Vincennes, Parc Floral, And More

Sunday, May 26th, after the Bastille market, I accompanied Rebecca and Penelope to Vincennes and the Parc Floral. Vicki and I had done the historical and architectural bits of Vincennes in 2014, as well as the floral bits: http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/vincennes-le-chateau.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/saint-chapelle-de-vincennes.html, and
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/parc-floral-de-paris.html (obviously, I was impressed), but I wanted to see the floral part again, especially this time of year. Alas, it was not the best time, since the early bloomers, the azaleas, the camellias, the rhododendrons, were done, and the high summer flowers were not yet out. But I found other things to do. Vincennes is Paris' largest public park, as I recall, and it has five major playgrounds, the principal reason for our going.

Just the floral part of Paris' largest public park

Fauna as well as flora

Unusual dorsal view

That's all, folks

Waning early bloomers

But in Paris, there's always an art exhibition within a few feet, so I took this one
in (contemporary artists (not Turner))

Snapping a few to my taste

Further wandering took me to one of the several exhibition
halls, where a large gathering of independent wine-producers
was underway

Thus; the emphasis among the independents is upon "natural" or "bio" ("organic");
a return to what the wine tastes like, not chemicals, not wooden barrels; I'd had
some natural wines before but was not convinced

There must be an elegant French name (not poubelle) for
the little bins you can pour the untasted wine into; no spitting

I'm convinced now: best muscadet ever

The major players were faithful to their heritage; best of all
for me was the Gevrey-Chambertin (not pictured)

Meanwhile, back at the playground

P was having a great time

And drove us home safely aboard Metro #1 (see her mother's blog, SherouseHouse.com
for explanation)

Galeries Lafayette

Among Paris' many landmarks are two of its majestic old department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps. For the last several weeks, Galeries Lafayette/Haussman had a promotion going on...Funarama, turning the place into a bit of a playground...the major features of which were a giant net stretched out below the famous cupola, and a walkway, both high above the bottom floor. Rebecca and Penelope did the net before we got to Paris, but I wanted to see it all, especially the famous cupola, a favorite.

Cupola, net, and walkway

The walkway

Rebecca and I on the walkway

Looking up into the cupola; the whole edifice an art nouveau wonderland

And down onto the net (no jumping up and down)

A bit of perspective

Quite a different view of it all

Nous Sommes Rentres A Paris

We have returned to Paris. On May 22nd, we put Le Duc in storage by the (left) bank of the Seine, some miles upstream from The Cite', hopped the RER, and got to the Gare de Lyon in a matter of minutes, then walked the mile or so to daughter Rebecca's apartment in the 11th. (She, husband Jeremy, and daughter Penelope had already been there for a month). Interestingly, her apartment, on Rue Faidherbe, is just a few blocks down Rue de Charonne from where we lived in 2014, on Rue de Nice, so we're already well familiar with the neighborhood, the shoppes and restaurants, the Metros, etc. Jeremy returned to Middle California the day we arrived, so it's just Rebecca, Penelope, Vicki and me. Rebecca still has some of the major sights to show to Penelope, but otherwise we're doing more the resident sorts of things, markets, parks, walks, and such. Some initial scenes...

Le Duc safely stored

And we are in Paris!

In a building like this, nearby

In the 11th

Daredevil Penelope at the Tuileries playground

Our old Metro station from 2014

Somewhere up there in the apartments on Rue de Nice

Open book landmark in the old neighborhood

At the Vanves antiques market

Same guy, same piano on wheels as 5 years ago

I actually bought a piece of original art...

Street scene

Favorite weird building in the 11th

Back side

Window shopping...still processing this one

At the Bastille market

At the Bellville market

At the Friday for Future demonstration at the Opera Garnier

Mothers' Day treats...Cyril Lignac is but a block away

Recycling bin runneth over...

"For the tranquility of the residents please don't deposit bottles in here between
10PM and 7AM"...somebody please translate that into Italian and print a million
copies...

Maybe Bellville, maybe Bastille, maybe Aligre, maybe Vanvers...we like markets!