Description: reflections on literature and life, especially life in France
I had the great pleasure of spending another week in Paris last week. My son and his girlfriend were both away and they needed someone to care for their cat. This gave me the opportunity to stay in their place in its wonderful location on the Bassin de l’Arsenal, near Bastille.
The first time I stayed in their apartment I didn’t know about the Coulée Verte, which is a beautiful green space designed for strolling on an elevated train track that goes from Bastille to the Chateau de Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, a distance of a few miles. It opened in 1988 and apparently was the inspiration for the High Line in New York; it is just a few short blocks from my son’s apartment, and this time I was determined to explore it.
After a rather late and chilly spring (which actually remained chilly during the whole time I was in Paris) some of the blooms that normally come earlier in the year had not yet happened. But while I was there, roses and other flowering bushes began to blossom and it was lovely, both on the Coulée Verte and along the Bassin de l’Arsenal as well.