An afternoon exploring Paris….. Bercy and La Butte aux Cailles
The packing was virtually finished, and with just 2 cards to complete the set, I took the metro to the area of Bercy, towards the east of Paris and a fairly ‘new’ area where the huge Bibliotheque Nationale de France-Francois Mitterand was opened in 1996 to replace the beautiful historic one near the Palais Royale. But my main focus was on the beautiful park - where, amongst other things, I discovered an allotment of small garden plots with children tending the plants - see photo above.\Always a joy to see children in a garden.
There was also an orangerie and a glass house and wonderful expanses of grass and trees - perfect for the Parisians who live in apartments. I nearly didn’t walk to the Cour St Emilion, described on the card as a shopping mall - and imagining a 10 storey building; but much to my surprise, it was a lovely collection of shops inside beautiful old stone buildings weathered by time and once used to store wine. So after a restorative hot chocolate, and time on my side, I headed for the area around the metro station Place d’Italie.
And of course the area has nothing to do with Italy at all, in fact there is a whole area near the station where all the Chinese grocery shops are located. But I was not here for that. The area was described in my card as “an odd jumble of old and contemporary architecture, and what an excellent description. I found low, small buildings, tiny cobbled laneways, and some interesting little shops in the rue de la Butte aux Cailles. A honey shop, Les Abeilles, with every conceivable type of honey, including the combs, a tiny crepe shop (see photo), and various other restaurants and cafes. And then down the hill, in a tiny street called Villa Daviel, there is a row of single-family homes - a rarity in Paris, dominated by apartment blocks. Then back along the rue des Cinq Diamants - what a great name (5 diamonds!) and back to the metro and home to Passy for a glass of vin de rouge and finish the packing.
All in all another great day discovering another facet of Paris and its day to day life.
A bientot
Barb
