It is always fun to look down on a city from above, and Paris is no exception. During a visit to the beloved capital of France people stand in line at the Tour Eiffel to rise up to the top and enjoy the vast views of this sprawling metropolis. The view from Montmartre is just as wonderful (and a lot cheaper!). But what I enjoy is going up to the top of a building that is just slightly higher than its surrounding buildings and get a closer look down from there.
In short, to view the roofs of Paris.
You get a good feel for a city from this viewpoint. On first sight it seems to be a bit chaotic and not necessarily pretty. You might even ask yourself whether these buildings were built without any plans or whether the construction workers ran out of material. But when you look closer you suddenly see some artwork or graffiti - or a rooftop garden where people have all their privacy (except for those nosy tourists gazing over from the Centre Pompidou like I did here).
There are little pieces of heaven, a personal oasis - wouldn't you like to hang out there, sipping a glass of red wine, biting in a fresh baguette and nibbling on some cheese? Sounds like paradise to me.
There are all these chimneys!
And there is also this:
I think these are firewalls - no, I'm not talking about the firewall on your computer that should prevent the onslaught of a computer virus. I'm talking about the original term referring to a wall intended to confine a fire within a line of adjacent buildings, as you can see in the photo above. They also seem to hold the before-mentioned chimneys which probably goes quite well with a firewall.
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It's July and that means I'm once again joining Tamara at Thyme for Tea's Paris in July. If you're fascinated by everything Paris and French, you can find a lot more links to posts there.
13 comments:
Fabulous photos! I love the view from the Beaubourg -- last time we were there the "gilets jaunes" were burning rubbish (or maybe buildings) on the Champs Elysee, and we could see the smoke plumes, as well as the rooftops as you photographed them. There's also a wonderful view from a high point in the 20th arrondissement.
be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Ahhhhhhh, this just makes me miss it even more. Great pictures Carola.
A new perspective (on almost anything) is welcome. And educatative (if that is a word).
Thank you.
Great shots, Carola. If there is one city that all the world might call its own, it is Paris. At least the Paris of my memory.
I am fascinated by the Parisian rooftops and I'm so delighted with each and every photo. What particularly gets me is the clean white of these buildings -- and those fabulous chimneys and roof gardens. Thanks for this one, Carola. I love it!
I really enjoyed these images, Carla, and yes I would really enjoy being on a rooftop sipping wine and enjoying cheese. When can we do that? We have never been to Paris and at the rate things are going seeing images may be the only way to travel. It's safe, but not as much fun 😟 My husband is a retired firefighter and so I showed him those firewalls. Thanks for the recent visit and comment on my blog, please feel free to visit anytime.
Such fantastic photos. Thanks so much for sharing!
Amazing photos! Thank you for sharing. It gives a whole different dimension to Paris or any city. Don't we all wish we had lovely rooftop balconies like these ones?
I've never seen such great pictures of the rooftops of Paris. Thank you for giving us all a look at a different side of Paris.
Gorgeous rooftop photos! I remember something similar from the top of the hotel we were staying at, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. They had a restaurant on their roof and it was surreal to sit there, enjoying a glass of wine while looking at everything around us. A wonderful memory! Thank you for bringing those back.
What a fabulous collection of photographs you've shared, thank you.
All the best Jan
You did accumulate pretty pictures of Paris roofs. Our apartment was on the 5th floor on a hill near Montmartre so our view from our main room was of Paris roofs. I grew up looking at them, not a garden or anything like that, and we could see all the way to the Tour Eiffel.
I took pictures then but they are in black and white. We can thank Baron Haussmann who in the mid 1800’s carried out a massive renovation of Paris. There is a law that buildings cannot have more than 6 floors in Paris– planning is strict in France, so even after all those years we still can admire the rooftops.
I guess I need to keep up with your posts better. Wow. I am a fan of rooftop views and these so really special!
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