Montsouris Park: one of the 4 largest parks in Paris
Montsouris Park is one of the 4 largest Paris parks* created by Emperor Napoleon III and his Prefect, Baron Haussmann, at each of the cardinal points of the compass around the city.
Montsouris Park opened in 1869. This park is designed like an English landscape garden.
It’s more than 1400 trees, lots of birds, as swans and ducks.
More than 35 acres. This park contains a lake, a cascade. It’s home to a restaurant a café and a guignol theater.
It’s a very charming place to come for a promenade, for reading, relaxing, running…
(* This 4 Paris parks are : the Parc des Buttes Chaumont (North East of the city), the Bois de Vincennes (East), the Bois de Boulogne (West of the city) and the Montsouris Park (south))
The Pavillon Montsouris
In the Montsouris Park, a restaurant, the ” Pavillon Montsouris “ : built in the end of 19th century, for the 1892 Universal Exhibition. Its style is a Belle Epoque style and is a listed Historical Monument. Many renown people used to come there : Braque, Le Douanier Rousseau, Fujita, Jouvet, Carné (film maker), Prévert (French poet), Ionesco, Yourcenar (Writer), J.P. Sartre, S. de Beauvoir…Some of them used to live nearby. On the tour, I ‘ll show you their houses (Braque, Fujita…etc)
Poem by Jacques Prévert
About the Parc Montsouris
The garden
Millions and millions of years
Would not suffice
To speak of
The little second of eternity
When you kissed me
When I kissed you
One morning in the winter sunlight
In Montsouris Park in Paris
On the Earth
The Earth that is a star.
Jacques Prévert (1900 – 1977)
Le Jardin (=The garden)
« Des milliers et des milliers d’années
Ne sauraient suffire
Pour dire la petite seconde d’éternité
Où tu m’as embrassé
Où je t’ai embrassé
Un matin dans la lumière de l’hiver
Au parc Montsouris à Paris
À Paris
Sur la terre
La terre qui est un astre. »
My advice :
- You ‘ll enjoy the Montsouris Park if you like large green spaces and if you’ve already seen the major high spots of Paris.
- During Summertime, choose to come if possible during the week days. It will much more peaceful.
- You can take a break (a light meal or a drink) in the Cafe “Chinchin” located on the north edge of the Park. (at the corner of Rue Nansouty and Avenue Reille)
- You can either choose to have a crêpe at the small and very simple café in one of the paths of the park (but it’s a very simple place. Not a real cafe. Just some tables and chairs)
Practical details
- 2 main entrances :
- Corner of Gazan and Nansouty streets
- Corner of Gazan and Reille streets (At the end of Avenue René Coty)
- Pavillon Montsouris – 20, rue Gazan – 75014 Paris www.pavillon-montsouris.com
- Nearby the park :
- Remains of the Roman time : a piece of an aqueduc
- Cobblestone alley ways with nice houses
- Art Deco buildings by renown architects (Perret, Lurçat..) Also a Le Corbusier building.
- Places where many artists used to live in the 1930s
(An article about Montsouris neighborhood coming soon)
—————————————–
Visit Montsouris and its neighborhood, with Ann Jeanne in Paris, native Parisian :
You’d like to feel like a local and having a tour in a Paris neighborhood, but you don’t feel having a tour with a group ?
You’d like to discover Paris off the beaten path, get a real feel of an authentic Paris, and full of tips from a native ?
You’d like to see Paris in another perspective and to know more about Paris and Parisians?
WELCOME !
I’d be delighted to welcome you and share with you “my” Paris. And Paris will be “your” city too 🙂
The tours are private (with you only or you and the person you choose), at your pace.
For more details : “Ann Jeanne in Paris” tours – Booking and Pricing
Feel free to contact me
——————
[For a photo session (Bring back pictures of yourself in Paris ) : click here]
