Flowers of Paris

We been away for a few days to Paris. Along with all the most notable sights of Paris I have been taking note of the flowers that Paris has to offer. As with any modern city it's densely packed with people, buildings and traffic so the sight of some flowers is always welcome.

One thing about Paris I noticed was how tidy it was; there's a hardly a scrap of rubbish anywhere. How can this be when there are so many people about and many of them at this time of year were tourists like us? The simple answer to this is that about every 50m there is a public rubbish bin with a clear bag hanging from it and everyone seems to comply. What a remarkable thing! In contrast when we arrived back at St. Pancras it looked like it was celebrating a festival of litter.

We stayed in a hotel at the end of line 12 in a district known as Issy-les-Moulineaux. Like many French towns the administrative centre was the Town Hall. It was looking very smart with its flower displays. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon a wedding party was going in. What a lovely urban setting to host a wedding.

All the roads around the centre of the town were lined with flower boxes and all in top notch condition as well. There's obviously been some thought gone into the colour scheme planning and a fair bit of money as well.

It's obvious that the Parisians love their flowers as in a small selection of shops there were two florists. It's a good job we were backpacking otherwise I could have come back laden with plants.

Tourists head for the island in the River Seine, the Ȋle de la Cité, primarily to visit Notre-Dame but it is also home to the Marché aux fleurs. It has been in this location since 1830 and is open for serious gardeners, retail businesses and passers by to look round.

I'm guessing it's flower markets like these ones that the Parisians head for to buy their plants for their flower boxes. The rows and rows of grey apartment blocks are brightened up by the traditional red geraniums.

If you want a stylist touch to your planting display then the place to head to is Montmartre. This is the artists' quarter and each building has a certain amount of flair.

In the centre of the city one of the main parks is the Jardin de Tuileries. It is located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. It makes for a pleasant stroll before heading up the Champs-Élysées. It has been the garden of royalty before becoming a public park after the French Revolution.

Like many parks in Paris it filled with sculptures. Some of the originals have been moved into the Louvre over the years and replaced with copies but it is still an impressive sight.

Our last stop for this week on our tour of Paris' flower displays was at Disneyland Paris. In between the rides, queues and shopping I spotted this as part of Alice's Curious Labyrinth in Fantasyland. That's a goodbye from the Cheshire Cat!