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Paris: mid-afternoon looking out over the rooftops of Montmartre towards the Eiffel Tower from a room at TimHotel - Montmartre. So many chimneys… — I return to New York City in 2 days. Paris has been an amazing journey. I have been doing the bulk of my updates (photos) to my Twitter. I am looking forward to going back home to make many substantial posts about my month in France. —- View: My portfolio, My Gear List, My NYC Blog, On G+,email me, or ask for help.

Paris: mid-afternoon looking out over the rooftops of Montmartre towards the Eiffel Tower from a room at .

So many chimneys…

I return to New York City in 2 days. Paris has been an amazing journey. I have been doing the bulk of my updates (photos) to . I am looking forward to going back home to make many substantial posts about my month in France.

—-

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Paris - Eiffel Tower at Night Paris is the feeling you get, on nights when there was nothing else but dreams and stars in the eyes: glints of hope masquerading as star-dust. Paris is the star-dust that gleams in the eyes on nights like this when dreams merge with reality. — Taken on a magical night last night at the Shangri-La Hotel Paris — I opened up my inbox here on my travel photography blog for the first time in months and just realized there are dozens of messages (!). As I am actively still traveling, I just wanted to say that if I haven’t responded, I promise I am not ignoring you. I have just been on the go for the last 3 weeks here in France and have been mainly on my phone (this laptop moment is rare!). One of the main questions I seem to be getting is how I got my start in photography and consequently in travel photography. I did at some point attempt to start to answer those questions over on my New York City blog on my About Page. However, you have all made me realize that I sorely need to update that page and possibly make a series of posts about 1) my photography career, and 2) a more in-depth discussion about how I got from where I was nearly five years ago to where I am now (it’s a jagged path full of heartbreak, tears, and a lot of exquisitely beautiful moments). I plan on doing this once I am back in New York City next week after I recover from this epic adventure. In the meantime, thank you for all of the super-kind messages and discussion. —- View: My portfolio, My Gear List, My NYC Blog, On G+,email me, or ask for help.

Paris - Eiffel Tower at Night

Paris is the feeling you get,

on nights when

there was nothing else

but dreams

and stars in the eyes:

glints of hope

masquerading as

star-dust.

Paris is the

star-dust

that gleams

in the eyes

on nights

like this

when dreams

merge

with reality.

Taken on a magical night last night at the

I opened up my inbox here on my travel photography blog for the first time in months and just realized there are dozens of messages (!). As I am actively still traveling, I just wanted to say that if I haven’t responded, I promise I am not ignoring you. I have just been on the go for the last 3 weeks here in France and have been mainly on my phone (this laptop moment is rare!).

One of the main questions I seem to be getting is how I got my start in photography and consequently in travel photography. I did at some point attempt to start to answer those questions over on my New York City blog on my .

However, you have all made me realize that I sorely need to update that page and possibly make a series of posts about 1) my photography career, and 2) a more in-depth discussion about how I got from where I was nearly five years ago to where I am now (it’s a jagged path full of heartbreak, tears, and a lot of exquisitely beautiful moments).

I plan on doing this once I am back in New York City next week after I recover from this epic adventure. In the meantime, thank you for all of the super-kind messages and discussion.

—-

View: , , , ,, or ask for help.

Paris - Eiffel Tower Room View - Shangri-La The view from the terrace of my room at the Shangri-La Paris Hotel today. It doesn’t get much better than this. — I have been posting all of my in-the-moment Paris updates to my Twitter, in case you are curious. I tend to post more sporadically to the blog since I am still actively traveling around Paris. Twitter has been getting a lot more of my spontaneous photography posts. Don’t worry though. I will be doing massive South of France and Paris photo-sets with writing once I am back in New York City :) —- View: My portfolio, My Gear List, My NYC Blog, On G+,email me, or ask for help.

Paris - Eiffel Tower Room View - Shangri-La

The view from the terrace of my room at the today.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

I have been posting all of my in-the-moment Paris updates to , in case you are curious. I tend to post more sporadically to the blog since I am still actively traveling around Paris. Twitter has been getting a lot more of my spontaneous photography posts.

Don’t worry though. I will be doing massive South of France and Paris photo-sets with writing once I am back in New York City :)

—-

View: , , , ,, or ask for help.

Paris - Citadines Tour Eiffel - Rooms with a View

I had the pleasure of staying at for 3 nights during my visit to Paris. Located in the former village of Grenelle, Citadines - Tour Eiffel is in a prime location situated across from a major metro hub with tons of cafes, restaurants, and marketplaces all within walking distance. It is also quite close to the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, Invalides, and Champs des Mars. In fact, while staying there, I was able to easily take the metro across the street to Versailles (with a transfer) for the day which made things quite convenient.

The really cool thing about the hotel is that some of the rooms on the upper floors of the hotel feature really beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower.

However, what makes this hotel standout from many others is that it is known as an aparthotel or apartment hotel because it also functions as a place to stay for extended periods of time if you wish. People can stay for a few nights, a few weeks, a month, a few months, even a year if that is what they wish. This makes this a great place for families or individuals looking to relocate who may need a habitable living space centrally located in the city they are trying to relocate to. It also makes it a great place for people who are looking to try to live in a city to get a feel for the city while having the comforts of home.

An intriguing facet of staying at an aparthotel is that not only do you have the comforts that you would associate with an apartment such as a fully functional kitchen and living area but you get the amenities and benefits of hotel living as well. For example, Citadines aparthotels offer various cleaning arrangements for all guests as well as other perks that you would typically associate with staying in a hotel. Only you can enjoy these perks during your extended stay in any of the all over Europe and the Asia Pacific.

I had a great stay there during my time in Paris. I had the misfortune of getting quite sick with bronchitis while in Paris and the staff at Citadines Tour Eiffel were really wonderful when it came to getting me the medical help I needed and making my stay pleasant while I recovered. I really enjoyed the fact that there was a Monoprix right across the street. The Monoprix there had a huge grocery section which allowed me to buy reasonably priced groceries that I was able to store in the refrigerator. This was a great relief to my wallet since it let me save money on certain meals since I could use the kitchen in my room.

And of course, I loved the views. But that goes without saying, right? :)

Here is a little tour of the views and rooms:

This was the view from my hotel room while I was taking long exposures of the Eiffel Tower at night. It was nice to be able to do long exposures right from inside my room! :

(I took this photo with my Sony A99 of my Sony a7R propped up on my travel tripod which is the Brian Evolution 2 Tripod made by 3 Legged Thing)

And here is the photo I was taking of the night view of the Eiffel Tower while taking that behind the scenes photo above:

If you follow my Instagram, I posted that I filmed with my phone from the window of my room at Citadines - Tour Eiffel. It’s a pretty impressive view and I had a blast watching the light show every night.

I had the pleasure of getting a tour of some of the most in-demand suites at Citadines - Tour Eiffel. This is the view from the most in-demand room there due to the absolutely awesome view that you can have from the comfort of your bed:

And this is the balcony view from that same room. It’s a great place to hang out and take in views of Paris:

Because I can’t get enough of that bed view of the Eiffel Tower, here it is with the windows open:

The suites for people enjoying extended stays feature some really great modern looking amenities and design including washers/dryers:

There is also a configurable dining area:

This is the living area in some of the larger suites which is separate from the bedroom(s) and kitchen and dining space:

And this is a kitchen that is similar to the one that was in the room I stayed in:

Since Citadines is an aparthotel, it also features extras like sofa-beds in some of the rooms to accommodate more people and/or overnight guests:

And finally, let’s talk about that view again…So beautiful:

If you are interested in viewing these photos larger, feel free to check them out in their own Flickr album here:

Interested in viewing all of my Paris posts so far? Here they are:

Looking for these (and more) Paris photos to view larger? Here you go (click or tap on each photo to view larger):

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