Promenade Plantée

The Promenade Plantée is an elevated greenway, almost 3 miles (5 kilometers) long, running through the 12^th arrondissement of Paris. The elevated portion of the Promenade Plantée goes from the Opéra Bastille to Jardin de Reuilly, a distance of just under one mile (1.5 kilometers.) Beneath this section of the Promenade is the Viaduc des Arts.

The construction of the Promenade resulted from a park policy in Paris to create public open spaces out of old infrastructure and industrial sites. While fulfilling its goal of creating a garden walkway, the city also built the first and only elevated park in the world. Major projects which have since looked to the Promenade as a model include the High Line in Manhattan and the Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago. (The High Line in New York City, a 1.5-mile greenway, opened as a public park in June, 2009, and the Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago, a disused, 2.7-mile elevated railroad which is also being converted into a greenway, is scheduled to open on June 6, 2015.)

 

 

“The Promenade Plantée, also called “green corridor,” occupies the location of the railroad line which connected the Bastille with La Varenne-Saint-Maur from 1853 to 1969. 4.5 kilometers long, free of auto traffic, the promenade borrows the railway infrastructure of the former track (viaduct, footbridges, embankments, tunnels) and crosses the 12^th arrondissement from the Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes.”

 

Former railroad viaducts converted into artisans’ shops along Avenue Daumesnil. You can see the greenery of the Promenade Plantée spilling over the top of the wall above the shops.

On top of the viaduct, pedestrians have a garden environment; beneath the disused railway viaduct, the sixty red brick arches have been restored, renovated and enclosed with glass to become the Viaduc des Arts, a showcase for trendy designers and artisans. Among the studios in the Viaduc des Arts are sculptors, ceramicists, tapestry-makers, violin and flute-makers, restorers of furniture and art objects and interior designers. The one-mile viaduct (1.5 kilometer) was open to the public in 1998 although it wasn't completely finished until 2000.

A shop that restores paintings and art objects and a shop that offers continuing education classes

 

Cecile Jeanne jewelry and accessories shop

 

A woodcraft shop--notice the shopkeeper didn’t want pictures taken of his merchandise.

 

 

A shop that sells objets d’art for the home

 

 

The beginning of the Promenade Plantée is behind the Opera Bastille. Facing the Opera Bastille, Rue de Lyon is on the right. To get to the Promenade, follow rue de Lyon to the place where it joins Avenue Daumesnil. The stairway up to the Promenade is immediately on the left. (There are also various access points along the way via staircase, one per city block, and elevator, which may or may not be in service.)

 

An arched grapevine-covered trellis leads the way.

 

 

Vine-covered trellises enhance the beginning of the Promenade.

 

 

Bamboo practically forms a canopy over the path.

 

 

The Promenade runs parallel to Avenue Daumesnil.

 

 

A park bench along the way with a grand Haussmann-style building in the background

Among the plants that are found along this walk are hundreds of rose bushes, hardy shrubs, lavender, bamboo, vines, wisteria and cherry trees, maples, lime trees and many other varieties.

 

 

The Promenade continues past modern apartment buidings.

Trellis columns line this part of the Promenade. Different plantings and hardscaping give a distinct appearance to different parts of the Promenade.

 

A luxuriant arched trellis above an island of plantings

 

 

The walkway narrows as it approaches the apartment building.

 

 

The angled terraces of this odd-looking apartment building look like the prow of a ship.

 

 

The pass-through between sections of the apartment building.

 

 

The high-level route has some enclosed sections when it passes between modern buildings and some sections that open out with expansive views.

 

These three cylinders look like sentinels, and I don’t know if they have a utilitarian use or if they are part of an art installation--in garden surroundings in Paris, I’m never sure.

 

The Promenade has two consecutive, narrow reflecting pools.

However, they were pretty much dried up at this time.

 

 

One of the reflecting pools lined with French lavender.

 

 

Looking back at the reflecting pools

 

 

The Promenade passes close by old and new apartment buildings and seems to slice right through this building.

 

Access to the Promenade is up this grand staircase from rue de Charonne and Avenue Daumesnil. Across from the staircase is a small square, Place Moussa et Odette Abadi, named in honor of the couple who saved the lives of countless Jewish children during WWII.

 

 

Plantings in tiers beautify the staircase.

 

After the walkway passes through an area of apartment buildings, it becomes an arched, lightweight footbridge made of metal and wood that spans the central lawn of the Jardin de Reuilly. It is the most elevated portion of the walk. The garden covers 3.7 acres (15,000 square meters) and includes a large circular central lawn, beautifully planted terraces and walkways, a children's playground, statues, and a rose garden. .

 

The entrance sign to the Jardin de Reuilly states that the garden is situated near the former Château de Reuilly, which was the residence of Merovingian Kings.

 

Garden bordering the walkway

 

 

Amazone de Georges Chauvel

The footbridge that bisects the central lawn of the Jardin de Reuilly.

 

 

East of the Jardin de Reuilly is the Allée Vivaldi, which basically runs through an office building plaza.

 

 

Beyond this Allée, the Promenade enters a cavernous underpass that has five individual rock waterfalls within it. (The tunnel opening is behind the fountain in the photo.)

 

The tunnel with faux rock formations

Manmade rock formations line the walls of the tunnel. I’ve heard that bats live in gaps in the ceiling areas of the tunnels and become active at dusk in the warmer months. In the colder months, they hibernate there.

A man-made fountain against the rock wall

 

 

Another man-made trickling fountain

 

 

 

The tunnel exit

 

 

 

Once through this underpass, my husband and I exited the Promenade and mounted the staircase up to the rue de Reuilly. It was a short distance from there to the Place Felix Éboué, which has a magnificent fountain in the center of an intersection where five main thoroughfares meet. It was also the location of Métro-Daumesnil, which we took to get home.

 

 

 

 

Place Felix Eboue

 

If you stay on the Promenade, you will go on a forest path flanked by hillsides and pass through two old railroad tunnels. Eventually you will end up at the Porte Dorée and the Périphérique (the beltway which encircles Paris) and quite near the Bois de Vincennes.