The weather has been magnificent these last few days in Paris, beautiful enough to leave the parapluies (umbrellas) at home for a rainy day ;-) and run outside to soak up the sun. The parks that dot the city will be filled with tourists and residents alike, all positioning themselves to grab green metal parc chairs, pull out a newspaper, turn on an ipod or just lean back and take a nap. One of the most beautiful places to do this is Parc Monceau.
Unknown to many tourists, Parc Monceau is located in the 8th arrondissement that has little around it that would be considered touristy, so you would need to make a tiny effort to get here. but in Paris that really isn’t that difficult–it usually means one more métro stop. It was established by Phillippe d”Orléans, a Frenchman who loved all things English! As a result, his goal was to create what you might find on an English estate; an informal layout, curved walkways and randomly placed statues and follies that differs from the traditional French garden which is very formal, symmetrical and well manicured. Flowers are left to do as they please, some finding homes in hollowed out logs. The circular colonnade that you see in the picture, surrounds a pond and looks as though it has been here since ancient times with crumbling “debris” sprinkled about.
There are rock gardens,
and waterfalls….
elements that you won’t find in any other park in Paris.
It’s a good size and has lots of room for strolling (my movement of choice) running, roller blading and letting the kids just go crazy after a day of museums. A picnic lunch would be awesome here as well. If you are sensing that the sun is going to be out and being inside can wait for when the clouds roll in–which could be in about 5 minutes with Paris–I would plan to spend part of your day here in nature’s splendor!!
Parc Monceau: Blvd Courcelles (between Blvd Malesherbes & Ave de Vigny. Metro: Monceau
Photo credit: Personal collection, Wikipedia
译文:
蒙梭公园——巴黎旅行者
前几天，巴黎的天气非常晴朗，人们终于可以把雨伞留在家里，到户外去享受阳光了！市里的公园肯定被居民和游客挤得满满的了，他们争抢着公园里的绿色金属座椅，拿出一份报纸，然后打开随身听，或者只是向后靠着椅背打个小盹儿。最适合做这些事的地方就是蒙梭公园了。
对很多游客来说，蒙梭公园还很陌生，它坐落于第八区，周围也少有旅游景点，因此想要去那里还是得花一些工夫的。但是在巴黎，这也算不上什么难题——通常只意味着多坐一站地铁。蒙梭公园由酷爱英国元素的法国人菲利浦（奥尔良公爵）建造，他的目标是要造一座在英语国家才能见到的公园：宽松的布局，蜿蜒的小径，随意摆放的雕像，还有建筑——有别于严谨、对称、精心打理的传统法式花园。园内花朵肆意绽放，有些甚至在镂空的树桩里安了家。你在照片里所看到的圆形廊柱环绕在池塘周围，仿佛是远古时代留下的，还有“遗迹”散落四周。
这里有假山园，
有瀑布,
也有在巴黎的其他公园里找不到的许多元素。
这里场地宽敞，有足够的空间漫步其中（我喜欢这项活动），也适合跑步、滑旱冰，让孩子们在参观了一整天的博物馆后尽情玩耍。中午来这里野餐是个很棒的主意。如果你觉得太阳就要露脸，还是在室内等到天气转多云的好——可这在巴黎可能只是五分钟的事——所以我还是建议你花一小部分时间来这里享受大自然的美妙！