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. 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.
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. 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.
