Another sunny day today so we took advantage of another walk. Unfortunately, we found that sun does not necessarily mean warm!

Whereas yesterday we headed west out of our neighborhood, today we headed east toward the neighborhood of Belleville. We ended up calling our tour today a “Wikipedia Tour” because Ray graciously looked up spots along the route as we went so we could get a bit more of the history behind the place.

Our first stop along the way was the Saint Joan of Arc Basilica which was built in the 1930s next to the Church of Saint Denys (the martyr for whom MontMARTRE is named). Built in 1204, legend says this is one of the places Joan of Arc visited in her lifetime. That said, the Joan of Arc Basilica looked much older than Saint Denys and so we got them mixed up in our photo!

Our next stop was Le Centquatre which was a very unique space. I guess it’s normally a gallery with a big open middle, but none of the exhibits were open when we were there, so unfortunately we didn’t get to experience it first hand.

The next stop on our tour of the 19th Arrondissement was La Villette, the third biggest park in the city. This was a very unique space, surrounded by many cultural venues including the Museum of Science and Industry (the largest in Europe), an IMAX theater inside a huge reflective dome, the Paris Philharmonic, venues for modern music and more. The park itself contained multiple gardens (such as a Trellis Garden and a Bamboo Garden) and lots of sculptures that Wikipedia says are “meant to be a place inspired by the post-modernist architectural ideas of deconstructivism.”

In pretty wild contrast to Parc de la Villette which was built in the late ’80s and was still very much under construction when we were there, our next stops, just a few block from this park was Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. The site itself – named for the fact that the soil composition discouraged plant growth so that it was bald – has a pretty dark past. From the 13th to the 18th century, it was where bodies of hanged criminals were displayed after their executions. Following the Revolution it became a dump, followed by a place fo cutting up horses and for sewage. Another part of the area was a gypsum and limestone quarry.

You’ll remember our friend Haussmann who rebuilt the city in the mid 1800’s to give it the “look” it has today. He was the one who chose this site to become what I consider one of the prettiest parks in Paris.

By this time, I was feeling pretty exhausted from the (8 miles!) of walking – and we’d both caught a chill as the sun was setting, so we made our way toward home. We stopped for dinner at Le Progres, just across the street from our AirBnb for some Squid Ink Pasta and some Truffle Parmesean Risotto. Before officially calling it a day, we made an obligatory stop for elclairs at the bakery. When in Paris …!