Paris in the Rain
The Rainy Eiffel Tower
ISO: 200, Aperture: 3.5, Shutter Speed: 1/200
I've seen the most rain I've ever seen within 3 days in Paris than I have in most of my life. In fact, due to heavy rainfall on May 31, 2016 the Seine, the river that flows past the Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, flooded. They even had some delays in transportation because of the flooding. My family and I were there the day before and as you can see from these pictures, we also saw plenty of rain.
Despite the weather, we still made a point to visit some of Paris' famous locations and check some items off my bucket list. Our first stop was of course the Eiffel Tower (pictured above and below). This was absolutely incredible. Even though the rain and fog made it difficult to see from the top of the tower, what could be seen was breathtaking. I also found out that the top of the Eiffel Tower has a hidden apartment apparently, how neat! (To see the titles and camera settings of the pictures below or to view each photo larger, click on the image.)
After that Paris must, we visited a place that was on mine and my sister's bucket list: The Paris Love-Lock Bridge (pictured below). It is a symbolic bridge for the city of love. Romantics enjoy the idea of locking up their love for their significant others to show their devotion and affection for one another.
In the summer of 2015, the city officials had to take action to keep the infamous bridge from crumbling under the weight of the hefty locks. They removed all the locks and by doing so removed a piece of Paris' heart. This event made international news. They are now taking additional precautions to make sure the bridge stays safe and doesn't collapse. In some areas of the bridge, we noticed the railings had open ends, making it pointless to put locks on in that area because they would just slide off. There are some sections where it is still okay to place locks, and those areas are already covered from new travelers after last years love lock cleanse. I'm sure this continued allowance makes the pushy tradesmen, who sell overpriced locks and Sharpies on the bridge, very happy.
My family and I got to participate in the famous tradition of placing a lock on the bridge with our name on it and throwing away the key into the Seine river. Here are the pictures from that experience. (To see the titles and camera settings of the pictures below or to view each photo larger, click on the image.)
As you can see, the rain didn't stop us from getting our fill of Paris. It did make it difficult to sit on the upper level of the uncovered, double decker tour bus though (which I did in order to get the pictures I wanted). There are still some things I have yet to do here (like see the Mona Lisa), but all in all we crammed a number of lifelong memories into our short 3 day trip to Paris.
All pictures were taken on my Nikon D3100 with my Sigma 18-250mm or Nikon 35 mm f/1.8 lens.
