Visiting the Bagatelle
Gardens and the Pûteaux Island Pool in Paris (France) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
To
go to the Bagatelle Gardens, my husband Laurent and I drove down the Avenue
Charles de Gaulle to reach the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, known as Etoile on the
Métro line Number 1.
There
are 12 large avenues that radiate from the Arc de Triomphe that lead to almost
all points in France it seems.
Merging
into the traffic circle is hard at the Arc de Triomphe. Parisians seem to want everyone to take a
tourist bus or the Métro to get to downtown Paris. And, once you are in the circle, Parisian
drivers make it difficult to get to your exit, so you have to keep driving
around the Arc de Triomphe. Of course,
there is a lot of beeping and swearing in French done, too.
Once
we got to our exit, we drove through the Bois de Boulogne (Boulogne Forest) to
reach the Bagatelle Gardens, famous for its roses.
The
Maréchal d’Estrées built the Bagatelle Gardens and its pavillon in 1720. The Bagatelle Gardens were famous for
romantic trysts – perhaps after a day’s worth of hunting in the Bois de
Boulogne.
The
French Revolutionaries spared the Bois de Boulogne while it was razing other
buildings and parks. They probably
recognized its therapeutic value after a day of denunciations.
Parisians
from the chic Western suburbs and inhabitants from Paris’s 16th
arrondisement treat the Bagatelle Gardens like their own private garden.
You
had to pay a small fee to enter the Garden, but air fragrant with roses made
you forget that you lived in a big city.
I
walked to the Bagatelle Gardens about three times a week when Florence was a baby. I got my exercise, and Florence got her
outing. The warm sun always made the
flowers smell great there.
You
can buy ice cream, sodas, and casseroles in the Garden’s cafés and restaurants.
I
used to sometimes eat lunch in the Bagatelle Gardens after going to the pool on
the Ile-de-Pûteaux (Pûteaux Island Pool). I went back to the Bagatelle Gardens
for lunch to regain my strength and stamina after childbirth.
Many
cities could put together similar “green and recreation” spaces with a little
effort in the US, too.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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