On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
This series was created by Alain Chamot (1971-2020).
Lapassionara
Steve in Mendocino’s photos of Paris have been lovely, and they are a balm for my troubled psyche in these dark days. I was in Paris fairly recently, in October, 2019 and January, 2020, exactly one year ago this week.
I have some photos of the post-fire Notre Dame that I thought jackals might find interesting. Otherwise, I tend to photo small street scenes, as the streets of Paris are a never-ending source of charm and amusement.
This photo shows that almost every stone of the cathedral has been buttressed with scaffolding in some way. This view from the left bank actually minimizes the shock of the damage. The saddest view, for me, is of the place in front of the cathedral, which was for a while completely closed off to pedestrians. This place is one of the essential “heartbeats” of the city. For it to be off limits is so heartbreaking.
I took this while watching the cranes in action, lifting the burned debris into a truck. On the north side of the cathedral, someone has organized an exhibit of large photographs affixed the the construction fencing that keeps prying curiosity seekers from the job site. These photos provide a close-up of the damage and some explanation of the task faced to those working on the reconstruction. It is daunting, but progress is being made.
This little hotel caught my eye, as it was festooned with flowers. There are other small establishments in Paris that make a point of adding a floral touch to their exterior. On one trip, I saw a restaurant in Paris with blooming wisteria climbing over its awning. There is one entire wall near the BHV that is a vertical garden, complete with hydrangea bushes.
I started traveling to Paris in January in 2017. I planned the trip before the election, as I had a bad feeling about HRC’s chances. I decided that I would give myself something to look forward to. This turned out to be such a good idea that I continued the practice, until, of course, this January. The trip in January 2020 was fun, although the Metro strike affected my daily excursions, and I tended to stay on foot and relatively close to my apartment. As my week was winding down, I began seeing big lampshades in the streets nearby, hanging in the air. This was to celebrate a “Decor Expo.” Or so I think.
In addition to the lampshades, some entrepreneurs arranged furniture and the like in small tableaux, enclosed in lucite boxes. Who needs a convention hall, when the streets of Paris are available.
sab
Thank you for these. The street scenes are lovely. Lampshades?!
I have been wondering about Notre Dame. Thanks.
JPL
Flowers do make everything better. Thank you for the pictures and I hope you can return to Paris soon.
Laura Too
Beautiful, thanks!
Wag
@JPL:
Lucite boxes festooned with beautiful pillows make things better, too. Great shots!
Princess
I’m heading to Paris for a few weeks in January 2022 (if all goes well) so it is nice to see these photos. I’m wondering about the weather at that time. I’ve been there in March and in April and to me Paris is always cold, grey and a little rainy and this looks no different, but maybe colder.
randy khan
@Princess:
My wife and I have been going to Paris in January or February for years (not this year, of course). It can be pretty cold, and it seems to rain a fair amount. But there also have been some surprisingly warm days, too.
randy khan
When my wife and I were in Paris last February, we spent maybe 45 minutes doing a circle of Notre Dame. It was depressing and impressive all at once. As part of the restoration process, they’ve removed pretty much all of the windows (which, luckily, generally were not damaged, something I consider a bit of a miracle) so it really seems kind of skeletal and even more damaged than it was. But you see how much they’ve done to make sure it still stands, too, which is kind of like a promise of what is to come.
Lapassionara
@Princess: I was pleasantly surprised at the weather. Be prepared for rain for sure, but there were sunny days too. The days are short, but when the sun is out, it is very lovely.
RedDirtGirl
Sort of related? There are a couple of good french Netflix shows right now. Call My Agent! about a talent agency in Paris, and Lupin, a cool crime caper series.
arrieve
I love Paris every moment, every moment of the year….it’s cold in the winter, and very damp, but the upside is it’s much less crowded. And it’s still Paris — you can wander those magical streets, then stop for a croque madame and a glass of wine, then wander some more.
I’ve been thinking that when this is all over Paris is the first big trip I’ll take. I’m not sure I’m ever going to feel safe wandering too far from home again, and I may never travel as much as I did in the years before Covid, but I think I can do Paris. I can always go to Paris.
MelissaM
Re. the flowered street corner, how were they planted? I’ve seen roses growing in the cracks between house and sidewalk in The Hague. Sometimes beauty can find a way.
JanieM
Lovely — thanks. It’s nice to get a little insight into what they’re doing at Notre Dame.
Steve from Mendocino
Thanks for these. I’ve been wondering what Notre Dame looked like, but was afraid of what I’d see if I went looking. These help me heal.
Lapassionara
@MelissaM: I think the flowers in this photo were plastic, as I saw no way that they could have any dirt to grow in. The wisteria I saw one April was real, growing in a small patch of earth close to the restaurant. Knowing wisteria as I do, I envisioned a warren of roots under the pavement. Some establishments use big planters for the greenery. There is a small cafe in Montmartre that proudly displays several types of plastic flowers, as well as a patch of fake plastic sod on the small sidewalk in front.
GuillaumeaimeParis
Was the photo of the lucite box taken in the Place de Furstenburg?
CaseyL
Lovely photos and I, too, wondered how things were with Notre Dame. Still looks sad, but not as tragic as just after the fire.
@Lapassionara:
You’ve inadvertently answered one of my long-time questions about why there are so few trees along the streets in Paris, even now when the medieval reasons for keeping the wild out of the city no longer apply.
Tree roots! Tree roots are notorious for wrecking sidewalks. Paris is a city of walkers, a city of sidewalks – and narrow ones, at that. Plant some lovely big trees along the sidewalks, and spend the next thousand years having to repair them all the time.
Xenos
Great work!
I was in Paris for a couple days in June, 202o (moving my son’s stuff out of student housing when it was clear the school was not reopening), and it was quite locked down, not tourists. Some of the professional panhandlers were pretty aggressive.
That Wisteria is quite a mystery, maybe the roots are routed into barrels of soil in the basement.
Steve in the ATL
Going to Paris is always an excellent plan, regardless of time of year or weather or, since the B-J crowd skews older, German occupation.
And I’ll bet that anyone who has visited Paris more than once has been there during a transit strike!
lapassionara
@GuillaumeaimeParis: Yes! Billed as the most beautiful place in Paris, I believe.