Memories – this was 4 years ago this month.  Enjoy

 

 

 

When we first arrived in Paris 5 days earlier, our Cruise Director had told us of a little park about 5 minutes away from the hotel.  So today we would wander up there and have a look at this “little park” and then wander till we found somewhere to have dinner.

We had also been told to get to the Champs Elyse we could either turn left and left or right and right.  We had been going right and right.  Sometimes you should go left as you will be pleasantly surprised on what you will find.

Not even 5 minutes walk  we found Parc Monceau.  It had impressive huge gold gates and is surrounded by some amazing apartments.  We were upset with ourselves that we hadn’t visited this park before now.

 

The Parc is situated in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.  In 1769, the Duke of Chartres (later the Duke of Orleans) purchased a small parcel of land on which he hoped to build a garden. A pavilion was built-in the center and the Duke planned to expand the area throughout the next decade. The gardens were designed in the English style, less formal than the French style. The designer of the gardens, Louis Carrogis Carmontelle added statues of famous Frenchmen along with small-scale features such as a windmill, pyramid and some Corinthian pillars. The Duke was executed during the French revolution so it was then deemed a public park.  A new landscaper  was employed and he removed and added some other features.  The park was formally opened to the public in 1861 by Napoleon.

Today the park is enjoyed by many locals, and the day we were there I think there were only a handful of tourists including us 3.  We noticed that there were vegetable gardens around in many areas of the park.  I can only assume that it was for the people living in the apartments surrounding the park.

 

We wish now we had visited this park more often than just the day before we were to leave Paris and head home. If you get the chance to visit this amazing park I would defiantly recommend it.

It was such a peaceful park after the busy parks/gardens we had visited in the last few days.  “Far from the maddening Crowd”

We left the park with a firm promise that we will re visit the park next time we are in Paris.

Four years later and we still havn’t  been able to get back.