A day at the park

Along the shores one can rent a little row boat

This week, we were blessed with unusually good weather. At this time of the year, its normally rainy with uncertain temperatures. As if to make up for the more than snowy winter we had, this week was spring at its finest--clear blue skies, hardly a breeze and all the sunshine we could possibly ask for. To not take advantage of such bounty was criminal so we took ourselves off out of our usual route and headed towards the Bois de Vincennes, one of the green spots around the city.




Bois de Vincennes on the eastern outskirts of the city is enormous and was first used as royal hunting grounds. King Louis XV was the first to let the public roam the grounds. Since then, it has served as a prison and subsequently as arsenal and military training grounds with much of the trees uprooted and torn away. Thanks to the efforts of Baron Haussman in the 19th century much of parc was reforested with the trees we see now.  These days, it is a peaceful area with 4 lakes, one of which is natural, acres of biking and walking trails, a zoo, a Buddhist Temple built during the Colonial Expo of 193, a floral parc and an ampitheater where plays and concerts are held.

Lac Daumenil

Given its size, that day we went , we could only see a very small part of it. But no matter, we strolled and turned our faces to the sun and soaked up the peace that could only come from being away from the maddening crowd.

What a wonderful way to while away an afternoon

A view of the lake from higher up

Who knew there would be peacocks?

A pretty magnolia tree just beginning to bloom

And finally, a glimpse of a greek inspired temple