Every day, Ron takes the T2 Tramway from Paris to the suburb of Saint Cloud. The tramway runs between the Seine on the east and forested hills on the west. From the tramway, we could see what looked like a beautiful park, with a huge fountain and beautiful sculptures.
There are times when I wonder if living in the electronic age really makes our lives better, but having google at my fingertips, and therefore, a veritable encyclopedia, I have to conclude that sometimes at least, the answer is yes. And oh by the way, the irony that this blog is a product of the electronic age hasn't escaped me! The T2 stop indicates the park is Parc de Saint Cloud and a little googling reveals that the park is the remnants of a once-great chateau. After reading everything I could find on the park and the former chateau, we decided it should go on our to-do list.
So, on a Sunday afternoon, we went to check it out. We took the T2 tramway to the Parc de Saint Cloud stop and then headed back in the direction of the park. We don't have a detailed map of the area, but the park can be seen from the tramway, so we figured if we just follow the streets that follow the tracks, we couldn't go wrong. We didn't count on the fact that the A13 autoroute comes in from the west here, and because of the river, there's lots of twists, turns, cloverleaf entrances and exits and other small streets that all needed to share space. We very quickly got stuck going right when we wanted to go left and going straight when we wanted to go right because the pedestrian walkways forced us in a particular direction. We found ourselves under the A13, on an island in a vast sea of busy streets and not really sure which way to go. But lo and behold, there was a sign pointing out the direction of the park!
Despite all the twists and turns, we didn't go wrong!
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| The entrance to the park - it goes under one of the ramps for the A13 |
It had rained earlier, and as we emerged on the other side of this subway, we found a gravel pathway (my favorite! I love love love the sound of crunching gravel pathways!) littered with puddles:
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| This was a dirt path off the main gravel path - I was grateful not to have to traipse through the mud! |
One of the first things we saw was one of the things that caught our eye from the tramway:
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| The Grande Cascade - a very large and very ornate fountain with an equally large reflecting pool at the bottom |
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| There's Ron, reflecting on his reflection in the reflecting pool |
There's a lot of statuary in the park - a common garden adornment of the rich and noble - but years of being exposed to the elements has damaged much of it:
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| Statuary along the reflecting pool - the one on the right isn't too bad, but the one on the left is crumbling |
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| Hey - She looks familiar? Haven't we seen her somewhere before? |
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| Ah yes - her wealthier cousin got to live indoors - at the Louvre, no less! |
This sculpture was of particular interest - although worn and weathered, there was also something very life-like about it:
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| It's not too often we see sculptures of fully clothed people! |
We made our way along the side path to the top of the reflecting pool and for a closer look at the Grande Cascade:
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| Look back down the hill |
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| Fountain detail - there was a trickle of water - I'll bet the fountain is beautiful when the water is fully on |
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| Looking up to the top part of the fountain - notice the wild flowers growing in the grassy areas! |
We followed more paths in the direction of the former chateau. The chateau has a very rich history; it was built by the Gondi family by expanding the existing Hotel d'Aulnay in the 16th century. In 1655, the Gondi family sold the chateau to Barthélemy Hervart, who in turn sold it to Philippe, duc d'Orléans in 1658. The chateau remained in Philippe's family until 1785 when Louis XVI bought the chateau for Marie-Antoinette and the royals were still having furniture delivered there on the eve of The Revolution. Napolean made the chateau at Saint Cloud his preferred residence, Napolean III declared war on Prussia in July 1870 from Saint Cloud and in October 1870 the chateau was shelled and burned. The chateau was razed in 1871.
We ascended a beautiful semi-circular staircase that rose above another pool to a terrace that would have been on the south side of the chateau:
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| Semi-circular stairs |
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| Another pool - this would have been on the south side of the chateau |
There is a map showing how the grounds and chateau were laid out and the outline of the former chateau is marked by the shaped yew trees. I've marked the map to show where we entered the park, and where the reflecting pool and Grande Cascade are located and the orange star is where I was standing for the photograph:
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| Orange star = you are here; orange arrows = you were there |
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| A view of Paris from the Chateau grounds |
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| There are lovely flower beds in the area of the chateau and former gardens |
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| Daffodils! |
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| There were a lot of these trimmed trees/shrubs - no branches or leaves but blossoms coming right out of the trunk! |
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| Another small garden and pool |
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| Poppies! |
As we made our way back to the metro, we climbed another hill and walked along a path that over-looked the chateau and park:
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| The southern view - you can see the layout of the former chateau in the yew trees and the terrace above the semi-circular stairs and pool below |
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| From up on the hill, you can see the Chateau's east terrace, and it's magnificent location in the hills above the Seine |
We really liked this park - there were runners and folks out with their dogs, but it wasn't nearly as crowded as many Parisian parks are - and although many of the main structures are gone, the history of the chateau and gardens remain.
