I got into many tourist sites in the four days I spent in Paris, but there was one quirky site I missed that the travel agencies never told me about, probably because they didn’t know anything about this unique option.

And that is to take a boat trip through Paris at night and contemplate the impressive beauty of the 35 bridges that cross the Seine. However, I was able to wonderfully see the bridges of Paris at night at home when I purchased and flipped through the pages of “The Glow of Paris: The Bridges of Paris at Night” by Gary Zuercher.

After accidentally overexposing a shot, Zuercher discovered the beauty of the flow of lights on the bridges against the dark background of Paris at night. After this discovery, he spent the next five years photographing the 35 bridges of Paris, from midnight to 2 or 3 in the morning, when there was little traffic and few pedestrians to interfere with his work. The results are absolutely amazing.

But Zuercher went even further by researching the history of the bridges and offering a fascinating account of each bridge, some of which were crossed by Julius Caesar. I learned that they used to build houses and shops on the bridges in the Middle Ages. Another bridge used to host a festival with acrobats, fire eaters and musicians, even “tooth pullers”. Another bridge had a currency exchange booth at one end. And another was hit by a fighter jet, killing four French Air Force pilots. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Over a period of five years, Zuercher took his cameras out into the Parisian night to capture stunningly evocative images of the bridges spanning the Seine. Using his artistic eye and his sophisticated photographic technique, he created these glorious black and white photographs, rich in detail and with a clear, luminous quality.

Nobody else has photographed all the bridges that cross the Seine in Paris in this way. We do not see crowds of people or much traffic. Nothing obscures the beauty and strength of the structures, the romanticism and symbolism of the bridges. Shooting in black and white allows the details to shine: the architectural elements, the works of art, the nearby buildings, the trees on the riverbanks, and the starry lamps that cast paths of light onto the water.

He divides his time between his homes in Paris and Washington, DC with his wife Dominique, who is French.

I got the book just to display on my coffee table, but started reading it and couldn’t put it down. So much information about the bridges and the history of Paris that it is much, much more than a table book. I highly recommend this book, but don’t put it in the living room for display, but read it and enjoy every page!