Pake Family France Trip to Paris and Nice, April 2023

This was our first international family trip since COVID, so we were quite excited, although more than a bit apprehensive in light of all of the protests in Paris. Praise the Lord that things worked out for us. We arrived in Paris 2-3 days after protests had ended and all of the trash was picked up, and then departed Paris for Nice via high-speed rail on the back half of our trip literally just hours before protests started back up again, one of which was just two blocks from where our hotel was. Weather was great the entire time. We never saw a single drop of rain. Paris was busy and alive, the museums were incredible, the food was all great, and Nice was fantastic. We had a great time and truly enjoyed France.

For photos I used my Canon EOS RP (full-frame mirrorless) with adapted EF 17-40mm f/4L ultra-wide zoom, the RF 70-200mm f/4L IS telephoto zoom, and an RF 24mm f/1.8 IS wide-angle prime for many of the low light museum photos, with a Canon 220EX 4x AA-powered mini-flash when needed for people shots and daylight fill. All of this tucked away nicely in my Think Tank Spectral 10 shoulder camera bag, which has numerous secure zippers and flaps, room for accessories, a recharging bank, wallets, passports, and needed documents. I have never been pick-pocketed ever with previous attempts!

Click on the links or photos below, and it will take you to a nice 50-100 photo album for each day, including food pics. I haven’t had time to make a “highlight” album yet. Jet lag and doggies won’t let me out of their sight. :)

Paris Day 0 (Sunday)

Yeah, “Day 0” would normally be a write-off day, but there was no time to waste so went straight from dropping off our bags at our hotel from our red-eye flight to Musée d’Orsay, where we had timed entry tickets. Glad our flight was on time, and there were no transportation delays! Nap at our hotel after the museum, and then a late dinner at Le 114 Faubourg (Michelin 1-star).

Paris Day 1 (Monday)

Musée de l’Armée, Afternoon Tea at George V, Four Seasons Paris, then Seine River Cruise. The Army museum and chapel behind it were truly impressive along with Napoleon’s tomb, and the Seine river cruise was great too.

Paris Day 2 (Tuesday)

Jardin du Palais Royal garden, Musée des arts et Métiers, Panthéon, Le Jardin du Luxembourg, then Eiffel Tower Observatory. Debbie and I didn’t get a chance to go up the Eiffel Tower on our last Paris trip in 2006, so this was great for us. It’s very secure feeling at the top. There’s a lower level enclosed in glass, and an upper level with fencing. Luckily the weather was perfect and it wasn’t too windy.

Paris Day 3 (Wednesday)

Breakfast at Angelina, a botched attempt at taxiing then walking to Arc de Triomphe (traffic was too jammed, not enough time), the Louvre, dinner at Poni, The Basilica of Sacré-Coeur de Montmarte and overlook. Surprisingly, William really enjoyed the Louvre and said it was his favorite. Our young history buff recognized what was being depicted in many of the historical scenes and was able to be a mini tour guide for us! :)

Nice Day 4-5 (Thursday-Friday)

Travel by train from Paris to Nice followed by a nice long nap and then dinner on Thursday night. Sleep in on Friday, walk around Colline du Château for historic scenic views of Nice. Photos around Nice, and Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate de Nice. Dinner at Peixes, followed by some twilight street photography.

Nice Day 6 (Saturday)

Brunch at La Femme du Bollanger followed by walking around the day markets. Lunch at George’s Roll again (because we didn’t get pictures yesterday, they were so good!), followed by a bit of rest. Afternoon walk around the Russian Orthodox Church, then off to dinner at L'Alchimie restaurant to finish off the trip!

French Paysage (Countryside) Day 7 (Sunday, bonus)

The French countryside is gorgeous. I can see why people adore it so much. I took these photos from our high speed train from Nice to Marseille, and back up to Paris. It was heavily overcast on our way down to Nice, but crystal clear and perfect on the way back up, so pulled out the camera. Even through a dirty window with some reflections and glare, and a train moving at up to 300 km/h, it was still gorgeous!

Coming Later – FILM Photos

Yes, Katie brought the Nikon F100 and shot some F-I-L-M photos. She thought Paris should be shot on film as well, so brought the film kit! I have to send the film off to North Coast Photo Services in California to process, as there’s long ceased to be any good local film processing here (that I’m aware of), so will post those in probably about two weeks.

Photo Post-Processing

I normally try to avoid post-processing like the plague and get things as good as possible straight off the camera, but sometimes it’s just impossible, and happened to run into more than a few photos that really needed some “help” on this trip. I’d been without a good post-processing tool since Apple deprecated Aperture (the Photos app is inferior and stinks!) so decided to try out Radiant Photo (formerly Atentech Perfectly Clear), which I’d heard a lot of good things about over the years. I didn’t know how to use the tool, so left it to “full auto” just to see what it would do. I was blown away by the results. It’s seriously impressive, including knowing how to selectively lighten people/portrait shots (which were the ones that needed the help!), and the fact that it still ran on the 10 year-old 13” MacBook Pro that I brought on our trip. I’m sold. I suppose I’ll write a photo blog, so stay tuned for that with more details as well. :)