• According to mon oncle, a repository of remarkable historical factoids and curiosities, Buttes Chaumont was used for public executions before the revolution.
• The park was revamped by Napoleon III and transformed into a sumptuous romantic fantasy, complete with concrete wood, a waterfall, and a cliff-top folly where the gibbet used to be.
• It is the biggest park in Paris. (Père Lachaise cemetery looks bigger on a map.) It is also the steepest park in Paris.• Back in the day, this was a frolicking ground for the Surrealists.
• Rumours abound about a nudist sub-section of the park. That noted, I have wandered every which ways around Buttes Chaumont and never once stumbled across a bunch of naturists.
• It has a great view in several directions.
Voilà Sacré Coeur!• Rollerblading, football kicking, pigeon feeding and ghetto blasting are forbidden. You are, however, allowed to walk all over the grass.
• It was the site of a joint celebration of my 26th and Antoine’s 27th birthdays.
• When I went there last week, I was reminded that the French expression for fairy floss is la barbe à papa, Daddy’s beard. Te he he.
No comments:
Post a Comment