Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Parc des Buttes Chaumont

While we love the museums, monuments, cathedrals, shops, and restaurants of Paris, today we have decided to escape to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont for some scenic greenery.

Formerly a quarry, the park was created in the 1860's as part of Baron Haussmann's remodeling of Paris.  It retained the slopes of the quarry so some of its 3 miles of walking paths are quite steep. 




By design, the park contains a wide variety of mature native and non-native trees.  I love seeing the different shapes and colors.




There is a lake in the center of the park, and in the center of the lake is a small island accessible by two bridges.  The first is an arched stone bridge, visible in this photo:



The second bridge is a 206-foot long suspension bridge.


 
The people behind Kevin verified that the bridge does indeed sway if you jump on it.



On the island is a temple called the Belvedere of Sybil, a replica of an actual Roman temple in Italy.





After climbing to the top of the temple, you are rewarded with some amazing views of the surrounding park and, of course, Paris.















There is also a 98-foot artificial waterfall cascading down a man-made grotto.  Unfortunately, the waterworks were turned off today.



There is another, smaller waterfall at the other end of the park.  Judging from the way this dog ran straight for it, the water was very refreshing.



The tiny waterfall feeds a small stream, where lots of children were having a blast, while their picnicking families looked on.



We left the park with one final view of the island and temple, and headed for lunch since we were famished.



We found a reasonably priced pizzeria about a block away.



Kevin had a four-cheese pizza that included unusual ingredients like camembert and goat cheese.



I was pleased to see pizza "avec oeuf" (with  a sunny-side up egg) on the menu, and ordered it just so that I could take a photo to document this odd concept.  It was delicious.



On our way home, we changed trains at the awesomely steampunk Arts et Métiers station -- one of our favorites so far.

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