Hidden Gems

You Just Have to Find Them
Walking the streets of Paris, you often feel crowded. The buildings stand shoulder to shoulder, leaning in, pressing against you. Sometimes you have to tightrope the narrow sidewalks just to avoid bumping into people. Today, I squeezed between the buildings, down a narrow alleyway, around a few corners and into a beautiful little park called Impasse Berthaud. You can see it in the satellite photo below.

The entrance is tucked away from the busy rue Beaubourg, in the shadows of the Pompidou Center. There is nothing that betrays its location. I found it by happenstance.

This is the main focus of the park. An open, circular courtyard with benches around the outer ring. They look onto a tuft of wild grasses.

There's an adjoining rectangular section that has a lawn, some trees and a children's playground at one end.

The word "impasse" in French can be translated as "dead-end" - in this case quite literally. There's only one way in and out of the park. Here's the view looking back towards the entrance.

Pompidou's blue and red exoskeleton peeks over the rooftops.