It’s Wednesday, and I’m sitting in a train that has just departed from the Gare de l’Est and is rapidly gaining speed. My initial destination was going to be Reims, but I got home last night and discovered an anxious message from my penfriend – apparently, Paris had been having big and rather violent protests during the day (several of which I appear to have just missed), and the SNCF strikes were on again. I considered my itinerary – Paris to Reims, Reims back to Paris, Paris to Kaiserslautern – and decided that the odds of at least one of these trains being cancelled was quite high. I have been *extremely* fortunate with strikes and everything else in Paris, but there is such a thing as pushing one’s luck. So I cancelled all my Reims bookings and am now headed straight for Mainz a few days early. I’m sad to miss Reims, but I had visions of taking days to get myself to Germany from there if the trains stopped…
I decided that Monday, the day when most museums are shut, would be a good day for walking around the 19th and 20th arondissements and crossing off some of the parks on my list (I had a LIST, oh yes. It had chocolates and patisserie and museums and parks, all sorted by arondissement and by priority, and with the arondissements grouped by proximity, so that on any given day I could choose which collection of items to cross off. It is possible that I am a tad over-organised, but I was a Catherine with an AGENDA, which included at least a brief visit to every arondissement in Paris, and there was no time to waste!), so I started the morning by exploring the park at Buttes Chaumont.
My inner Metro geek was delighted to discover this involved going on line 7 bis, which I haven’t been on before. I spent a little bit too much time on my journey trying to work out which Metro lines I had been on during this trip. Certainly 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 7bis, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Probably 4 and 6. Probably not 8 and 9. Certainly not 3b. I did a fair bit of walking and bus travel, and didn’t take notes. Next time, I shall be systematic…
This is actually a modern park, and I think a constructed one. It’s very hilly (if you look at the Crypte Archéologique in my previous post, you can see the Butte Chaumont even on the map of the pre-settled area of Paris), very popular with joggers, and has unexpected water features and a gazebo.
