Jardin des Plantes

"C’est un jardin extraordinaire" goes a famous song by a favourite crooner. This one comes with a history, a vocation, a soul, but also a conical hat, an explorer, some trails, an opera, and some trees. Because trees are there to bring some green into your lungs and your life.
No more grey days - the Jardin des Plantes gets you out of the city grime, up on the hill where you can breathe and see far and wide. Here the ducks don't speak English like in Trenet's song (the crooner...), but you might well be lost for words, blown away by the panoramic view of the city. As you wander the garden's alleys, you'll see rare and remarkable species (the plants not the walkers, of course), the statue of the great traveller Francis Garnier and the Maison de la Culture et des Loisirs which was opened in 1969 by André Malraux in person. Sometimes known as the Chapeau Chinois, the conical hat (actually a reference to the Mekong pagoda-style roof of the opera house), the Jardin des Plantes is the story of a city giving itself a "green lung" where its miners could breathe the fresh air. Since it was created in 1845, much has changed, but the site remains the unmissable green interlude in the midst of the city. More than just a breath of fresh air, a journey to a different place.