A walk in the park

The other day while walking down a side street near our house, we stumbled across a very cool little garden path. At first it was below street level; a narrow green walkway that finally opened back into the street, just steps away from an official "park". On the other side, it turned into an above-the-street pathway that was an oasis of greenery above the traffic, kind of like the new High Line park in NYC.

This was a weird little balcony overlooking
a small garden along the first path.

At the end of the path was an underground tunnel,
which had little rock waterfalls every 30 feet or so. 

At the park they had stepped flower beds, but being French,
of course they had sculptures placed higgledly-piggley

The main park was a big bowl of a lawn
with a wooden bridge crossing across the middle.

We didn't stick around long enough
to see the size of the bird that lived here

This was in the birdhouse section. Evidently it's a "jardin éphémère", 

or a temporary garden. It's amazing how many regular gardens and 

parks Paris has, but we've also stumbled across some that aren't meant to last long

The beginning of the above ground path,
with a very neat series of pools set in the middle

We were envious not only of the apartments, but of their view

The pools from the other end

No idea what this building is, but it had a
series of very cool carved figures at the roofline

A better shot of the figures

This building was awesome, with some amazing balconies
for the top apartments (kind of hard to see here though).
The blue blue sky just makes it that much better.

Farmer's Market and Picnic in Parc de Bercy

Our first full day started off being awoken by a very loud, annoying pigeon that has nested outside our bedroom window...it made for a more effective alarm clock than any we've had prior. Every time we shooed the bird away, it would return after a few moments (like Mother Nature's evil snooze button - Jack), a rather interesting way to wake up. 

After waking, we met our "landlords" for coffee and a hello, which was amusing because they spoke minimal English and we spoke even less French. Of course they spoke enough English to express the opinion that American's were lazy with languages. Oh, and the pigeon belongs to them, it's name is Josephine, and they helped hand feed it's recent hatchlings (so killing the pigeon is out...seriously, have you ever heard a pigeon squawking 10 feet from your head while you were sound asleep? - Jack).

Down the street from us on Sundays and Thursdays is a wonderful Farmer's Market. We enjoyed walking from stall to stall to see the different offerings and even managed to converse in French well enough to pick up a few tasty treats for a picnic. Based on our day and a half, so far we'd concur the French know good food...and wine of course. Goldilocks has fallen in love with roti poulet (rotisserie chicken) from the boucherie and baguettes from the patisserie (because even the simple things seem to taste so much better - Jack). However she did not enjoy the croissants au beurre we foisted on her for breakfast this morning, stunning we know!

a soon to be Sunday tradition

mmmmmm, good food!

In the early afternoon we walked to the Parc de Bercy for our picnic lunch - which seems to be a very popular French past-time, one we will be happily adopting as our own. It is a fabulous park with lots of shady green spots to lay down a blanket and spread out. After our picnic we explored the grounds, discovering koi ponds, a maison au du jardin, a carousel, a modern waterfall, and even a skateboarding area. At the Carousel, Goldilocks had the biggest and fluffiest Cotton Candy we've ever seen, and I indulged in some fraise ice cream. (Jack enjoyed many bites of both treats.) In the maison au du jardin, we found one of Goldilock's favorite books from when she was younger "Dix Petite Graines" (Ten Seeds), it was fun to be able to read a book in French and completely understand it.

your standard big field, but the rest of it is winding
paths, shady glens, flower beds, and waterways.

all the picnickers hang out in the shady nooks
and crannies scattered through the park

awwww, aren't they so cute when they're asleep?

bonjour monsieur, ca va?

a Paris tradition since 1900. the boat was
a nice touch, since it rocked back and forth.

freshly made and completely awesome!

note the stepped water channels, 

to prevent les infants from turning it 

into a giant water slide.

we only read this 10,000+ times in English,
so the French version was a snap to follow

After spending the day in the park/gardens, we walked home for a light dinner and a quick rest. Most likely we'll head back out tonight, as it's now almost 9pm and still bright daylight. We discovered last night it doesn't get dark until after 10:30, which on the one hand is very cool (seemingly endless days); on the other hand, no one has been getting to bed prior to midnight.

Truly a bon journee!

Jill

(photo captions by Jack)

...and a special video bonus!