Jardin de la Villette

I happened upon the Villette garden in the 19th district to my great surprise. Not just another park, this wonder was 3 kilmetres of paths with 10 themed gardens. It was a wonderland, as I put it in my journal. “It’s a circular space outside, walls all around except for the open sky. There’s water falling down the sides of the stairs as you walk down, and there’s these really strange sounds coming from who knows where. I don’t know if the wind is catching them, somewhere, to make the noises, or if they’re from another part of the park. There’s 10 themed gardens in this park… Photo: The big dragon slide with smaller slides coming down from the sides. The lineup was looooong.

"This place is amazing. What I was in before was the bamboo garden, which is what was probably making those lovely sounds. I’m now sitting in the garden of mirrors, where children can play (each garden has an age limit, I guess depending on the danger level) and big mirrors are put up for them to hide behind. Next I’m onto the garden of dunes, where it’s all hilly and on some of the down slopes there’s little activities: ropes, a big chair, nets, tunnels. It’s incredible… There’s caterpillars designed similar to the dragon (see photo) for the kids to climb up and down on.” How I longed to be a kid!