| Le Parc Monceau :
In contrast to the splendid formal gardens one sees in Paris, there is absolutely no order in the Parc Monceau: the trees are allowed to grow naturally-and by that l: don't mean unattended -the walks curve around in the most unexpected manner, and all over the park the lawn areas seem to be littered with remnants of broken Roman columns, archways, parts of ancient ruins, forgotten statuary and what not. And yet, all this seeming naturalness is not the naturalness of neglect of which the indolent are so fond, but the studied arrangement of care and good taste.
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Although
the Parc Monceau is not very large by Paris standards,
it is one of
the most charming parks in Paris, and only about
a half hour's walk from the Place de l'Opera. It is a park
of shady walks, of leafy bowers, of ponds, of imitation natural
springs, in fact, of everything that makes for complete informality.
Even the famous "Naumachie," a pond surrounded
by a semi-circular colonnade of fluted Corinthian columns,
partly
broken, partly missing, is so overgrown with vines that it
looks as though it had been standing there for ages.
