Bibliotheque Nationale and Parc de Bercy

September 15, 2015

Finding myself in the 13th arrondissement, a little east of here, I decide to explore a bit.  I first went to see the Bibliotheque Nationale of France, the newer one, with towers that are designed to resemble four open books.  I didn't go inside, but took a couple of shots of the towers:

A lot of the structure is actually below the level of these towers.  When I approached, I climbed up a lot of steps to get to this surface, and I guess at that point I was walking on the roof of the lower part of the building.  My other general impression was that the towers are awfully far apart... hopefully one would not be situated in one tower and then have to access something in the farthest-away tower. Perhaps it is set up to avoid such situations.

I then crossed the river on this nice wooden footbridge (Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir):

(I liked the purple boat!)

Here are the steps, with a cascade in the center, leading to the Parc de Bercy, across the river in the 12th arrondissement.

This was a pretty nice park, with flowers, paths, benches, and ponds, where ducks communed with koi fish...

and with turtles!

Then a gray heron made an appearance:

Here is the heron sharing a platform with three more turtles, while a moorhen (gallinule poule-d'eau) approaches from behind.

I was pleased to see all this aquatic wildlife!   As well as another "insect hotel".  They are sometimes called "bee hotels"; I think "pollinator hotel" is the general intention.  (I'm not sure why it is decorated with the shape of a bird... an owl?  Perhaps the pollinators don't interpret it as a predator.)

I then headed out via the nearby Metro station-- my first ride on the newest line, line 14.  Its stations are supposed to be more accessible than those in the rest of the system as a whole.  Regardless, if one can't do stairs, one should not ride the Metro; that is the sad fact.