July 09, 2007

A new Paris park

Paris almost got the Olympic Summer Games 2012, but London won the fight!

The Paris plan included the creation of an Olympic Village like this to lodge the participants; the games would take place in different arenas inside and outside Paris and within a reasonable distance from the village. The space planned for the village has until now been occupied by a merchandise rail yard and some connected logistic activities.


Plans had to be revised. For the moment part of the space is transformed into a park. The park is called Parc Clichy Batignolles and is very close to where I live. Without any particular publicity, the gates to the park opened last Saturday and I entered as probably the third visitor.

The park is only partly finished and a lot of work remains for the coming weeks and months; a water basin, space for roller skating…and the grass, the flowers and the trees must grow. The park will later be made even bigger after the demolition of some surrounding buildings. In a few years it will be really nice! ... and Google Earth photos over Paris must be renewed!This is an opportunity to make a reference to the importance that rail had in this part of Paris: The Saint Lazare station – with the first French passenger railroad (1837) to Saint Germain (19 km) - is quite close and what was called “la Petite Ceinture” which made the tour of Paris (completed in 1869, now abandoned) also passed here. During the 19th century there was an important manufacturing of locomotives and wagons (Société de Construction des Batignolles)…

The defenders of local traditions would like not to forget the link to the rail. This weekend different manifestations took place explaining the need to do something in this respect. I show you some photos I took on Sunday from a street theatre play.One idea could be to leave some space in the new park for an outdoor railway museum.

23 comments:

Annie said...

There is a lot of vibrancy in your part of town, Pho. That park looks very enjoyable and the street fair too.

Azer Mantessa said...

hi peter,

this is a cool blog specializing Paris :-) i like it :-)

so sorry bout losing it to London

:-(

newayz, i've replied ur answer generally. thx :-)

Shionge said...

This is wonderful to be able to explore and share them with us :D

The outdoor railway museum sounds like a good idea indeed!

Shammickite said...

This looks like a wonderful addition to the parks of paris, and I absolutely love street theatre. You're very lucky to live in such an interesting place.
But I wonder why you moved from Sweden to France?

black feline said...

fully agreed...not for the present but at least for future generations...

Keshi said...

how cool! 2012 ha...

Keshi.

Olivier said...

2012, tu veux remuer le couteau dans la plaie..un gros regret, cela aurait superbe les JO à Paris. Dommage

hpy said...

J'ai du mal à comprendre l'engouement qu'ont beaucouyp de gens pour le rail. On trouve des associations qui s'occupent de vieilles locos un peu partout. Des adultes ont des trains miniatures chez eux et ainsi de suite. Qu'est-ce qui est si spécial avec ces vieilles machines qui puent? Et pourquoi est-ce que les trains de proximité (je ne parle pas des trains de banlieue par chez toi) passent d'une gare à l'autre avec un ou deux passagers, pas plus?

Anonymous said...

Maybe 2012 was a blessing in disguise. I hope London is left with some kin d of community legacy after the Games have moved on

Cergie said...

J'en connais un qui serait ravi par un tel musée... Il est allé plusieurs fois au musée technique de Berlin, pendant ce temps ma fille et moi sommes allées au Zoologisher Garten (une petite pensée pour Lyliane)

Cela aurait boosté Paris d'avoir les jeux et ensuite on aurait reconverti les locaux créés en logements par ex et cela aurait été bien
Cela s'est fait à Grenoble après le JO d'hiver

Anonymous said...

Je comprends très bien l'enthousiasme qui a pu habiter les gens pour préparer une candidature pour les JO. En Suisse, il y a de cela quelques années déjà, on visait les JO d'hiver à Sion en 2006. Mais notre candidature était une "petite" candidature, des gens de la montagne qui croyaient que soulever des montagnes les mènerait sur le chemin de la notoriété. On y croyait tous très fort, très très fort et on avait sorti les bouteilles de blanc pour les mettre au frais le fameux 19 juin 1999 lorsque Samaranch devait annoncer les résultats des candidatures. Il n'a pas annoncé "Sion" mais "Torino" et toute notre région est tombée de ses espoirs. Depuis ce jour-là, je ne m'enthousiasme plus de la même façon pour les JO, cela devrait être la fête du sport, cela devient la fête du fric... malheureusement. Pour moi, les plus JO resteront ceux de Lilehammer en Norvège, ils étaient encore à visage humain.

Anonymous said...

Petite rectification: je voulais dire "les plus beaux Jo" resteront... etc.

Peter said...

ex-shammickite:
I moved to France, because I love it and also because I loved my French wife!

hpy:
Je pense que le train a fortement contribué au développement de notre vie en général, surtout si tu penses aux années 1800 et le début des 1900! C'est sur que les petites lignes ont des problèmes aujourd'hui quand tout le monde à une voiture, mais les TGV, ça marche! ... et tu ne réves pas d'un voyage en Orient Express? (Je n'aborde pas le sujet de transport des marchandises vu tes activités professionnelles...)

(Je viendrai te voir en train!)

delphinium:
J'étais devant la télé et j'ai vu la déception des suisses en direct!! Je suis d'accord pour ce que tu dis de Lillehammer!

Anonymous said...

The railway museum should be of interest to a lot of people. My grandson would love it as he is into trains.

Brookville Daily Photo

EMNM said...

It´s amazing how an Olympic Games can change the city.
In Madrid is the same, we are still fighting for it, maybe in 2016

Nathalie H.D. said...

Thanks for yesterday's post about your street, that was fun!
I love today's post too. Paris needs every new park it can get so this new addition is great news! Thanks for reporting about it.

Ash said...

Another wonderful post Peter!

Kunterbunt said...

It's nice to have a park nearby and it's good for the air, especially in Paris to have some more green. but the park is very young and so you will have to wait for some years until it's fully green.

I have to say 'good-bye' now because I'm visiting a friend on Norderney, island in the North Sea. I'll be back next Monday.
I wish you wonderful holidays, too, when you travel south. I'm quite sure there will be good weather there.

sonia a. mascaro said...

Another beautiful photos and amazing reportage about Paris, Peter! What a blessing to live in such a wonderful place! Thanks for sharing!

alice said...

So, with this park, no more excuse to postpone one more time your beginning on roller blades!

Chuckeroon said...

You will have to tie me down to keep me away from the railway museum. Glad to see that they are going ahead with some of the project for the park. So....now I know the mystery of Les Batignoles.

Enjoy the hols.

hpy said...

Je suis pour le transport de marchandises par train sur de longues distances, comme je suis pour le transport par bateau. Je ne comprends d'ailleurs pas pourquoi on fait arriver de la marchandise par camion de Suède et de Finlande par exemple à Fécamp, seulement pour le décharger sur le port! (Mais je ne comprends toujours pas l'engouement pour les jouets train pour adultes.)

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