Parc André Citroën

Created in the 1990's on the former site of the Citroën automobile factory, the Parc André Citroën is a park with a distinctly modern viewpoint.  The first thing we noticed were these enormous glass and steel greenhouses which, unfortunately, weren't open to the public today.

Between the greenhouses is an open plaza containing choreographed fountain jets that shoot water into the air at varying heights.

Along one edge of the park are a series of color-themed gardens.

The Gold Garden, with golden flowers, and yellow-tinted shrubs

The downward slope of the Red Garden leads to a rock garden at the base

The Orange Garden has a central rock-scape, surrounded by orange blooms

Flowers in the Orange Garden

The Blue Garden was really more purple in color

Kevin in the Blue Garden

The well-named Wild Garden: a mix of wildflowers, natural shrubs, and weeds

Wildflowers

You still have a view of the central part of the park from the themed gardens.  What is that reflection?

It's an enormous helium balloon that gives riders an aerial view of the park and the Seine.

But there are still a few more areas of the park to cover before we go up in the balloon.  This ultramodern eight-building office complex is called Le Ponant de Paris and was built in the late 1980's.

Off to the side is another series of almost hidden gardens.

The Waterfall Garden

Sculpted shrubs in the Box Garden

Terraced Box Gardens

Okay, now for the "Balloon Air de Paris" ride.  The balloon is helium-filled and is 32m/104ft high, with a diameter of 22m/72ft. 

The balloon is tethered to the ground by a cable activated by a hydro-electric winch.  It pays out enough cable to send the balloon and its passengers 150m/492ft  into the air.

Okay, ready?  Here we go!

Here is an aerial view of the themed gardens we walked through earlier:

And a view of the park's greenhouses.  Note the "modern" element of the asymetrical diagonal walkway through the park.

And this is the reflective glass and steel office complex of Le Ponant de Paris, taken through the hole in the center of the o-shaped balloon basket.

And now for the skyline.  Here is the Seine and Eiffel Tower.  The tall white tower next to the Eiffel is the Cheminée du Front-de-Seine, a 130m/425ft tall chimney that ventilates the steam from the districts hot water/central heating.

An alternate view of the Eiffel Tower, surrounded by all the buildings of the 15th and 7th Arrondissements (districts).

In case these photos don't give the full sensation of ascending over Paris in a hot-air balloon, we took a video, too: