holmephotography-blog

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Musée des Arts et Métiers

A last-minute decision coming up trumps for once!

With over 80,000 objects in their collection, the Musée des Arts et Métiers is a pretty important one. It is an industrial design museum, which houses the collection of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. The Conservatoire was founded back in 1794 with the task of preserving the most important scientific instruments and inventions. It is even thought to be one of the oldest technical…

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(Nearly) Midnight in Paris

Magical.

I’m now convinced there is nothing quite as stunning as Paris at night. A few weeks ago, we stayed out past our bedtimes to walk along the Seine, and boy, was it worth it! This isn’t going to be a long post, like last time, but just a humble collection of photos that can’t do the sights justice.

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Notre-Dame

Finishing of the Île de la Cité with a big one!

To finish up this tour of the Île de la Cité, we headed to the Notre-Dame, one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. The first stone of this spectacular structure was laid way back in 1163 by either Bishop Maurice de Sully, or Pope Alexander III, no one really knows. It was built to replace the existing Parisian cathedral, Saint-Etienne. Bishop Maurice de Sully had it torn down as it wasn’t…

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Le 14 juillet

The most French of days!

The ‘14 juillet‘, or ‘Bastille Day’ to the non-French, is the national day of celebration in France, and nowhere does it quite like Paris! The Champs-Élysées hosts the oldest, and largest, military parade in Europe, so this year I went along to watch! The 14 juillet celebrations commemorate the day when, back in 1789, the Bastille prison was stormed, thus informally marking the beginning of the…

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Fundraising

Earlier this year, my cousin sadly chose to take his own life. In light of this, my dad, sister, and I are running the Great North 5k on 9th September to raise money for a UK-based charity called Papyrus. Papyrus is a suicide prevention charity, who specifically target the younger population. Suicide is the main cause of death for young people in the UK – a fact which I find very worrying. If you…

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Palais de Justice

The penultimate part.

We’re on the home straight now in this series on the Île de la Cité with this fourth part about the Palais de Justice. First things first though. The Palais de Justice is really two things. It can refer to the Palais de la Cité complex, which includes the Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle. But it can also refer to the overground buildings containing the courtrooms. In this post I’ll focus more on…

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Sainte-Chapelle

Next instalment from the Île de la Cité

Here we are again, back on the Île de la Cité, and into one of the most colourful churches on Earth. Like the Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle is part of the Palais de la Cité complex which sits in the heart of the island. The church was built over six years, starting in 1242, as per the wishes of King Louis IX to house some of the relics of Christ that he’d gathered over the years – most notably…

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Carnaval Tropical de Paris

Yesterday, I stumbled into a carnival!

Yesterday, when I was out and about in Paris, I stumbled upon this amazing parade on the Champs-Élysées. As it turns out, it was the Carnaval Tropical de Paris, which this time round, was held along the length of Paris’ most famous street. This Caribbean festival takes place on the first weekend in July, which I didn’t know, and it’s incredible! Around the Arc de Triomphe, there were a handful of…

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Conciergerie

Two of five from Île de la Cité - the Conciergerie.

Part 2 of my Île de la Cité ventures took me to the Conciergerie, has been at times a prison, a royal residence, and is now a museum and functioning courts. This, along with Sainte Chapelle, are the last remnants of the oldest royal palace in France, which is pretty awesome. Before starting this properly, this one will be more of a history lesson than photographical exhibition, so you have been…

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Marché aux Fleurs

The first of five locations on Île de la Cité

A few weeks ago, my friend, Connie, and I spent an entire day on the Île de la Cité to take in all that it has to offer, which is a surprising amount for such a small piece of land. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting about and uploading my photos from this trip, in a sort of series, I suppose! Some of them may be heavier on the stories behind the locations, but today we’ll start more…

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On the Trail of the Impressionists

A morning in the footsteps of Renoir and Monet.

Throughout my time in France, I have been attending a language school who occasionally put on cultural trips to supplement our learning, which I think is great! Our most recent excursion took us from Chatou to Bougival, via Croissy-sur-Seine, to discover more about the Impressionist painters of the later 1880s. Starting at the RER station of Chatou-Croissy, we made our way down to the long…

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Jardin des Plantes

Back to the 5th arrondissement...

Home to thousands of plant species, the Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France, and forms one eleventh of the ‘Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle’ (No prizes for guessing it’s English translation). It’s also right over the road from the Grand Mosque of Paris so it’s easy to combine a trip to both places in the same afternoon. It covers 28 hectares, and was opened to the…

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Pooley Bridge to Howtown

A pretty easy stroll down Ullswater.

There’s a well-known short walking route running from Pooley Bridge to Howtown, so when I returned to the UK for a friend’s wedding (which was so much fun!), a group of friends and I decided to make a jolly day of it! The route begins on the eastern edge of Pooley Bridge and up onto the side of Askham Fell. It’s a great 7.5km (-ish) walk, which is pretty flat on the whole, so it’s an easy one for…

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Returning to the Grand Mosquée

One of the most incredible spots in Paris!

A few weeks ago, my friend and I had a thé a la menthe at the café just on the corner of the Grand Mosquée de Paris. And now, I’ve finally returned to take a look in and around the mosque properly. It is incredible! Both its decoration and architecture are a fantastic representation of Muslim art and culture, and I’m beyond glad I visited. The mosque was founded in the years following the First…

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Les Égouts de Paris

An experience I'll never forget...

You may think there’s nothing better to do on a bank holiday Monday than going to the Sewers of Paris, and you’d be right! It was quite an experience to say the least, and I think I may need to wash myself, and my clothes a few more times to feel clean again. The warning signs were there as soon as we entered: It also isn’t the most photogenic location in Paris, but I quite liked the industrial…

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Paris at Sunset

It's a heck of a view!

There is not prettier site, I think, than Paris when the sun is setting, and this time I witnessed it from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc itself is smack-bang in the middle of the Etoile roundabout, and at the end of the world famous Champs-Élysées. There’s quite a few steps up to the top (there is a lift but it currently isn’t working) but the pain is worth it! You can see for miles in…

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Château de Vincennes

Une histoire royale.

Set all the way out on the eastern side of Paris, the Château de Vincennes was used as a royal residence since the 12th century. Given its historical significance in France, I couldn’t say no to going – so my dear friend, Connie (who has featured on other posts, and also has her own blog) and I took a little trip to check it out! Construction began on the keep at the beginning of the Hundred…