Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Paris from the sky


Here is a photo I have been willing to take for a long time, but planes rarely fly over Paris when they land at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Mine did today! The photo quality is not very good, but good enough for you to see (click on it to enlarge it) the Eiffel Tower, the Trocadero and even the Tour Montparnasse! I'm glad to come home, even though I found out that a storm hit France two days ago and killed about 60 people. Of course, compared to the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, it's nothing, but still, it is not really nice to hear when you return from vacation. Anyway, I'm glad to reconnect with you all.

42 comments:

  1. Wow! ET! ET!! ET!!! and a whole lot of other great stuff! (I'd like to delete the hideous tower, but . . .)
    Glad you're back safe and sound. This is a wonderful picture! Bravo.

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  2. I love these kinds of photos! Thanks, Eric.

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  3. BTW, did you know that when you're going to land soon and they tell you to turn off all your electronic equipment, that includes your camera? Me neither, but now that I do, I still take photos from the plane. I guess if you'd been sitting on the other side, we'd be looking at Montmartre?

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  4. WOOOOOOOOOW lucky you!! True, today was a beautiful day over Paris speaking of the weather!
    I thought you'd be happy to come back with this welcoming blue sky ! I could not imagine though you'd also take the opportunity of this fabulous view and shot!
    I love this panoramic view and your photo is good (IMO)!!!
    Good Paris night to you!

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  5. Welcome home guys, and thanks for this bird's eye view from your re-entry. We were concerned to hear of the wind storm and are wishing everyone that was affected by it well.
    Hope you feel refreshed by your adventures and enjoy a great week ahead at home.
    -Kim

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  6. Love, love, love this photo!!!! It went right onto my slideshow.

    I snap from the plane whenever I can -- there are so few chances to get an aerial shot. Actually, I think the quality is pretty good - many times scratches on the window mar the image.

    I feel like I'm looking down at what I've just been reading: so, I'll recommend "Around and About Paris" as a great guide to the arrondissements. (3 volumes by Thirza Vallois - check Amazon.)

    On the other news -- 60 dead! {: (
    What a frightful storm. I'm so glad you missed it. No landing in 140kph winds, that's for sure!

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  7. Wow! Wonderful photo. Welcome, home. We're glad you're back safe and sound.

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  8. Lucky you, that you got this very rare flyby! My name isn't CDG for nothing,and I have NEVER, in my hundreds of landings at ORY and CDG, have I ever been lucky enough to see this. Triple WOW!
    I loved blowing this photo up, and looking at the details.

    Carrie: I can't wait to read that book!

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  9. Not easy to do - congratulations on showing us the whole city in miniature!

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  10. This photo would be great on next year's calendar.

    It is horrible about the storm. We get those in Florida -- just awful.

    We get horrific earthquakes here in San Francisco. We are always bracing ourselves for the next "big one".

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  11. Carrie -- I have all of Thirza Vallois' volumes on Paris. What a great suggestion. But don't forget the 4th: Romantic Paris (!)
    PHX -- I flew over the city only once, late at night—on my way to Athens from NYC—and I burst into tears when I saw the ET from the window.

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  12. Oh my gosh, Alexa I imagine one day I will do the same & burst into tears when I finally get to see my beloved ET in person!
    Eric, glad you are home safe & so sorry to hear about the loss of lives in France due to the storm.
    Thanks for always being here to brighten people's lives with your amazing pictures of Paris. It may seem small compared to world events but it really is the little things that count the most anyway when it comes to sharing something positive & you are certainly a positive inspiration.
    : )

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  13. What a fun photo. Welcome back.

    My condolences to all those who lost a loved one.

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  14. Wow, what a shot!!!
    I'm shocked they let planes fly over Paris, though. It was "illegal" for as long as I can remember (the Concorde was an exception ;)

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  15. Welcome back, Eric. And thanks for this great shot. I can even see my office building ;-)

    This sunny morning, 2 big "Super-Puma" helicopters were slowly flying around the ET... Maybe our guest President Medvedev was having a "Paris by Air" tour... He probably picked the idea on PDP, who knows?
    ;-)

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  16. ...love the picture...not bad quality Eric, considering you took it from a plane:)...I love taking pictures from the plane when I am landing in Chicago or Vancouver, the only problem with Vancouver is that they never fly over city centre like this picture...

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  17. May I say, spectacularly brilliant panorama of Paris, Eric.

    No Tenin perspective this time!

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  18. What a great photo! And thank you for thinking of us as you were coming back from holiday.

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  19. Fantastic when enlarged. It makes me long to be set down anywhere in that image so I can wander, wander, wander.

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  20. Gasp, be still my beating heart! ;) Eric, "you da man"! This photo ROCKS and makes me very homesick.

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  21. Terribly sad news of storm disaster.
    I also read that winds at the top of the Eiffel tower reached speeds of up to 175km/h

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  22. Truly awesome! So glad that you're back home, safe and sound.

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  23. One more follower who appreciates your good work.

    Keep going...

    Kind Regards from Germany:
    Blumenfee3 (flowerfairy3)

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  24. Thanks for the photo . I am a nevous flyer an usually ask for an aisle seat but seeing this makes me think I should to change my habits.

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  25. I notice that Liberty Enlightening the World is also visible.
    I have been on the top of the Tour Montparnasse and it has the best view of Paris because you can see all of Paris except the Tour.

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  26. There are just so many little things that I love about this picture. It's great having some many wonderful pieces of the city together in one image.

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  27. its a big and beautiful puzzle...every piece fits perfectly!

    my prayers go out to all who have been affected by all of these tragedies any loss of life is heart breaking.

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  28. Incroyable!! I guess we're not in Kansas anymore Toto!!

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  29. @PHX-CDG. Wow, I can't believe YOU never saw that!

    @Lois. Fortunately the storm we just had is nothing comparable to the ones in Florida and they happen only very rarely in Europe. But still...
    As for earthquakes, well that is another story. I don't know how you Californians handle this risk!

    @Lily. I too hope you can see the ET soon ;-)

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  30. brattcat, I was thinking the same thing! I'm glad I wasn't atop the ET during the storm.

    It's sobering to hear of lives lost.

    Amazing, fantastic photo, Eric, thank you.

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  32. I handle it by recalling my tornado days in Illinois.

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  33. Eric:

    One mind blowing shot! Two thumbs up! Such a delight to enlarge and be able to explore areas that many of have personally explored or for those dreaming of visiting Paris to get a good "lay of the land."

    A request: I am sure this is only one of a series. How about posting those other shots, if they are worth it to your "making of" blog.

    I did some tweaking of your shot in Photoshop to get rid of the blue cast and add a bit of saturation and contrast and OMG! this shot is a WOW!

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  34. LOVE IT!!!!!! I can see "my" neighborhood...the one I stay in when I visit Paris. Oh, I can't wait to return soon! Great photo, Eric!

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  35. I've clicked on this photo to find the Eiffel Tower. Wow~ Really Nice, Eric!! :)

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  36. This is a fantastic photo Eric. How thrilling to overfly lovely Paris and see it's design and axes.

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  37. OH, OH, OH!! How incredibly gorgeous! That is absolutely lovely. Okay, I could go on for some time, so in the words of Suzy,

    Eiffel Tower!
    Eiffel Tower!!
    Eiffel Tower!!!

    Thank you so much for sharing this.

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  38. Hey, I can't view your site properly within Opera, I actually hope you look into fixing this.

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  39. It is a very informative and useful post thanks it is good material to read this post increases my knowledge

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