Editor’s Note: Marsh Creek resident, Gilles Renaud, recently returned from Paris where he visited his 97 year old mother whom he found in surprising good health and spirits. Also surprising in the usually busy French capital was the Covid-induced tranquility. The weather was idyllic, many streets unusually quiet, and the flight home luxuriously spacious. His experience, in brief, starting with a short history lesson of a lesser-known Parisian landmark.

By Gilles Renaud

Above is a recent picture of my mom and me in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in the north east section of Paris. For her, the excursion was a special treat and required considerable negotiating and promises to remain isolated while out in public before her nursing home would approve the brief outing.

Anyway, the park was just a garbage dump and gypsum / limestone quarry until the late 1850’s. Baron Haussmann, the famed architect of Paris, always the man with vision, undertook to transform this derelict site into a park when the quarry was exhausted. He was supported by Napoleon III and his wife Empress Eugenie. The contract was awarded to Jean Charles Adolphe Alphand, an architect who had already distinguished himself by building parks for the Emperor.

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In 1867 the park opened after extensive landscaping, blasting and building  including a small Roman styled belvedere (left) modeled after the Tivoli near Rome. Thousands of trees were also planted that can still be admired and enjoyed today. There are cedars, hazelnuts, elms, ginkgos, pine, pear and even a sequoia. The park sits on a hill with a steep incline and there is a nice view from the top edge near rue Botzaris.

The next picture (below) was taken from the East alley of the Champ de Mars at the level of the Eiffel tower at around 11:00 am. In normal times there would be crowds of tourists pouring out of many buses, then lining up to visit the tower. The Eiffel tower was closed to visitors and in any case there were no tourists. I probably will never see this site so peaceful again in my life time!!

Finally, the ride home.

The airplane interior (below) shows the interior of my Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Paris to Newark. It was not “mine”, but the empty seats sure made it seem so.

Depending on the model, the Dreamliner can accommodate between 240 to 330 passengers. Since there were only about 40 passengers on my flight we had plenty of room! It was really comfy and the flight attendants were eager to serve water, wine  and food with a smile.