11e Arrt.

            This arrondissement is home to my very favorite park, Parc de Bercy! This park was pleasingly surprising. When we first entered we were greeted by the Olympic
Skate Ice Rink which had really interesting architectural flare to the building that almost abstractly represent icicles if you look at it a certain way. The first thing we saw inside the park was a dry fountain that immediately made me think of the Grand Canyon and the hoodoos. It has bizarre cement piles that look like sand drip castles. It was big enough to climb down into, although it was very dirty down inside it with old water and trash. Just behind the fountain is a skate park. It definitely is older, there is no bowl or new rails but it still had a decent amount of young skaters enjoying the ramps and each other’s company. Graffiti covers the skate park, some good, mostly bad, but it adds character for sure. The park continues into a small vineyard then when you pass through a small gate, there is another huge area of the park with amazing ponds filled with lily pads and statues. There are labyrinths that wind around in circles and slowly climb until you’re 25 feet up on a little hill overlooking the park. It is absolutely beautiful. Outside the exit to the park is a little common area called Bercy Village. We got some drinks with my dad and had some snacks at a restaurant named Frog. Our waitress spoke very good English and was fun and lively. We found a hotel outside the village for a price of 70€ a night. There weren’t as many markets in this area as the others but the one we found priced the milk at 1.27€, the eggs at 2.69€, and the steak at 31.22€/kg.

            The coolest thing about this arrondissement is the Bois de Vincennes. I couldn’t tell you what it is normally like, but I went to the Peacock Society music festival here over a long weekend while my roommates were all out of town and it was one of the best weekends of my life. I met a boy named Maxime who traveled with me for the last 2 weeks of my Europe adventures and let me stay with him at his house after we checked out of our apartment. It was so fun! It was all techno music, which isn’t my favorite, but it was still a blast. Because I went alone, I made a ton of friends, was forced to practice my French, and had an experience I will never forget.
1. Boulangerie
2. Grand Hotel Voltaire
3. Cirque d'Hiver
4. Our Apartment
5. Supermarchet
• Milk 1.12€
• Eggs 3.67€
• Steak 25.17€
6. Eglise de St. Ambroise