Where the White Things Are: Parc de Bellville

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Parc de Bellville

All of my track season turmoil has distracted me from plugging away at documenting our Paris trip. Wow, that already feels like a lifetime ago, and it has only been six weeks since we were in the city of lights. One of the best parts about repeat visits to the same city is finding new favorite spots away from the regular touristy areas. Our hotel was a few blocks away from Le Parc de Bellville, and I fell in love at first sight of the view above this park. We went there nearly every day to check on the city vista du jour. The skyline was the same every time, but the sky itself is always ever-changing, so even cityscapes are worth a second, third, and fourth look. As a bonus, this park is off the beaten track, so the atmosphere was much more Parisian-French than tourist-laden. At times I almost felt like I was trespassing on the private lives of Parisians when we strolled through Belleville, due to the absence of tourists. Since nobody in Paris has a backyard, the parks ARE their yards, and sometimes it really did feel like I had climbed a fence and was standing in someone's yard!

While all of these pictures were not taken on the same day, I organized them in order from morning to night:

1. MORNING

It was a bit of a hazy gray morning.

Terraces and paths in the park below the viewpoint, with that ever-present Eiffel icon on the horizon.

A glance to the left always startled me with the sudden giant cathedral between two average apartment buildings.

The view area in the quiet pre-dawn, with the Eiffel Tower on the far left for a point of reference.

The skinny cute Rue Piat, which runs just behind the Belleville viewpoint. It was SO silent and still at 7am.

We found this immensely satisfying shortcut to the park...

...that big staircase led to this darling alley and I was utterly charmed, instantly caught up in the romantic idea of living in Paris with my apartment's courtyard door opening onto a quiet, rustic pedestrian alley like this one.

Of course, rent for a 200 square foot apartment in Paris is about the same cost as what we pay to rent our entire house in Sunnyside each month. But a girl can dream!

On the way back to our hotel, we passed this twisty intersection on Rue Henri Chevreau and I always admired the vine-covered building straight ahead and the bookstore to the right.

Back on quiet Rue de la Mare, at our beloved Hotel de la Mare (on the right).

2. AFTERNOON

Ah, a sunny winter afternoon in Paris. The people swarm all public places.

In spite of my map-scouring efforts, I never did figure out what the name of that mysterious cathedral was, and the sign was covered with ivy when I took a closer look in passing.

Le Parc de Belleville with plenty of sunshine and visitors.

This interesting pavilion of sorts stood at the viewpoint. (point of reference: the Eiffel Tower is in the distance on the right, between the trees and the funky building)

Plenty of people taking in the sunshine and the view.

This area was packed with people! It's so easy to forget the sheer numbers of residents in Paris on early gray winter mornings, but then the sun comes out and they swarm! Sunny afternoon vs. cloudy morning right there.

Looking left toward that mystery cathedral.

Looking right down skinny Rue Piat (behind the Belleville viewpoint).

3. SUNSET

I was in raptures over this molten gold sky with the Eiffel Tower poking into it.

4. NIGHT: we were only in Paris for five days, and I was always dragging Jeff off to Belleville to admire the view. I love views, and this one was so satisfying! I'm pretty sure we walked past le Parc de Belleville a couple of other times too, when I didn't take pictures.

We decided that the Parc de Belleville had the best free view of the Paris skyline in town. One night we even hiked up Montmartre (the more famous hill and viewpoint) and then went over to Belleville right afterwards to compare the two. Belleville won without a fight.