roof of our elevator car as we ascended.

Partway up, I realized I was holding my camera...

The view as we ascended.

Finally, the top.  I stepped out of the elevator and over to the railing.  I actually didn't get the willies!  And I looked.  The view was breathtaking.  There are no words--I'll simply share what I saw.

The Champs de Mars from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The City of Lights, with l'Arc de Triomphe just left of center.

City panorama.

Église du Dome is center.

Looking east down the Seine, with the Louvre just above center.

Le Trocadéro.

L'Arc de Triomphe.

The Seine flows away to the west.

I happened to look further down near the Eiffel Tower, and I saw a soccer game!

Soccer game in progress.

Maybe one of you can enlighten me as to what the below is--they were sticking out all around the perimeter at the top.  I even Googled them but couldn't find out what they are.

Don't know what these arms were sticking out around the perimeter at the top.

Back to the stunning views.

City panorama, with Notre Dame being the prominent structure, just above and to the right of center.

Bridges along the Seine. Pont Alexandre III is the center bridge with the gold-topped pillars.

View of the Louvre from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Le Jardin du Trocadéro, with its fountains.

Curves of the Seine.

On our descent, I snapped a few pictures.

View of le Jardin du Trocadéro during our descent.

On the third level, we relaxed some more and had fun just spending time admiring the city view, and looking up every now and then towards the tower top.

Looking up from the third level.

View from the third level, with l'Arc de Triomphe as the prominent structure.

At some point, you have to come down.  So we did.

Looking back up from the bottom.

We continued our adventure by walking through the parc du Champ de Mars and onward.  It may sound corny, but it's true--we brought home a little bit of Paris in our hearts, and left a little part of our hearts behind.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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