Paris by the Numbers – 17th

My Paris by the Numbers series continues this week with the 17th arrondissement. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, there are 20 arrondissements in Paris and I’m covering each and every one over the next few months. The landmarks I have chosen in each neighborhood are the ones that appealed to us, so this won’t be an inclusive list of sites for each neighborhood.

The 17th is located on the right bank of the River Seine and was incorporated into Paris in 1860. Here you’ll find Square des Batignolles, the largest park in the 17th. This 4 acre (1.6 hectare) park was developed in 1862 by horticulturists and landscape engineers in an area that was considered a wasteland.

We absolutely loved this park and spent several hours here wandering and enjoying the waterfalls, streams, wildlife, grotto and other appealing features.

It is a place we could easily return to every day.

I had an interesting encounter there with a man and his toddler as I wandered through the grotto snapping photos. His was talking to his child in a mixture of French and American English, and we struck up a conversation.

At one point he asked me if I lived in the neighborhood. At first, I didn’t think the question was at all odd, since I had lived in France for several years at that point. But later I thought it was interesting that he assumed I lived in France, rather than guessing that I was a visitor. Maybe that says something about the outer arrondissements; fewer tourists possibly?

Anyway, in the course of the conversation he shared that he and his wife were expecting their second child soon and had absolutely no intentions of ever returning to the US. Good call, particularly now that we have a new president who is wreaking havoc in our country. British Columbia, Canada is looking more and more appealing. But that’s a topic for another day.

We found this neighborhood to have a charming, small village feel with people happily greeting each other in the streets and parks, welcoming shops keepers and a lack of tourists. If we were to move back to France, we would live in this neighborhood.

As usual, we enjoyed wandering through the neighborhood and snapping photos.

We wandered into Église Sainte-Marie des Batignolles which is not far from the park. This Neoclassical church built in 1829 looks like a Greek temple and has some beautiful stained glass.

Even though it was a rainy day when we visited, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the 17th. We will definitely spend more time in this charming neighborhood on our next visit to Paris.

What do you think of the 17th arrondissement? Only three more neighborhoods to go; whew! This has been a fun series and I’m hoping you’re enjoying it as much as I am. As always, I would love to hear from you, so feel free to leave a comment.

If you’re curious about our current travels, check out theTravelsketcher’s current posts.

Wishing you grand adventures,

Tricia