It seems fitting I share the panoramas I started to take along my trip this summer as there were times where it took more than one look or one simple photo to take in the amazing sights around me.
Here are some shots from my trip that I captured with the panoramic function on my iPhone. A couple have appeared in my previous posts, but it’s fun to see them all together here one after another.
When I first arrived in Paris I had to go to one of my favourite places- Montmartre. Here’s the view from the steps of the Sacre Coeur on a cloudy day.
Being able to explore inside the glorious Palais Garnier, I was almost inspired to buy opera tickets, but never ended up back there.
Next up, the Louvre. I took this photo from the less-populated entrance.
It was a few days in to my first week in Paris that I discovered my new favourite place, the Jardin du Luxembourg, including the palace, and palm trees and pond (oh my!)…
I spent many evenings having picnics with friends here, and daytimes getting some sunshine, reading, or people watching.
I honestly didn’t know that you aren’t supposed to take pictures inside the Shakespeare Company Bookstore. It serves me right, then, for if you look closely there’s a weird morphing/disappearing person in the middle of this photo.
Thanks to my amazing French teacher, we got to go inside the Sorbonne (one of the oldest universities in Europe), and this is one of the incredible lecture halls…. including the carved wood ceiling and fresco painting.
The Musée Carnavalet was one of the first museums I came across, and the grand courtyard was everything you’d expect from a French garden. Stylish, sophisticated, and completely symmetrical.
It was inside the Chapel at Château Vincennes on a beautiful and sunny day that I captured this photo.
The view from the top of the Centre Pompidou allowed me this far off view of the Sacre Coeur, and the entire skyline of Paris.
It was an overcast day in July when I couldn’t leave Monet’s Garden without a couple panoramic shots of the water lilies and romantic overhanging willow branches.
The evening sight of Lyon before we embarked on our cruise down the Saône and then the Rhône river.
And Lyon by day. The view on a rainy day. Red-tiled rooftops as far as the eye could see reminded us of Florence, Italy.
In Viennes we learned all about the Cathedral of St Maurice, which was built in the early 11th century and then added to for almost 500 years.
In Arles we toured this amphitheatre, where events still take place today.
Avignon during their Theatre Festival is truly papered from one end to the other with posters of the hundreds and hundreds of shows going on. And all along the way roaming artists and performers acted out scenes and handed out pamphlets to encourage people to come see their productions.
And yes, we did take an evening ride on the ferris wheel before leaving Avignon.
With the freedom of picking up a rental of a car, we explored the fields, orchards, hills, and vineyards of Provence and found ourselves staying down the road from here; near Carombe and Bedoin, with a beautiful view of the famous Mont Ventoux.
The lavender fields near Sault were every bit as amazing as we dreamed. Possibly better.
And the lavender fields went on and on….
The hilltop town of Gordes was a welcome sight after twisting and turning mountain roads.
One of our favourite places we discovered in Provence- Roussillon, also called ‘The Red City’.
The view of the Alps from the top of Mont Ventoux.
And August brought us to the northern coast of France, and the stunning view along the walkway to Mont Saint Michel.
This was the view from our hotel room. We were so glad to stay on the island to appreciate the magic of Saint Michel at the end of the day without the swarms of tourists that flood it in the daytime.
The view of Mont Saint Michel at dusk. It was incredible to have the tide completely out and be able to simply walk barefoot in the sand out to this point to see it. 🙂
Amsterdam was a beautiful, interesting city and we could have wandered the canal-lined streets for days.
The city of Amsterdam is full of tourists from all over the world and full of Dutch souvenirs. One colourful sight? Clogs.
We started our exploration of the city of Prague at the oldest Medieval castle in the world, and St Vitus Cathedral.
Definitely our favourite place to start our adventures from each day: Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic.
One of the many bridges in Prague.
The colourful buildings of Prague that look like they are made of white chocolate and candy…. and of course the Astronomical Clock and Old Town Square in the background.
When we went to see the open-air film festival at the Parc de La Villette, we barely scratched the surface of this amazing area full of various gardens, sights, and activities. This dome we later found out held the IMAX centre at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie- the largest science museum in Europe.
Our last apartment had the most beautiful view of the Sacre Coeur, and so this post comes full circle, with one of the places that made me fall in love with this part of the world. Hope you enjoyed seeing my summer’s adventures in a panoramic summary.
I warn you, a lot of photos are taken when a long weekend happens in Paris. And when I travel to a castle. and garden. and the opera. 🙂
It was busy, but not too crazy on the Chateau grounds. I was happy to wander along the pathways and explore the vast grounds, making use of all the trees on either side of most pathways for a little shade. 
It was a hot day! The line up for the gelato stand was neverending, from the moment I arrived until after the gardens were closed, there were at least 15 people waiting. 
The garden and grounds are free to explore, and there are some amazingly tranquil spots next to all the water features, fountains, and fields. 
On this particular day (or weekend, perhaps?) there were several groups of dancers around the south end of the grounds, dressed in simple black clothing, and doing very modern dance in three separate locations, to recorded instrumental/electronic music. It was interesting, and reminded me of the part in the movie White Christmas, where Danny Kaye dances with those women in purple dresses to a piece called “Choreography”. I watched all three groups and then decided to explore the castle. To get in to see the Chateau was actually the longest line up I have been in so far, but at least it was cool inside.
This Chateau is the most furnished castle in France, and the rooms that had been kept in spectacular shape were some of the most ornate I have ever seen- from wallpaper to frescos to furniture and embroidery, it was all very beautiful. There were also many portraits of royalty and wealthy families of Frnace, and often, a marble bust nearby of the same people. They were remarkable. 
After the castle I decided to find a shady spot to enjoy the garden and I sat by a quiet pond in a small enclosure of trees and bushes, and was sketching for almost an hour when I realized how eerily quiet the grounds had become. I came out from my ‘hiding place’ to see no other people walking along the pathways or sitting out in the sun. I then heard a faint whistle blown and quickly came upon a security guard on a bike, who was going around the grounds to inform the stragglers that the garden was now closed. Whoops! An interesting thing about France I have found is that all the gardens I have come across have fences and gates that can be locked, and they close every evening- so on Sunday at this particular location the closing time was 6:00pm. It was 6:10 when I actually walked off the grounds. 🙂
There are a lot of stairs in a tight spiral, so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who gets claustrophobic easily. The sky was clear and there was a nice breeze so we hung out at the top for a while. It’s funny, because about an hour later, and for a good portion of the remainder of the day, it was overcast and rainy. Good timing! 
There was, of course, a gift shop, and an area inside with interactive models of thebuilding you could manipulate to learn more about the sculptures and design, using projections both on a model and on the wall behind. 
We walked down the Champs Élysées, admiring the designer stores or ridiculously glam-ified regular stores like Abercrombie and Fitch (no, seriously, golden gates and a lit walkway that makes you feel like the red carpet and the Oscars venue is right around the corner). 
We stopped at this amazing building that looked political rather than religious, and discovered a grand church inside. 
We then found ourselves at the Opera-the Palais Garnier, and had to go in and see- especially since your ticket is discounted if you are a student! Huzzah! 
There were numerous machetes of shows produced there, and some amazing costumes on display as well. Gorgeous fabrics, metal chest pieces, and feather adorned helmets were among them. Sadly, I somehow did not get a picture of any of these. 
After going for dinner at the pub at Lisa’s hostel, we went back to the Marais for a little Spoken Word Paris- which hosted an open mic night in the basement of Le Chat Noir bar. There was quite a mix of entertaining poets, and we ended up only staying for one of the three rounds in order to still have time to meet up with a friend of Lisa’s who took us to enjoy one last crêperie before Lisa flew home to Canada the next morning. After some gourmet crêpes and great conversation, we all went our separate ways in the rainy evening that eventually turned into a thunderstorm. It was a fantastic way to end the unexpected long weekend! See? Lots of photos. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed them!
Nothing But Blue Skies 