Parc de Saint-Cloud

September 20, 2015

The town of Saint-Cloud is just across the Seine (west) from Boulogne-Billancourt, where my landlady Claire lives, which itself is just across the Seine (west) from Paris (the Seine does a lot of twisting around west of Paris).  Claire and her husband Bertrand like to take long walks in the Parc de Saint-Cloud, and after seeing it, I can certainly see why.  In fact, Wikipedia says that it is "considered one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe" (though they don't give a citation...).  The gardens were originally designed by Andre Le Notre, who also designed the gardens at Versailles and at Vaux-le-Vicomte (where Claire and I visited last year).  There was a chateau here until the late 1800's.  It was heavily damaged in 1870, during the war with Prussia, and razed about 20 years later.

I expect that if this park were a bit more accessible from Paris, it would attract more tourist traffic. As it is, the closest Metro stop is Pont de Saint Cloud (the end of line 10), and it's about a 25-minute, not very straightforward walk from there (according to Google maps -- I didn't actually do it). There is a St Cloud tramway stop that is a bit closer, but most tourists are not that familiar with the tramway.  (I found it easy to use; it uses the same tickets as the Metro and bus.  You can't transfer from the Metro, though; you have to use a new ticket.)

In my case, Claire picked me up at the Metro station (after a short delay resulting from me coming out the wrong exit.  Even small Metro stations have at least two exits, it seems -- Chatelet-Les Halles, the biggest, has thirteen!).  Before we went to the park, she took me to see the American cemetery in Suresnes, devoted to American soldiers who died in WWI and WWII.

There was an occasional Star of David amidst all of the crosses.  (There is also one in the photo above if you look closely enough.)

I looked at the displays in the visitors' center and signed the guest book, and after walking around a little more, we proceeded to the park.

It has many fountains:

and walking paths:

and landscaped gardens:

The precisely trimmed yew trees mark the original location of the chateau.  Here is another view:

And because the park is on a hillside, you get nice views of the river and of Paris beyond it:

Claire knew that, at a certain time of day (5 pm I believe), there would be a water display, in which additional fountains and a cascade would be turned on for 15 minutes.  So we headed for the cascade.

The water started flowing at the top and gradually worked its way down:

Quite a spectacle!  And here are some cute turtle and frog details:

So, thanks to Claire for showing me all this!  If you can make it out here, even using public transit, it's definitely worth a visit.