Jardin des Plantes

Today’s plan is to check out the photography exhibition at the Jardin des Plantes, but first I need to get back to Paris. The Eurostar 9:24 service to Paris is just as big a zoo as yesterday, with people traveling with large suitcases finding it difficult to find space for them.  Losing an hour through the time change means that it’s 12:45 pm on arrival in Paris. I’m not sure where all these people are headed, but Paris is relatively quiet, so maybe they have onward connections.

It’s a nice afternoon in Paris, cold but mostly clear, so I wander east along the Seine towards Gare d’Austerlitz, with a view to an amble through Jardin des Plantes on the way back. The riverside has become a popular area in recent years due to the large riverboats acting as floating nightclubs. There is even a paddle steamer of the same genre of the Sydney Showboats that have extended their working lives on Sydney Harbour.

This year’s photo exhibition at Jardin des Plantes features the working lives of the gardeners who maintain the gardens and the varied and unexpected wildlife that has adapted to city life. Snakes, lizards, hedgehogs, centipedes, butterflies, frogs, and toads feature in the images from the photographers based at the nearby Museum of Natural History. The photographers seemed to have followed the gardeners around for 6 months, documenting their daily activities, and building a profile of each of the gardeners.

It’s late afternoon and heading towards sunset as I stroll back to the apartment through Ile-St-Louis. The famous Berthillion ice cream store is still busy, and nicely decorated for the festive season.

Later on, in a fit of madness, I decided to take the metro to Concorde, to see the 50 million fairy lights illuminating the Champs Elysee. Concorde metro is absolute mayhem, with what seems like every tourist in Paris trying to work out how to get to where they want to go. Elbows are required to get to the exit, the stairs of which I can’t get up fast enough. Whilst the lights are pretty enough, they don’t disguise the fact that the Champs Elysee around the Chenonceau metro is undergoing extensive works where there have previously been pretty, street-level decorations. Bollards and hoardings around the fountains aren’t quite the same thing.

After playing with some traffic trails, and photographing the well-lit façade of the Petit Palais, it’s time to call it a night.