Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Pan

In my 15 or 16 trips to Paris, I had never visited Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. No real reason, just hadn’t ventured that far into the 19th arrondissement.

So I was astonished earlier this week to see it. It is such an unexpected and amazing place! Enchanting.

I only discovered later (through the proprietor of my apartment) that this park was basically created in the 1800s from what was then a quarry; this was another part of Haussmann’s reconstruction of Paris.

Today, the remains of the quarry at not evident. As I walked through the fairy-land trails and paths, at one point I thought “Rivendell. This looks like Rivendell!”

See if you agree.