Saturday, September 28, 2013

Saturday in a Park / Staying in Paris

I got a taste of Southern California weather here in Paris when it suddenly got warm enough to go out without a sweater for the first time in over a week of rainy grey skies. It seemed that everyone was hungry for a promenade, a picnic, or a sit in a park.
The Parc du Château de Saint-Germain overlooks La Défense, the huge "Century City" office complex.
Like most parks, the trees are sculpted and arranged in nice orderly rows which appeals to my sense of order and symmetry since there are paths between the rows with benches and walkways.
The city had the brilliant idea to teach horticulture students outside the classroom by having them plant, maintain and harvest vines alongside the city park!
The walkway along the Seine goes on for many miles....I have no idea how many.........
All I know it it went further than I could photograph!
The exhibition of sculptures changes with the seasons.
Parents and grandparents can sit on benches in the shade and watch their kids and grand children romp in the sunny open spaces.
This park was once the backyard for Louis XIV. There is also a forest behind the park which is so big that I saw a troop of boy and girl scouts (yes, here they combine the sexes in scouts just like in school) coming in to set up camp for the night in the woods. It is ironic that they all came with their camping gear up the escalator from the train station, but amazing that they live in a big city and can camp 20 minutes away from the center of town.

Manicured lawns and beautiful flowers everywhere.
When Louis XIV lived here he must have loved the view from his home!
The reason I came to this particular park was because I saw a photo of this floating bed and I had to see it in real life. Some people waded to the center to get a photo of themselves on it, but I love the image as it is, as if the bed is waiting to transport dreams to reality.
I have dreamed of living here for decades and it looks like my dreams are coming true as I just signed a rental agreement for 3 months with an option to renew :)


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