Bienvenue a Paris!

Woke up on Sunday morning so excited to get out and explore the city!

We walked from our hotel - near Moulin Rouge area, down towards Opera district. En route, snapping hundreds of images (d'accord!), we stumbled across a Starbucks no less! My wish list for Paris was a Starbucks city tumbler - I collect these mugs for every city I go to - readers take note lol!! From Starbucks, we walked to the Eiffel Tower.

It was a long, but pleasant walk. Lots of stops to capture metro signs, classic Parisienne buildings and all the tourist attractions - Invalides, lots of bridges and museum buildings.

When we got to the Eiffel Tower, it started raining. At first, a little shower, but then the heavens opened. I stopped off at the "tourist taverns" and bought a brolly. In the mean time, Steve waited outside and someone tried to get into my camera bag on his back. I noticed the zip undone thought it strange, then we pieced it all together. Thankfully, nothing was stolen, but be warned!

The rain turned into torrential rain and we got drenched. And very cold. We decided the best thing to do was get on a tourist bus and travel round the city that way, out of the rain, but still a very cold bus!

From there we were chauffeured around the city and decided to get off at Notre Damn for a coffee at a nice cafe we went to 6 years ago. Chocolat chaud devoured - and still cold! Didn't even take the camera out - it must have been bad!

Back on le autobus to Opera and a half hour hike to the hotel. Hot shower and bed for 3 hours to get over the day! God we are getting old!!

Woke up lovely and refreshed (ish) and went for dinner. Decided on the Italian again, purely because the service was so good. And food delicious. Had a lovely evening in there, 2 free wines and 2 free limoncellos - cannot complain! We said our goodbyes and went on a wander of Paris at night.

Walked the 15mins to Moulin Rouge. It looks hideous in the day light, but tolerable at night with the lights on - adds a bit more atmosphere. I must admit, it is quite an anticlimax that place. It's meant to be all pleasure and pizazz - but it is the hype more than anything. Some cool snaps though, so at least that was something.

Four Irish bars on the same road, so would have been rude not to pop in! One Guinness and one coke - 11euros!!! Shocker. From here - Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower at night is one of the main reasons I want to run my photography holidays in this city. It's not called the City of Light for nothing. When le Tower Eiffel sparkles- it is just so magical and a spectacular moment in photography. If you can capture it effectively, you truly have spectacular images. I will let my photos speak for themselves ;)

We jumped in a taxi from Montmarte to Eiffel at 11:50. I was adamant the light show was on the hour, every hour for 10 mins. Sadly, it started at 2 minutes to the hour and had finished by the time we got out of the taxi. Gutted wasnt the word! So, a wander under the tower and decided what to do - wait an hour for the light show - or back to the hotel?

We waited! Much to Steve's disappointment of being cold and tired ;) At this point I got a second wind and was flying around the four pillars of the tower getting shots from different angles, talking to the police about the time of the light show etc. I even was "photographer" for two separate couples that wanted their photos taken under the tower - both commended me ha! I am so accommodating lol. The time flew by.

We hiked up to Trocadero and it was empty. I loved it. We had Trocadero and the Tower all to ourselves. Got the mini tripod set up with the correct settings, and counted down to 1am. On the dot, the light show started. I nearly cried. It was more beautiful than I had remembered. I rattled off tonnes of images on different lenses and different effects and the images are, well, I think some of the best I have taken, but it was the subject that made it. At 01:05, the light show stopped and all the tower lights switched off. If the tower goes to sleep at that time, then it was time for us too.

A cab ride home, with a very friendly driver who was helping me with my Francais!

It was the perfect end to our first full day.

If you are interested in taking photos like this one on a photography holiday - please get in touch via website at www.ssphotography.biz