A slow flight over the city of light — with Eleanor
This journey sees Paris the way the birds do: a slow, low flight over the rooftops, pausing at the great sights while Eleanor points out what you are looking at, as it comes into view. At most stops you can choose your hour — day, sunrise, sunset or night — and the flight remembers your choice as you travel from stop to stop; where a stop does not yet fly at an hour, that hour is simply not offered.
Every view here is our own interpretation of the real place, created from reference photographs. The flight visits ten landmarks in thirty-four flights. A few hours are still missing at the stops below; each new flight will be added here as soon as it is ready.
To take the whole flight: press the tour button below and put the phone down — the page travels from stop to stop on its own, scrolling as Eleanor speaks. Or wander freely, and tap Listen at any stop.
Your host: Eleanor — who has spent a lifetime looking at cities, and loves this one best from the air. Her welcome:
Hello, I'm Eleanor, and welcome to Paris from above. In this journey we fly slowly over the city, stop by stop, and at most stops you can choose your hour: day, sunrise, sunset or night. I'll be beside you as we go, pointing out the great sights as they come into view. Our first flight takes us to the tower that needs no introduction.
We come in over the Seine, crossing the Pont d'Iéna and there she is: the Eiffel Tower, rising ahead, all four pillars, three levels and that slender summit, closer with every second. Beyond her, the green lawns of the Champ de Mars run down to the École Militaire. To our left, the golden dome of Les Invalides Napoleon's resting place. And on the southern skyline, the dark tower of Montparnasse keeps watch.
We begin at the prow of the Île de la Cité, above the Pont Neuf the oldest bridge in Paris and the garden at the island's tip. Flying east along its spine, we pass the Conciergerie, its towers over the river, and the needle spire of Sainte-Chapelle. Then the parvis opens, and Notre-Dame fills the sky: the twin towers, the rose window, and the slender spire rising new above the crossing. Across the water stands the Hôtel de Ville.
See it at street level → Notre-Dame Cathedral, ParisSainte-ChapelleConciergerie
Below us lie the Tuileries Gardens, laid out in parterres and round basins, and we fly east along their central avenue toward the Louvre. Ahead stands the Arc du Carrousel, raised for Napoleon's victories and beyond it, the palace opens around its courtyard. There, in the Cour Napoléon, the glass Pyramid rises, catching the light, growing with every second until we pass close beside it, the palace wings on either side.
See it at street level → Louvre Pyramid, ParisPlace de la Concorde
We cross the Seine on the Pont Alexandre III, beneath the gilded winged horses on their stone pylons, and fly up the long green Esplanade toward the Hôtel des Invalides. Ahead rises its great golden dome beneath it lies Napoleon, in his tomb of red stone. The flight carries us on over the rooftops of the Left Bank, the dome sinking behind us, while ahead, across the roofs, the Eiffel Tower keeps us company all the way.
See it at street level → Hôtel des Invalides, ParisPont Alexandre III
We come to the Panthéon, high on its hill in the Latin Quarter the great dome, the ring of columns, the portico raised to France's great men and women, who rest in the crypt below. From its steps, the Rue Soufflot runs straight as an arrow down to the Luxembourg Gardens, and we follow it: over the parterres and the round basin, past the palace, until far ahead the towers of Notre-Dame rise beside the Seine.
Below us spread the Luxembourg Gardens parterre lawns and gravel walks, laid out for a queen of France. We fly north above the avenue, the trees in ranks on either side. Ahead rises the Luxembourg Palace, home of the French Senate, its basin spread before it. We cross over the palace roof into the Latin Quarter and there, on our right, the dome of the Panthéon climbs into the light as we travel on.
See it at street level → Luxembourg Gardens and the Panthéon, Paris
Montmartre rises ahead of us, crowned by the white basilica of Sacré-Cœur. Below its steps, terraced gardens fall away in green zigzags, and the little funicular climbs the hill beside them, as it has for a century. We pass close by the great dome and the tall campanile, bright against the sky, then drift on over the village rooftops while the whole of Paris spreads out below, to the horizon.
Here is the Étoile, the star where twelve avenues meet and at its heart, the Arc de Triomphe, raised by Napoleon for his armies. Beneath it burns the flame of the Unknown Soldier. Traffic circles it in an endless ring. Then we leave by the greatest of the avenues, the tree-lined Champs-Élysées, flying east: the Eiffel Tower to one side, the dome of the Invalides ahead, and far off, on its northern hill, white Sacré-Cœur.
Paris does not end at the Arc de Triomphe its great axis runs on, west across the Seine at Neuilly, rising again here in towers of glass and steel. Below us stretches the esplanade of La Défense, towers climbing on either side tallest among them Tour First, guarding the avenue. And at the axis's end, the Grande Arche: a great white cube, hollow at its heart, a triumphal arch for the modern age.
Our last flight begins at the Trocadéro, where the Palais de Chaillot opens its curved wings above the gardens and the fountains. We cross the Seine on the Pont d'Iéna and meet the tower herself not from afar this time, but close, passing through the great arch, the Champ de Mars opening beyond. Then the lawns run out beneath us toward the École Militaire, and the flight ends as the golden dome of the Invalides rises ahead Paris bidding us farewell.
See it at street level → Trocadéro and Palais de Chaillot, Paris
Paris From Above is part of Jason D's Vision — Journeys.
Still to come: the missing hours at the Louvre, the Île de la Cité, the Luxembourg Gardens and La Défense — each added as its flight is completed.
Jason D’s Vision