Paris’s Parc des Buttes Chaumont, in the eastern part of the city, can fool you. In this case, it fooled all but PortMoresby, who somehow knew this seemingly tropical wilderness, with its sketchy bridge and photographed through falling rain, was really “faux rain forest,” and knew which one. Here’s the Ile du Belvedere, with the bridge and the belvedere, and minus the summer rain.
A walk through the park (and Gumbo is planning to blog one soon) will also show you scenes of ordinary but beautiful park, pleasant water scenes, cafes to refresh you, and the only suspension bridge in Paris (by the way, it was built by Gustave Eiffel. This picture shows the anchorages and “towers” of the bridge, which takes pedestrians across a small lake.
Part of the reason for the park’s varying topography lies in its history: It was one of the many gypsum quarries of long-ago Paris. Others have been put other uses; one is now Montmartre Cemetery, and another became the famed Catacombs. A portion of the now disused Petite Ceinture railroad that once circled Paris runs through the park as well.
Another fake, by the way: All those wooden railings are actually poured concrete…
