The Planted Promenade
Occasional warm and sunny days, the trees finally bursting with leaves, drinks on outside terraces and the first gelato of the season – it’s easy to love spring in Paris. Still, as a big city, it isn’t always the best setting to enjoy the delights of the season. Wouldn’t it be nice, just occasionally, to live in a cute little village where you could stroll along under blossoming trees and never once being cut off by a scooter?
Well, guess what: you can, right in the middle of Paris! If you’ve heard of the Promenade Plantée but have never gotten around to seeing it, there is absolutely no better time than right now. And if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’re in for a treat.
The Promenade Plantée is a former railroad track that came into Paris from the east and ended at the Gare de Bastille, back when there was a station there. It’s since been converted into a stretch of pedestrian-only paradise: a raised portion flying over the 12th arrondissement from the Bastille Opera to the Jardin de Reuilly, followed by another couple of kilometers along a path and under the Boulevard Péripherique, theoretically all the way to the woods in Vincennes.
>more