Sunday, sunday

Sunday wouldn't be sunday without a stroll and a laze around to make the most of the unseasonally warm weather.

A park that everyone's told me to visit is the park Monceau.

(if you really want to you can click on the photos to see them in a new window, only bigger).

I know very little about it, other than the things that i read as i was walking around : originally constructed at the end of the 1700's by the Duke of Chartres, the park was subsequently reduced by half of its original size once it had been acquired by the state in 1852.

Of the park as it was at the start of the 1800's, pretty much only the Naumachie (the weeping willow surrounded by water) remains in its natural state.

This is the first thing we see on entering the park : steps leading to a grotto which is a favorite for newlyweds' photo shoots...



From there we come across the 'petit pont' - i love the way that it almost surges out of the dense undergrowth as we walk around it ...





From there we finally come upon what i guess is the centerpiece of the park : the Naumachie which was inspired by the ancient roman penchant for re-enacting naval battles.

The weeping willow is at least two hundred years old ...





Dotted around the park are numerous statues, broken collumns and stone archways and gates that just pop up out of nowhere ...



Finally on leaving the park there is theRotunde de Ledoux - constructed as a watchtower for the old duke ...