Welcome to Parc de Bagatelle which is located in the forest of the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th Arr.
The day we arrived at the park the groundsmen were working on the ornate front gates built in 1860.
(We entered through the East gate - Vers l'allee de Longchampe Porte Maillot)
They were actually painting them gold over a pinkish undercoat!
I asked one of them if I could take a photo of him at work.
He happily said "Oui"
Depending on which gate you enter the park through and if you meander enough
this is what you are likely to see.......
Louis XV Pavillion
We always head straight for the Chinese pagoda where the peacocks like to hang out.
And show off their beautiful plumage......
...to any pea hen that happens to be walking by!
During courtship they not only display their feathers but they also rattle their back feathers against their display and it makes quite a vibration noise.
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| Ruins from the Abbey of Longchamp - c1255 - a convent of Poor Clares |
This park was built in just 64 days in 1777. It began as a bet between Marie Antoinette and her cousin. It took about a thousand workers and was designed by Scotsman Thomas Blaikie and feels like your very own "secret garden".
The rose garden now has close to 1,200 varieties of rose bushes.
Unfortunately it was still to early for them to be in bloom but
hopefully Mr. B and I will come back here in May on our way home.
Up a small hill overlooking the roses is another pagoda.
This is the view from inside the pagoda.
The Presentation Garden
If you look carefully at the statues at the entrance to this garden,
the little girl on the right has cute little wiggly toes
while the little boy left has cloven hooves.....
mmm....coming from a mom who raised three boys I think I may know why!
These gardens were filled with tulips, peonies, roses, narcissus, clematis, forget me not and pansies.
It brought you through to the potager - or kitchen garden.
The potager garden was surrounded by espaliered apple trees forming a fence.
And who can't live without a pink chateau
with a formal courtyard & garden & 2 sphinx awaiting your horse drawn carriage?
I love the hand painted interior shutters.
There is so much more to show of this amazing park
- waterfalls, iris gardens, grotto's, lakes, a bamboo forest,
an orangerie where they hold concerts, streams with fish, etc.
but I am running out of space!
We had lunch across the street from the Opera House or Palais Garnier.
After eating, Jackie & Sydney wanted to do some shopping and I wanted to go
back to the Musee d'Orsay. When I arrived, it was closed......it was a
Monday! So I walked back to our hotel to do some packing. Mr. B was
arriving the next day and we had to move into our own room the next morning.
On the walk back home I took some photos of various door handles......
'nuf said........it's Paris!
"In France we have a saying, 'Joie de vivre,'
which actually doesn't exist in the English language.
It means looking at your life as something
that is to be taken with great pleasure and enjoy it."
--Mireille Guiliano
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