View, Courtyard by Marriott – Paris, France

I gave a visual tour of our first hotel room in Paris yesterday — the Courtyard by Marriott, an American hotel chain, and explained the reason for the hotel pick. One of them was for the view, of which we paid extra. We decided to do a mini-splurge for our first-ever hotel stay in France.

As expected, the sample picture from the hotel website showed a more dramatic Eiffel view, no doubt using telephoto compression. After looking at a Paris map, I knew it was an overinflated perspective. Here’s my picture made with a 120mm equivalent — not spectacular, but about what I expected. At least we can claim an Eiffel Tower view from our hotel in Paris. I had to shoot to the right not to capture the glare of the glass.

Directly in front of us were the Seine River and a pair of modern buildings with offices from SNCF (Société Nationale des chemins de fer français), France’s state-owned railway company.

Across the river, an ornate old building next to the bridge is Gare d’Austerlitz, one of six large train stations in Paris. I mentioned that the Marriott was close to a train station, but this differs from the one I was referring to. Gare de Lyon, located across the street from the hotel, is to the left but not visible from the room.

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