parks

The best thing about this trip, no question , is the amount of time we have had. While the euro-dollar conversion is horrifying that has made no impact on the real richness of our stay. Until these last few days nothing has felt rushed or "have to"; the time has meant I can walk off those calories (I have not run once in Paris, the honeymoon will soon be over)






I came armed with the knowledge of some famous public spaces and gardens and had read about some others. These spaces are made even more valuable by the fact that the Paris streets have no greenery in front of buildings. There have been a few peeks into beautiful courtyards but the public greenery is most of what we've seen and it has been a treat. I do miss my garden.This is how it looked just before we left.

The parks here are really made for a city. Many of them seem somewhat formal with bed after bed of flowers. That these blooms are often fairly common annuals is astounding, whoever thought that dahlias and petunias could be regal ?

These pictures are from Jardin du Luxembourg. There are lawns, flower beds, tennis courts, donkey rides. You can't sit on the lawn in most places but there are these metal sage green chairs all over the place. They sit unlocked and in perfect condition. They seem to stay within the park. We went on Bastille Day afternoon and it was filled with families enjoying the sun.


My favorites though were less known. On June 29th the NY Times had an article "The Hidden Gardens of Paris" How lucky for me. I made it to a few, some purposefully, some by accident. I headed for the Jardin de la Vallée Suisse simply because they said that an otter lives in the pond.

I didn't see it but did see the carp. The park has some evergreens and bamboo. The large rock wall is really cement. There was a lemon tree and a big weeping beech.

My absolute favorite park was André-Citroen in the 15e. It has a large grass rectangle surrounded by garden rooms. The rooms are by color and sense; sight,scent,touch. It seemed past really full flower when we went yet these spaces are so well thought out that it hardly mattered.It is built on three levels with high walkways to look down from. It as built on the site of an old Citroen factory.It feels urban, it is a little hard edged with lots of stone flooring and stairs and then you see all this planting.

The other wonderful thing about this park was a platform with unpredictable water sprays that was between two large greenhouses. It was full of children with families and in camp groups. I have spent so many summers taking groups of children on outings that I always notice them. I don't think kids like anything more than playing in water.Here is a video to back me up:

Another great and definitely city space was the Promenade Plantée. This is near the Bastille and it is an old brick railway trail sort of a viaduct that is now a walkway with flowers, shrubs and trees. This was quite blooming a lot of roses on metal arches and forms,cherry trees, lavender in containers. You walk by buidings at their 2nd or 3rd floors and see them differently. Who are the landscape architects in Paris ? These are some of the blooms. We only went part of the way.

The first Sunday of every month is free museum day so we planned to give it a try. We heard the lines can be very long and planned to get up early and go to the Musée du Quai Branley.

This is a museum of no European and not much North American art. We slept late but when we arrived at noon there was no line so in we went. The building is beautiful, a tall glass wall along the river and this plant covered green wall.

On our way out there was a huge line; I don't know if I would have waited. We went off to the Musée Rodin to take fiscal advantage of the French. This was pretty crowded but the grounds are beautiful with many roses in bloom and sculpture displayed outside. The Thinker is here.

Rodin was quite prolific but my favorite part was the room of work by Camille Claudel. She was Rodin's lover and suffered greatly.I learned about her from the movie "Camille Claudel" with Isabel Adjani as Claudel. (Rodin, of course, was Gerard Dépardieu). Again this city space doesn' t look wild or untamed just beautiful .

Today when walking home I found the Square du Vert-Galant. It is on the west tip of the Ile de la Cité with great views of Paris. It is tiny but felt like a gift.

Closer to home is the Square du Temple. I have passed through here on many of the days I walked. When I read the signage the first time it seemed that there was originally a monastary there that was turned into a prison. reading on it seemed that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were there till their executions. I wasn't sure if this could be true but I looked it up and it is so.It has been transformed into a beautiful park always filled with a variety of people. It has some lovely plantings, especially these shady ones.

It has a pond and these ducks. When I walk through I know I am 15 minutes from our home here.