Exploring Bercy

We had breakfast today at the café near the Metro station which had been our regular spot last year. We then decided to do another of the walks from the Paris Je T'aime website that explore less visited areas of the city, this one in Bercy. We took the Metro to the station of that name and walked the short distance to the Cinémathèque Française, a striking building designed by Frank Gehry. It was interesting to see the curvaceous shapes, similar to those of Seattle’s MoPOP, here created in concrete.

We then explored the Parc de Bercy. This consists of three gardens. There is a meadow area (Les Grandes Pelouses), a second area devoted to gardening and flower beds (Les Parterres), and a third romantic garden (Le Jardin Romantique) with fishponds and secluded areas.

In the meadows we found a traditional carousel. It was too early in the day for it to be in use but I enjoyed taking a few photos of the horses.

We then walked through to the small vineyard, a relic of when this whole area was devoted to wine making. The walk description told us that:
‘The 350 Sauvignon and Chardonnay vines are among the last remnants of the history of the district, which began in Roman times, when the first vines were planted here. The opening of the first wine warehouse came much later, during the reign of Louis XIV.'

The vineyard was in one corner of the Parterres area, and beyond it we came to the pretty Maison du Jardinage. This is housed in a 19th-century building that was once a tax office. Today it hosts workshops teaching Parisians the joys of gardening and encouraging urban farming. Around it the flowerbeds were planted mainly with dahlias. There was also a community vegetable plot.

We detoured out of the park to visit the Place Lachambeaudie with an old fire station and a mix of other older and much newer buildings.

At the far end of the place stands the church of Notre Dame de la Nativité de Bercy. A church was first built here in 1677 but has been rebuilt twice, first in the 1820s and again the 1870s, having been destroyed during the uprising of the Paris Commune.

We went inside the church in search of a statue of St Emilion, the patron saint of wine merchants, mentioned in the walk description. But despite walking all the way around twice, neither of us could spot him! However we did enjoy seeing the mix of traditional and modern religious art here.

Retracing our steps to the park we continued to the Jardin Romantique. There were several ponds where as well as ducks we saw a terrapin. I even caught a brief glimpse of a kingfisher; a flash of turquoise and he was gone!

On the far side we came out into Bercy Village, where former wine warehouses have been converted into bars, restaurants and shops. The old railway tracks still run down the middle of the now pedestrianised cobbled street.

There was a lovely, relaxed Saturday vibe here. We strolled around a bit and had a lunch of galettes on one of the restaurant terraces before taking the Metro back to the city centre.

We got off the Metro at Pont Marie to visit my favourite spot, the Île Saint-Louis.

Again we strolled around for a while taking photos, before having ice creams at Berthillon for a treat!

We walked back to the apartment via the tip of the Île de la Cité, with of course more photos opps along the way.

In the evening we went to mass at Notre Dame and stayed on to take some photos afterwards, inside and out (where the light was perfect for photographing the details). It was wonderful, and rather emotional, to see it looking so beautiful after watching that dreadful fire some years ago.

We had dinner at the Saint Victor near the apartment, where we’d had breakfast yesterday. I enjoyed my burrata with heritage tomatoes and a main course of vitello tonatta, as well as a glass of Saumur. We were both too full for dessert however!