City Daily PHoto Theme Day - Parks

Today, the first of the month is our THEME DAY. Paris has an abundance of parks so I chose one that most visitors might never discover. Square Georges Cain is located on a quiet side street in the Marais. Put it on your list.

For all of the CDP bloggers' photos of their favorite parks, click HERE! 

Les Fontaines

 Jardin du Luxembourg

Été au Bois

If you've never visited Paris with children then more than likely you have never experienced le Jardin d'Acclimatation! Located in the Bois de Bologne, it's a delightful place to spend the day with les enfants. It combines a charming little amusement park, boat rides, gardens, petting zoo and a playground with many activities for all ages. This climbing structure looked like la Tour Eiffel to us. Try and calculate how high it goes. The French have a more lenient approach to playgrounds!

Tiny Beggars

Square Boucicaut is adjacent to Bon Marché and our Metro stop, Sèvre Babylone, so I often poked my head in to see what was  happening. It's a quiet little park where you often see people enjoying their lunch or children playing on the playground, and in fine weather the carrousel. This afternoon a few ducks showed up for a handout. To my knowledge there is no pond, so I"m wondering where they came from. Seasoned beggars that they were, they knew who to look in the eye!

La conversation

In this little park, I noticed that the gentlemen congregated on one side, and the ladies on others. Everyone seemed happy with that arrangement.

Après-midi au Bois de Bologne

Enjoying a conversation on a lovely Sunday afternoon.

My Quiet Corner of Paris

I can't promise Place Dauphine is always this quiet, but this day, I had it all to myself. That's usually been the case. Maybe one day I'll return and find pétanque players or friends chatting on a bench. No matter, Place Dauphine is a very quiet, special corner of Paris for me.

Les Chaloupes

Lac Inférieur, Bois de Boulogne

75016 Paris

L'ancre

Square Georges Cain, named after the painter and writer who was also served as a curator of the Musée Carnavalet.  I think this is one of Paris' best kept secrets. A quiet corner in the Marais

Square Georges Cain

rue de la Paynenne

75003 Paris

Métro : St. Paul

Automne à Paris

Square Georges Cain, le Marais

Le Mariage

Parc Monceau proved a beautiful setting for this wedding party's photo session.  I think the bridesmaids' gowns might have outshown the bride's.

Qui Est Cette Dame Folle?

C'est moi! Well I have probably been accused of being crazy more than once in Paris!! I just loved these three gentlemen enjoying the afternoon together in a small park in the Marais.

Fenêtre du Jardin

There is a special little park, le Square Georges Cain on rue de Payenne, where I've found the most wonderful subjects to photograph. I've previously posted them here and here. Today what I think is reminiscent of a rose window in a church.

The Gate

Parc Monceau, established in 1769, in the 8ème is a beautiful place, and one that I think gets overlooked by most visitors to Paris. The gates on both sides of the parc are stunning. Today a silhouette pour toi.

Les Avirons Rouges

Yesterday on my Birmingham blog I featured French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand as part of Blog Action Day 2009. His recent film Home is available online and has been distributed all over the world. Taken from a helicopter as for his photographs for Earth From Above, his film sends a powerful message about the fragility of our planet.

While in Paris last summer Peter and I toured the Musée Marmottan Monet. A wonderful museum in its own right, but we found an added bonus, a special exhibit of Bertrand's Paris From Above photographs and a short film. One of my favorite photographs was of the rowboats all tethered in the center of the lake at Bois de Boulogne. Fortunately we were very close, so off we went as soon as we left the museum! I've featured these boats here, but I especially liked this shot of the red oars. Worth another look I think.

Guess Where We Went Today? - Jardin d'Acclimatation

Davis found many motorcycle rides to enjoy!

We found a way to beat the crowds today. For those of you traveling to Paris with children this is the primo place to go. Forget Euro Disney, Jardin d'Acclimation is a 49 acre park in the northern part of the Bois de Boulogne. There is a delightful small train ride through the park, a house of mirrors, zoo animals, junior sized rides and we ended our day with a lovely boat ride down a mill stirred lagoon. Besides that, the gardens there are spectacular. We particularly loved the vegetable and herb garden. Check their link for all the other activities offered from trampolines, to miniature golf. We did all we could do, trust me!

Our friends from Birmingham joined us today so we had a grand day together. Did I mention how tired I am tonight????

I apologize if this post is rather long, but we have many family members and friends that want to see what we do everyday.

This delightful mural is tucked away in the gardens. All through the park there are signs featuring similar drawings. Their marketing director needs to find a way to sell these as prints. They could make some Euros.

The Eiffel Tower shaped climbing "thing".
( Notice how high you can climb. This country must not be lawsuit happy! HA)

All over Paris in every garden we've visited, we've seen groups of adults/children enjoying a picnic just like this one.

In the gardens


This was one ride all the adults enjoyed as much as the kiddos.

The perfect ending to our day here.