26.9.08

Bois de Boulogne

Walking around the lakes of the Bois de Boulogne, I was once again happy to find that the Paris gardeners now leave some (more and more) space for wild flowers....

Paris is a relatively small city, encircled by the Pereferique (ring road), with “only” some 2 million inhabitants (some 10 million in the Paris urban area).

There are more than 400 parks, gardens and green squares in Paris – and it’s getting greener every year. Totally it’s said to be Europe’s greenest capital. This includes then of course the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes, which somehow are just annexed, but each one covers an area which is two or three times larger than Central Park or Hyde Park.

Last week I had thus a walk around the major lakes in the Bois de Boulogne in a nice early autumn weather.

Before talking about the lakes, what else can you find in the Bois de Boulogne which is officially part of Paris since 1852 and before that was a place for bandits, later for Royal hunting etc.?

There are two hippodromes - Auteuil (created 1873) for steeplechase racing and Longchamp (created 1857) for flat racing, a small amusement park for children with a menagerie - Jardin d’Acclimatation (opened 1860), the Parc Bagatelle (opened 1835) with a famous rose garden and, in the extreme south, you find the Tennis Stadium Roland Garros (first tournament 1891), where the French Championships (one of the four slams) are held. There are also a number of private sporting clubs, some nice restaurants... and a lot of space for walking, running, biking, horse riding, fishing ... and also eating and drinking in some nice restaurants. (During the dark hours you find also prostitutes.) Since its creation, the Bois (the Woods) has been a popular place, especially to spend part of your weekend. During the week, it’s very calm – as you can see.






The major lakes (Lac Supérieur and Lac Inférieur) were artificially created during the 1850’s. The Lower Lake, the bigger one, has two islands in the middle, with a bridge in between. You can reach them (and a restaurant) only by a small ferry (1€). On the islands it’s even calmer. I met what I believe is a heron. It was so kind of posing (no zoom needed) that I have to give room for three photos.

Once again, it's Friday. I wish you a very nice weekend!

45 comments:

Shionge said...

I feel like bringing along my picnic basket now Peter....wanna join me :D


Happy weekend my friend :D

Shionge said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Azer Mantessa said...

ooo man!!!

fantastic pictures!

saved them all.

i made a song for the greeting card out of the previous picture saved from here and i think i can write more songs out of these.

Virginia said...

Peter,
I feel like you have transported us to some faraway island, certainly not Paris! What a lovely discovery . I never would have imagined all of this. Merci!
V

Ming the Merciless said...

Love the first photo of the wild flowers. It is simply spectacular.

I didn't realize Paris was so green, with so many parks and lakes.

SusuPetal said...

That meadow, those flowers...thank you for beauty, Peter.
Have a nice weekend!

Anonymous said...

First photo is very striking. Apart from the fact that it gives us a great sense of a flower meadow, it also manages to look like a cross between Monet in his crazy later years (my opinion only) and Jackson Pollock.

Also an eye opener for anyone like me who "knows" Paris a little bit but hasn't investigated the Bois de Boulogne (yet)

Cergie said...

OUF ! J'arrive de chez Olive et je suis bien contente d'avoir fermé sa page / le joyeux vacarme !

Chouettes ta first et t

Cergie said...

... ta last picture
Comme toi, je vais dire : tu te souviens que j'ai posté une jachère once ?
Oui, mais arriver à mettre en valeur une jachère en finnde vie est un exploit !
Photographier aussi joliment un horrible héron est égalemnt un exploit que je ne croyais pas possible
J'aime bie les barques aussi

(Par contre tu n'as rien pu faire pour les barrières en béton simili branches d'arbre)

Tu as même suggéré les abords et les fourrés...

Cergie said...

RICHARD ! Tu veux aller au bois !

Olivier said...

"RICHARD ! Tu veux aller au bois !" Ben miss cergie on se lâche ;o).
L'un des poumons de la ville de Paris, sans ce bois (et celui de vincennes) Paris serait triste.

claude said...

Quel beau bois que ce bois be Boulogne ! magnifique post peter, comme d'habitude, avec d'excellentes photos. C'est mieux d'avoir pu rencontrer un beau héron qu'une vilaine grue. Hum!!!!

Adam said...

Definitely a heron Peter, and a magnificent one at that!

Paris is certainly greener today than it was when I first arrived, but I still don't understand why they find it so difficult to grow and sustain grass here!

By the way, I came across your site via a link from the parissecretetinsolite.unblog.fr blog.

Vagabondage said...

Bonjour Peter,

Un style d'images différents et c'est sublime.

Ces paysages d'eau que j'aime tant d'un bois que je connais parfaitement..

Un très beau post.

Bon WE à toi Peter à bientôt..

alice said...

When Victoria will come in November, it could be a nice idea to go there! And this place is so chic...
Ce week end, Peter, je bichonne mes étudiants qui seront tous les deux à la maison, chose de plus en plus rare! A bientôt!

Anonymous said...

Of all the interesting posts you have done about Paris, I like this one the best. It is just an excellent collection of pictures of the city you call home. Nice photography and excellent narrative.

Anonymous said...

So I have to change my opinion about Paris. I didn't know that there were so many parks and that thre is so much green. Good for Paris, good for the city climate.
And even a heron. Great photos. He seems a bit tame.

Anonymous said...

Don and I rented bikes in the park and rode half a day around. We loved it! I'm glad to see they're letting more go to wildflowers.

HZDP said...

peter,
I love the first photo!! and I just download it from your site for a close look, do you mind? haha~

Shammickite said...

How amazing that there are so many parks and green spaces in Paris, it certainly is a city of many surprises. The wild flowers are lovely, very important to preserve the wildness I think. Formal gardens are lovely, but the wild flowers have a beauty that is all their own. Thank you for these pictures, Peter.

Mona said...

wow! what sylvan surroundings! I love the greenery here! And look at all those boats! ( I think I see your grandchildren enjoying a boat ride! :)

I love collecting wild flowers!

Thérèse said...

Bien innatendues ces belles photos du bois. Je ne me souviens que du chemin où l'on courrait pour se déstresser une fois par semaine.
Bon week-end Peter.

Maxime said...

Whoww ! Cette photo de prairie automnale est une merveille !
Félicitations au jardiniers et au photographe.

Neva said...

What a lovely field of wild flowers...vry nice...but I can not imagine how they made these lakes in the 1850's considering what equipment they did not have then!

sonia a. mascaro said...

First of all, I would like to thank you for your nice words on my Anniversary Post. I am so glad you liked the collage!

Bois de Boulogne looks very, very beautiful! It's great that Paris has more than 400 parks, gardens and green squares. What a wonderful city to live in! Thanks for this amazing post.

Have a lovely weekend.... in Paris, for sure!

Angie Ledbetter said...

Lovely lovely pics. Tres bon!

Nicole said...

your pictures are great. especially the one with all the little flowers. i found a newt ravel site, baraaza.com. I think you might like it.

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

C'est effectivement un héron.
Je ne sais pas s'ils sont plus nombreux que dans mon enfance ou si j'ai appris à les voir. Il parait qu'ils commencent à envahir Amsterdam et font "la manche" sur les terrasses des restaurants.

Kate said...

Hi Peter! I temporarily suspended my blogs and commenting, but I'm cruising some of my favorites this am while I have a little time. Love your photos, as usual...especially the top with the field of flowers. A day brightener. Have a good week-end!

lyliane six said...

C'était presque mon grand jardin quand j'habitais Rueil.Mais ce n'est pas en allant m'y promener avec toi que j'ai attrapé mon fameux rhume qui a du mal à me quitter, je suis HS.
Bon dimanche.

GMG said...

Hi Peter! Here I am to enjoy your lovely blog on my weekly visit!
I was right! After the three posts on the Eiffel Tower, further to some wonderful pictures, we know everything about it! And now we also know everything about the Bois de Boulogne. I miss strolling around a little bit when I had time between meetings at the Chateau the La Muette and at the Annexe Ingres/Boulevard Suchet... ;)
Great pictures of the alleged heron! ;)
Have a great weekend!

marie6 said...

wild flowers especially poppies make the world a whole lot brighter!

I got to see a heron in malta, it was having a rest while migrating on Filfla (a very small island near malta) while we were out on the boat last year.

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Heeh dearest Peter,
A great ahowing again from Bois de Boulogne I like the bird too (don't know the name in English do you? Dutch is= REIGER)

PeterParis said...

shionge:
I would be happy join you, but this weekend for the F1 in Singapore?

azer:
You ar sso ceative! Let's see whatyo can innvent this time!

virginia:
Another place to discover then! Maybe a bit less green in November!

Alain said...

Très romantique ce bois of Boulogne, malgré sa réputation un peu sulfureuse !

PeterParis said...

ming:
A bit less central than the Central Park!

susupetal:
It gives some kind of summer feeling!

richard:
So I'm a link between a crazy Monet and a (crazy) Pollock! :-)

Bois de Boulogne next time in Paris then!

PeterParis said...

cergie:
Un "horrible" héron?

Richard peut bien aller au bois; il faut voir à quelle heure! :-)

olivier:
Oui, Paris a la chance d'avoir deux poumons! Je vais faire Vincennes aussi - un jour!

claude:
A l'heure ou je suis passé, je n'ai pas vu des "grues". :-)

PeterParis said...

adam:

http://parissecretetinsolite.unblog.fr/ is an inreresting blog. So is yours: http://parisisinvisible.blogspot.com/

mathilde:
Agréable pour un proménade! A bientôt!

alice:
Maybe soon we meet then!

PeterParis said...

abraham:
Thanks again for your kind words! I hope I can keep up with the standard!

april
The heron was surprisingly kind to me as a "photographer"! :-)

ruth:
Good, so you know the park well!

PeterParis said...

hzdp:
Happy you like it! You are free to download everything you wish! No "copyright"! :-)

shammickite:
I'm also very happy with this intiative! I see more and more of it!

mona:
No, not my grandkids this time! :-))

PeterParis said...

therese:
A un moment, j'habitais à coté en je faisais une petite course le matin, trois fois par semaine! Plus maintenant!

maxime:
J'aimerais bien transmettre aux jardiniers!

neva:
Hand-digging! :-)

PeterParis said...

sonia:
I REALLY think that your collage was very nice ... and must have taken a lot of time to produce!

angie:
Thanks forf these words ... and for your visit!

PeterParis said...

nicole:
Thanks, whoever you are! No address and no blog (yet)?

I looked at http://www.baraaza.com/Default.aspx ... and even joined!

deslilas:
L'héron du Bois avai l'air tout seul!

kate:
I appreciate that you took the time to come here! I will continue watching and see when you are back!

PeterParis said...

lyliane:
J'espère que tu es maintenant "en service"!

gmg:
The more I think about it; we may have met (together with the little dog we had those days)! This was exactly where our prmenades took place!

marie6:
As I understand, all herons don't really migrate, so I believe you saw another one! :-)

joann:
Please re-read the post and the comments for the bird name. I guessed it was a heron ... and it has been confirmed by people who know! :-)

PeterParis said...

alain:
Tout dépend quel regard sur le Bois qu'on a! :-)