18.10.18

Île Saint-Germain



This is actually not Paris, but almost. This is another Seine River island, with the name of “Île Saint-Germain”. We are just south of Paris, in the suburb “Issy-les-Moulineaux”. Maybe we should start with a look at the “map”. We can see that this rather important island is divided in an office-and-residential area and in a park area. This post will only be about the green part.

If you approach the island, as I did, via the bridge, “Pont d’Issy”, you get a wide view of the Seine River, in this area surrounded by modern, mostly office, buildings.

The first thing that strikes you when entering the park area is the giant sculpture, named “Tower of Figures”, by Jean Dubuffet. There is even a door to enter… but it was closed!

The second thing that at least struck me is that despite the thousands of people employed in the nearby offices and despite the excellent weather (too nice for the season), there is an absolute calm to be found – very few people. However there were some, having lunch, taking a walk, running, just lying down in the sunshine…


There is so much to enjoy when it comes to “green”, slowly turning into autumn colours.



The island used to hold a military camp, abandoned, but there are some traces of old buildings.

There is also a “poney club”…

… a restaurant, a “Guignol”, puppet show, theatre…

On one side of the island, with the narrower branch of the Seine River, you can find many barges (one named “Peter”), transformed into living, office, workshop, restaurant… space.    

1 comment:

Maria Russell said...


What a nice place...looks so peaceful...
Love all that greenery and those boats.
Thanks for taking us there.