I decided to go for a late night stroll on Saturday and ended up at Place Saint-Michel in the student district not far from Notre Dame. Where else could I have been able to order a crêpe with Nutella and bananas after midnight? For the record, the crêpe was amazing.
Along the way I captured this image of the Pont Saint-Michel (Saint-Michel Bridge), one of 37 bridges over the Seine River in Paris. Those bridges come in all shapes in sizes, with several of them pedestrian only. This particular bridge links the left bank of the Seine with Île de la Cité, one of only two remaining natural islands in Paris. The island, on which the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral is located, is historically viewed as the center of Paris.
The Pont Saint-Michel, which was built in 1857, is quite distinctive in appearance. If you look closely you will see two large N’s, each surrounded by a laurel wreath. These are symbols of Napoleon III’s Second Empire that lasted from 1852 to 1870. In the right hand side of the photo you can see the lights of the embankment on the Seine and above them the lights at street level.
Mike Powell 
Entrancing! You’ve given me silver and gold. The reflections made me think of “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee…” Thank you 🙂
I know that song. If it is the one that I am thinking of, we sang it in Sunday School or church camp. One of the things that I recall most distinctively is the body movements to accompany the words “walking and leaping and praising God.” 🙂
Yes, that song was in my mind! I’ve just checked and that part of the song exactly corresponds to the KJV Acts 3:6 … makes me happy thinking about it 🙂
I grew up with the KJV of the Bible and many of the scriptures with which I am most familiar sound odd in other translations. The Psalms are especially notable and it grates on me to hear Psalm 23 without “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” I need the “yea,” the “thou,” and the “thy.” 🙂
I totally get that … yes.
This is all kinds of beautiful, Mike. Thanks for the effort of going out at night, although I suspect the crêpe helped 😉
Night photography is fun. I carry along a mini tripod in my coat pocket that I use for situations like this. The shutter speed for this shot was just about 3 seconds. I have relatively steady hands, but definitely can’t hold the camera still for that long.
I carry a mini-tripod too. I used it for early morning shots along the river.
Ah, great minds…
To me Paris is the home of Nutella. I had no idea such a thing existed. LOL. Of course everyone else looked at me aghast, but there it is…my discovery of Nutella 😀😀
I know I can get Nutella at home now, but for me it is always something exotic, reserved for trips to foreign countries. 🙂