Railway lines of no further use make great recreation areas and lineal parks.
This one is called the Coulée Vert - the green track. It was an operating, raised rail line through the inner suburbs of Paris until 1969.
Converted to an urban recreation area in 1988, it has many dimensions. The first kilometre or so is above ground at the level of the original raised railway.
New buildings have been built to border the park on land that would originally have belonged to the railway.
There are cute viewing areas along the way.
As well as a variety of entry and exit points. This one is quite grand.
It's hard to say if the building was built around the walking track, or the track went through the building.
A rather large park was included at this point.
On and on we walked. Through a shopping precinct.
Into a damp, very green section with lots of ferns and birds which would have once been a deep railway cutting.
Through the old tunnels.
And ending with some very pretty tiered landscaping, 5km from where we began.
Walking on, guided by our trusty pocket street directory, we discovered ourselves to be at the far edge of the 12th arrondissement in an area called Reuilly where we found this swimmer emerging from the garden in front of the Palais de la Porte Dorée.
This is the National Museum of the History of Immigration.
It was too late in the day for a museum visit but we were very impressed by this art work in the lobby.
It clearly reminds us that Europe is awash with refugees from Africa and the Middle East. But unlike Australia, there seems to be little ill will.
No comments:
Post a Comment