City Of Light

Paris is often referred to as the City of Light, a reference possibly to its role in the Age of Enlightenment or more probably because it was one of the first cities in the world to adopt the use of gas lighting city-wide, thus making it literally lighted. The first patent for a gas lamp was issued in 1799 and by 1820 Paris had made the decision to install gas street lighting throughout the city, phasing it in over the next few decades. This technology transformed the city at night by the mid-nineteenth century.

We made plans to do a number of different things at night on our recent trip to Paris, including eating out, going to the symphony at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées and spending a couple of nights in some jazz clubs throughout the city. On our nights without plans, we made a point to pay tribute to Paris' name as the City of Light and make our way to a monument in the city, see how it was illuminated at night and snap a quick picture before heading home and to bed. This post is a result of those nightly sojourns. All photographs were snapped with my iPhone and I think some turned out pretty well.

Eiffel Tower

The famous french writer Guy de Maupassant used to say that he liked to eat at the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower because it was the only spot in the city where he couldn't see the Tower. We took a cue from Maupassant on this trip and deliberately did not visit the city's most famous monument. But we couldn't resist taking a Metro ride to the Trocadéro station to get a glimpse of the Tower at night.

The best place to see the Eiffel Tower is across the Seine to the north right between the two wings of the Palais de Chaillot. Take a quick walk from the Metro; dodge between the street vendors selling miniature lighted Eiffel Towers and other things you don't need; and you'll find yourself (likely with a hundred or so other people there to see the same thing) gazing right down the Champs de Mars where the 1889 Exposition Universelle was held. The last remaining survivor from that fair 127 years ago is the almost 1,000 foot high tower designed by Gustave Eiffel which is directly in front of you. The Tower is spectacular at night but getting a great picture with a simple camera is somewhat difficult given the distance and the absolute contrast between the lighted structure and the dark sky behind.

Paris Opéra

If I were to ever have a bucket list (and I won't ever), seeing an opera in the what is now called the Palais Garnier (but which I will forever refer to as simply the Paris Opera) would be on it. And not just any performance; something by Puccini or Rossini would have to do it for me. On this trip, I struck out. But I did stop by the building at night to see what it looked like in the lights of Paris.

The architect Charles Garnier was awarded the commission for the Opéra in 1861 after a seven month long public competition process. The building, which Garnier dubbed Second Empire style, took more than 13 years to design and build and opened on December 12, 1874. To me, it is THE classic opera house in the world and served as the setting for Gaston Leroux's novel (and I guess Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical) The Phantom of the Opera.

Of the five spots we went to snap some nighttime pics, the Opéra was probably the least impressive from a photography standpoint. Sure the building is lit, but it's not spectacular. But the main issue with getting a great picture at night is that to get far enough away to get the entire front face of the building in the frame requires shooting it across a minimum of about three lanes of traffic. That might be overcome if the dome of the building, which is one of its more impressive features, were illuminated but it's not. Ultimately, for a theatrical performance house, it's not lit very theatrically.

Musée du Louvre

When Louis XIV moved the royal residence of the king of France from Paris to Versailles, the former residence, the Louvre Palace, became a place to display the French royalty's art collection. Turns out that function stuck. Today the Musée du Louvre is the world's second most visited museum in the world (after the Palace Museum in China). Just like the Eiffel Tower, we tried to stay away from the Louvre but the lure of cutting the line with our Paris Museum Pass and fighting our way through the crowds to see the Mona Lisa was just too much. And yes, that's all we did here. The art for me is from the wrong period; give me 20th Century all the way!

The main entrance to the museum is through the 1989 mostly underground addition to the Museum designed by world famous architect I.M. Pei and the 68 foot high glass pyramid that forms the centerpiece of that design now serves as a magnificent front door. The pyramid caused a lot of folks a good deal of consternation when it was proposed. I visited the Louvre for the first time in 1994 and instantly fell in love. The placement of this object in the open sided court of the former Palace seems so delicate and light compared to the rest of the building.

We found the pyramid to be lit in a gorgeous purple color at night and we could get close enough to photograph it quite impressively. It probably helped that it wasn't quite fully dark when we arrived; you can see the cloudy almost night sky in the background behind the pyramid. I tried taking photographs both frontally and at an angle but found the straight ahead shot of the pyramid focused on the main entrance facade to work the best; I love how the dome of the old Palace building fits into the top of the pyramid perfectly.

Notre-Dame de Paris

You can blame this entire post on this one photograph. We didn't plan on making nightly trips out to monuments in the city before we arrived in Paris. In fact, we didn't even consider it when we got there. It was only after we decided to take a walk one night over to the Île de la Cité to see the Cathedral of Notre Dame and stuck around long enough to see the lights turned on that we first got this idea.

Of the five buildings we visited at night, Notre-Dame de Paris is clearly the oldest. In fact, with its construction starting in 1163 (!!!), it's older than the other four buildings in this post combined. This is the first time in three visits to Paris that I didn't set foot inside the Cathedral and yes, just like the Louvre (which we didn't resist enough) and the Eiffel Tower, that was intentional. This trip was about exploring Paris a little bit off the beaten path. A little bit, not a lot.

The picture of Notre-Dame de Paris is probably the best photograph I took while in Paris. We spent about an hour or so looking at the west facade of the church while the sun sunk behind us and the lights came on, illuminating the main elevation of the building slowly at first while the lights warmed up and then ultimately in a warm glow after about 20 to 30 minutes. The setting sun got us a bright light blue sky to offset the bright yellow Cathedral wall while a number of people like us stood watching the night descend in the unlit plaza.

Sacré-Coeur

On our first full day in Paris, we climbed as far up the dome of Sacré-Coeur, the late 19th/early 20th century Catholic Church, as they would allow us to go. On our last full day in Paris, we returned to the highest point in the city of Paris where the church sits to see what the place looks like at night. The result is above. 

Sacré-Coeur looks old but it's not. Not by Paris standards, anyway. It was erected from 1875 to 1914 to commemorate the French defeat at the hands of the Prussians (read: Germans) during the Franco-Prussian War. Does it seem odd to build a massive church to commemorate a lost war? It did to me too but apparently the Church thought it appropriate to blame the loss to the Prussians on the moral decline of the French in the approximately 100 years since the French Revolution. The church, I guess, was to remind the Parisians that God was watching. The Germans, of course, would be back twice in the next 70 years.

The stairs leading up to the front doors of Sacré-Coeur are apparently a popular place to sit and watch the sun set. Unfortunately for us, we arrived just about the time when night fell after an excellent meal of duck confit at the nearby Au Soleil de Montmartre restaurant. As a result, it looks like there's some sketchy mob waiting to storm the church. Other than the crowd (and the tree at the left of the frame, I guess) I like this picture. You can see the detail in the church's facade and I like the splash of muted color in the copper statues and the red banners. It's no picture of Notre-Dame de Paris, but I like it all the same. It was a good spot to spend some time on our last night before heading home. 

These nightly sojourns were a fun way to get out and see things in an almost totally spontaneous way. It was such a good idea, I'll probably make a list next time before I go. :)