Palais Omnisports de Paris - Bercy

We are down to our last three Paris City Walks cards. This one took us out to Bercy, where we had a look around the Palais Omnisports building.

It's an indoor sports and concert venue, built in the 1980's.

But what's the green stuff on the wall?

I can't imagine how they get a push mower up these inclines to mow it.

Oh, that's how.  A guy hoists a round rhoomba-type mower up and down with a rope.  That doesn't look like a fun job at all.

Also...what happens if the rope breaks?  Unwary pedestrians below better watch out.

We walked down to the Seine and took a detour along the Quai de la Rapée to get a view of the Cité de la Mode at du Design (Fashion Institute).  What a strange facade.  Apparently the green add-on is supposed to mirror the Seine below, but from this angle and in this lighting it just looks like an alien eye mask.

Before we crossed the river I took this shot of the Pont de Bercy, with the Bibliothèque National de France - François Mitterand in the background.

Then, from the other side of the river, we could view the Palais Omnisports beneath a graying sky.

This turned out to be one of the more boring walk cards.  The only thing that made up for it was that we had lunch at the Buffalo Grill.  It is a French chain restaurant specializing in Americana, with photos of the American West and Route 66 (although the website calls it "Road 66") plastered all over the walls.  The food wasn't fantastic, but at least now we know where to go if we're craving something resembling ribs or chicken wings.  In case you were wondering, the burger of the month is the Arizona Burger.

Parc de Bercy and Cour St.-Emilion

The area of Bercy is in the 12th Arrondissement, east of the city center of Paris.  It was once run-down but has recently been revitalized.  The parts that our walk took us through were really pleasant and enjoyable, and it was nice to see a little beyond the main touristy parts of Paris.

View of the area -- Sacré Coeur is in the distance

We started near the Bibliothèque Nationale de France - François Mitterrand.  This could be likened to our Library of Congress; it holds copies of all works published in France as well as about 5000 ancient Greek manuscripts.  Notice that the exterior walls of the library are made entirely of glass - this caused lots of controversy when the building was opened in 1996 because all the books were shelved in nearly direct sunlight.

A protective glaze has been added to help preserve the books

At the base of one of the library's four L-shaped towers

We then crossed the river via this super-cool bridge.  One of the loops terminates at street level, and the upper loop continues as a pedestrian overpass.  Pretty and functional.

Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir

As we walked over the bridge, we had a great view of the Piscine Josephine Baker -- an enormous swimming pool on a barge moored to shore.  It is open year-round and has a retractable roof.

This is the closest I would ever come to swimming in the Seine

Upon entering the Parc de Bercy, we were greeted by some rather scary-looking sculptures called the Enfants du Monde by Rachid Khimoune.

They are meant to represent the rights of children, but to me they seemed a bit frightening.  Which is less creepy: this sculpture...

...or this slightly bedraggled scarecrow found elsewhere in the park? 

The park is divided into three sections: the grande prairie, the flowerbeds, and the romantic garden.  We started in the grande prairie.  It is a wide-open space and we encountered several large groups of kids and teachers on some kind of field trip.  Built into the hillside is a modern waterfall.

A little further away is the Frank Gehry-designed Cinémathèque Française.  It is one of the largest film archives in the world.

We then passed into the flower bed area, where we enjoyed a picnic lunch among the roses.

 

A little farther along was the romantic garden, with fish ponds, water lilies, and fascinating sculptures.

Lily pond and sculpture "La Demeure #10" by Etienne Martin

After exploring the park for a while, we walked over to the nearby Cour St.-Emilion/Bercy Village area.  It was quite a lively area, especially after the tranquility of the park.

The railroad tracks and buildings you see in the photo are left over from when this area was full of warehouses for wine storage.  The storehouse structures have been repurposed into shops and restaurants.

One of the art galleries in the shopping area

We went into this gourmet shop and were each offered a fourré au chocolat to taste.  It's a type of shortbread biscuit with a chocolate center.

The biscuits were delicious, but when we saw someone else getting a taste, we were glad that ours had come from a sealed tin.

We weren't the only ones tasting the merchandise