Parc de Bagatelle and a lunch

Parc de Bagatelle is located within the Bois de Boulogne on the western edge of Paris. It was built by the Count of Artois in 64 days in 1775, on a bet by Marie Antoinette that he could not turn the land into a park in such short time. It is well known for its spring tulips, rose gardens and peacocks. We were a little late for the tulips, but the roses were beautiful and the peacocks were screeching.

The rose gardens were built in 1907. There are about 1100 roses on display, roughly 20% of them pre-1920 varieties.

 

goslings and ducklings

 Enough beauty. The next day we hit the Popincourt market and checked another food item off the to-do list. Cuttlefish is somewhere between an octopus and a squid. It has a strange bone in its back, the cuttlebone, which is the calcium-rich thing you put in birdcages for them to peck at.  It wasn't pretty but it was fun and educational to turn it from the first photo into the last. We ate it with salad and some raw milk soft-ripened cheese, which we are consuming in heroic quantities before our return to the land of ruined food.

Paris Parks

If it weren't totally obvious how much we love the Paris park system, I have to tell you we just spent most of a week dragging a friend from one park to another, plopping him down on our pique-nique blanket with wine and cheese, and exclaiming "Isn't this fantastic!" And truly, it is a good time.

Place des Vosges

Jardin de Reuilly

More of our pictures of sundrunk Parisians here and there

Paris parks are not only places where you can huff flowers or promenade yourself. If there's sunshine, there is essentially a big, happy, relaxed party on every lawn in every park, where you can read, nap, have a meal or an apéro, people-watch, dodge flying toddlers, and otherwise just enjoy the life.

This may be a common experience in large cities, where people tend to live in tiny apartments without any green space to call their own. But as far as we know, it is not very common in Minneapolis, where many people have their little patch of land and stay within their fences. At home, we don't hang out among strangers nearly as much; so we were really surprised to find that we liked being two of a hundred or so people sitting around together. Not necessarily paying any attention to each other, but relaxing in proximity. At least for us, the Parisian habit of really using and enjoying public spaces, with the rest of the public, is new and different and enormously pleasant.

We have repeatedly vowed to each other to start a pique-nique ritual when we get home. Frankly I'm not sure it'll be quite the same if we can't be in a giant field with a ton of other people, but we'll try. Expect to see us spreading out the big yellow blanket somewhere in Minnehaha Park later this summer.

Jardin de Reuilly

One of our first pique-niques in Paris was at the Jardin de Reuilly. Remember? It seems like so long ago. Saturday we returned. After visiting many, many squares and parks in Paris, we've developed favorites for different purposes. Jardin de Reuilly is a strong contender for number 1 in the sitting in the sun, eating, drinking and doing nothing category. So here we go again- a beautiful day, lying on the grass, feelings of calm and well-being. How about another shoddy panoramic photo to illustrate the scene?

from the bridge
I think I'm the shadow in the upper right

Please note our lovely new cheap polyester tablecloth. 

Light and compact, it's always ready when the pique-nique mood strikes.

Le Crépuscule, Parc de Belleville

Eiffel Tower with spotlight

Parc de Belleville is set on a hill in the 20th arrondissement, just south of the larger and more well known Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It is a densely planted series of switchback walkways that work their way up the hill. At the top is le Maison de l'Air, a hands-on museum for kids that focuses on meteorology, pollution and other air-related things. Most importantly, the roof of the museum serves as an excellent viewing deck. It's a popular place all day long, but is an especially nice place to congregate, have a drink and watch the sunset. If you direct your gaze downward, it also serves as a great place to watch the stray cats emerge when the park is closed to humans at dusk.

We stopped by Parc de Belleville last night before our dinner at Le Chapeau Melon(no website, as is the French custom), a wine shop/restaurant that serves an always-changing, market-based three course fixed menu. They'll open any bottle of their entirely small producer, vin nature stock on the shelf for a modest corkage fee. Here is a recent review (in English!) featuring a photo of a mackerel dish we had, plus a bunch of other things we didn't have, because the menu changes so frequently. Dinner was to celebrate the beginning of spring break. On Wednesday we head to Lyon for a four night test of our eating endurance. 

Parc de l'Île St-Germain

It's still very nice out in Paris, thanks for asking. Last weekend visited an island in the Seine just outside the southwest border of Paris. l'Île St-Germain was used for military exercises until the 1980s when half was developed into housing and the other half turned into a park. It's got that hidden-refuge-within-the-big-city feel to it. And flowers.

Cherry, apple and whatever else trees have been flowering like crazy lately. 

one of the many gardens is dedicated solely to lavender

it smelled good

some roads and parts of the old military buildings were used as design elements

A large strange statue. We pique-niqued at the base of the hill.

Le Jardin des Plantes

Not to rub your mostly Minnesotan noses in it, but it's spring here in Paris. I know, I'm shocked too. The experience of a short, mild winter is constantly surprising to me. "It's far too early," I think, as I loll about on the grass, getting way too used to it. While my Minnesotan genes await the inevitable late winter plunge back into snow, ice and cold, my surroundings continue to offer proof that it's not going to happen- spring is here and summer is next. Le Jardin des Plantes is a great place to watch spring unfold. We are within strolling distance and have been dropping by weekly to monitor the progress.

The entrance, with a statue of Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Chair of Botany in the late 1700s, coiner of the word "invertebrate" and developer of evolutionary theory before Darwin was born. 

poppies, tulips and forget-me-nots blooming in the central aisle

more poppies and the most popular attraction, the giant cherry tree

close inspection

closer inspection

standing within the tree is pretty amazing

here's a low quality video of the experience

les fleurs!

Place des Vosges Naptime

The rain started today as we made our way home from exploring the endlessly interesting St-Denis/Château d'Eau area. There are some great cheap food options around there, mostly Turkish and Middle Eastern. Also a small but decent covered market, a fancy pâtisserie called Tholoniat that we've heard good things about, some divey bars, the beautifully old (1860!) Brasserie Flo (located within the coolly isolated Cour des Petits Ecuries), and many warren-like passages devoted to wholesale clothing and/or the sex trade. 

Anyway, this post is not about that. This is about remembering, during the coming rainy days, what we did a couple days ago when it was 70ºF and we spent part of the afternoon lying on the grass in Place des Vosges. Lying on the grass, specifically at Place des Vosges, is a top five favorite activity for us. 

Here is what you would see if you joined us.

so relaxing

Meudon

Meudon is a town/suburb a couple kilometers to the southwest of Paris. It is home to a large national forest as well as an observatory. The observatory was built in the late 1800s, on a high plateau called the Grand Terrasse, which was once the grounds of a 16th century château. The grounds are still well maintained and provide a sweeping view of Paris. 

a 360 degree panorama

Meudon Nation Forest                          observatory                                       precipice                                       Meudon/Paris

the view to the east, overlooking Meudon and Paris

Lia on the edge of the terrasse and the observatory to the west

The high temperature was about 20ºC/68ºF- perfect for the year's first pique-nique. We found a noble tree in a corner of the terrasse, far from the park guardhouse with its "Pique-Nique Interdit" sign. How can you ban picnics? 

The tree would have shaded the southwest corner of the château, had it not fallen into disrepair and been burned down in 1870 while it housed occupying Prussian soldiers. 

As you can see, the dappling was perfect.

After lunch, we struck out into the forest. The trees are just starting to sprout leaves.

one of the many patches of white wildflowers throughout the forest