Still trying to keep the homebody syndrome at bay, F and I cycled across Pont de Grenelle into the 16th arrondissement over the weekend, nodded hello to the Lady Liberty in passing, and intent on exploring the petite ceinture sort of adjacent to the Jardin du Ranelagh/Bois de Boulogne. This stretch opened a good few years ago, in 2007, thus predates the one in the 15ème which we visited recently.

Passing by many elegant buildings in this affluent neighbourhood, we finally spotted an entry into the former railway belt near La Muette and slipped through the low gates that are characteristics of many entrances to Parisian parks and gardens. Had it not been for the sign we saw just a minute ago, we would not have guessed that this was where the trains used to pass. Unlike the petite ceinture in the 15ème, nary a sign of abandoned rail track could be found here. They had been dismantled.

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While a large number of building in Paris are typically Haussmannian in style, there are of course parts of the city that still boasts architecture from other era, from Romanesque (e.g. Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre) to Gothic (e.g. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris), to super modern (e.g. La Défense) and we certainly should not miss the period where Nouveau Art was all the rage.

Art Deco was the call of the day and on Boulevard de Sébastopol, today, it is Monoprix (a supermarket chain) that occupies the building above. Each window sill facing the junction between Boulevard de Sébastopol and rue Réaumur are sporting these stylish urn. It really was not a bad thing when the movement stormed across Paris in rejection of the uniform Haussmannian look.