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These are some night shots of the Alexander III bridge in Paris.
It’s considered by many to be the the most beautiful bridge in Paris.
It was built for the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris.
It was supposed to represent the friendship between France and Russia.
You’re looking southwest, from the Cours la Reine avenue.
This is ½ hour after sunset. The Eiffel Tower is in the background.
The four columns on each corner of the bridge are made of pink granite.
The streetlights along the bridge are made with hand-blown glass.
The statues on top of the columns are covered in real 24K gold.
This is a pan from the sidewalk on the northeast corner of the bridge.
The Seine River is flowing to the right (west).
The bridge has very broad sidewalks, which is very nice.
That's the dome of the Hôtel des Invalides in the background.
Louis XIV built it. It is covered with real gold, too.
There’s a lot of vehicular traffic, unfortunately.
Now you’re looking upriver. The next bridge upstream is the Concorde Bridge.
It’s hard to see the pink tint of the granite in these columns at night.
Churchill Avenue, in the background, leads to the Champs-Élysées.
The glass-roofed building behind this column is the Grand Palais.
It was built for the Exposition, too, and still serves as a huge exhibition hall.
The colors of the bridge are as they were when it was built.
Looking back downriver again (northwest at this point).
Back to our starting point.
Notice the searchlight on the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Excursion boats like the one in the foreground constantly move up and down the river.
You’re looking downriver, southwest, with the bridge out of the way this time.
This is a view from the Cours la Reine again, on the northwest side of the bridge.
The dome of the Hôtel des Invalides is just visible at the extreme right.
The river sparkles because so many boats pass up and down it.
Now this is down on the river’s north bank, east of the bridge.
And it is shot with colors balanced for daylight. This is the color you see in real life.
The orange tint comes from the light of sodium-vapor streetlights.
Most of the other shots have been rebalanced to make the light look more white.
I’m not sure which I prefer—it depends on the context, I guess.
And this shot, from the northwest corner, is back to rebalanced light.
It’s a hard choice because the real colors can look fake in a video, and vice versa.
Back to real-world colors again, a bit further from the bridge back on the north bank.
The sky really is orange, because the low clouds reflect the streetlights.
The bridge is still a lot prettier in person!
Here’s a quick pan closer up that shows a bit more detail.
In the wee hours, with no boats, the river will become as smooth as a mirror.
Provided that it’s not too windy, that is.
Well, that’s it. Thank you for watching my video.