I Love Touring Paris - The Twelfth Arrondissement

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I Love Touring Paris - The Twelfth Arrondissement
The twelfth arrondissement of eastern Paris is located on
the Right Bank of the Seine River. It contains one of
Paris's largest parks, the Bois de Vincennes described
below. Its land area is about 6.3 square miles (16.3 square
kilometers) counting the park. If you exclude the Bois de
Vincennes the land area is less than 2.5 square miles
(about 6.4 square kilometers). The population is about one
hundred thirty seven thousand inhabitants, and the area is
home to over one hundred twelve thousand jobs, mostly in
the Bercy area near the Seine.

The Place de la Bastille was the site of the infamous
Bastille prison, destroyed in the early days of the French
Revolution. The square is shared by the fourth, eleventh,
and twelfth arrondissements. Nothing of the old prison
remains, except the memories. At the center of the square
is the Colonne de Juillet (July Column) a 154 foot (fifty
meter) column commemorating the 1830 Revolution in which
King Charles X was overthrown in favor of his cousin
Louis-Phillippe.

The Bastille was built in the late Fourteenth Century to
help defend Paris and was converted into a prison, mostly
for political prisoners, in the Seventeenth Century. At the
time of its destruction the Bastille was composed of eight
eighty foot (twenty-four meter) towers and an armory. By
that time the cachots (dungeons) had been abandoned and the
prison was not considered the worst in the city. When it
was stormed on July 14, 1789 the jail contained seven
inmates: four counterfeiters, two madmen, and a young
aristocrat on the outs with his father. During the storming
ninety-eight attackers and one defender died. Others died
afterwards, including the governor. During excavation for
the Paris Metro the remains of one tower surfaced and are
on display in a nearby park. The Bastille square is often
used in political demonstrations, and the area is full of
night life, in particular to the northeast.

L'Opera de la Bastille (Bastille Opera) is a new home of
the Opera National de Paris. It was supposed to replace the
old Paris Opera House (Palais Garnier) described in our
companion article I Love Touring Paris - The Ninth
Arrondissement but such was not to be the case. Given the
city's size and cultural importance it seems that Paris can
support two (actually more) opera houses. Interestingly
enough the winner of the international competition was an
unknown architect from Uruguay. Every one of the Bastille
Opera's nearly three thousand seats has an unrestricted
view of the stage. On the other hand it is said that the
acoustics are disappointing at best. The building,
replacing a train station, was inaugurated on the
two-hundredth anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
but its first opera performance was almost a year later.

The Promenade Plantee is a 2.5 mile (4.5 kilometer) long
elevated park constructed on an abandoned Nineteenth
Century railway viaduct, running from the Bastille Opera
almost to the Bois de Vincennes. The Promenade is said to
be only elevated park in the world. Some portions are
enclosed and others are open and provide great views. There
are pedestrian and cyclist routes and arcades with arts and
crafts workshops. The Promenade was featured in the 2004
movie, Before Sunset.

The Cimetiere de Picpus (Picpus Cemetery) is the only
private cemetery in the city sitting on land seized from a
convent during the French Revolution. It is a few minutes
from the Place de la Nation, site of a 1794 guillotine in
1794 that dispatched up to fifty people a day. After the
beheading of Robespierre the violence stopped. Among the
cemetery's dead are the Marquis de La Fayette, who died a
natural death, his wife, and her sister and mother who died
in the terror.

The Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy (Paris-Bercy All
Sports Palace) is an indoor sports arena hosting a wide
variety of sports including Basketball, Boxing, Gymnastics,
and Show Jumping. It also hosts popular concerts with the
likes of Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Madonna, and many,
many more. The Palace seats up to eighteen thousand
spectators.

The Bois de Vincennes (Vincennes Woods) is an
English-garden type park covering over 3.8 square miles (a
little less than 10 square kilometers). This Parisian gem
is almost three times as big as New York's Central Park and
four times as big as London's Hyde Park. The Bois de
Vincennes was once a royal hunting preserve, and was
transformed into a military exercise area after the French
Revolution. Napoleon III made it a public park in 1860. Be
sure to see the Chateau de Vincennes, once a royal castle,
and later a porcelain factory, a state prison holding the
Marquis de Sade among others, and even an arms factory. The
famous spy Mata-Hari was executed here. The Chateau de
Vincennes also served as the military headquarters of the
Chief of General Staff in 1940 during the unsuccessful
defense of France against the German invasion of 1940. The
Bois de Vincennes is also home to a small zoo and four
lakes.

Of course you don't want to be in Paris without sampling
fine French wine and food. In my article I Love French Wine
and Food - A Midi Syrah I reviewed such a wine and
suggested a sample menu: Start with Garbure (Cabbage Soup
with Poultry). For your second course savor Cassoulet
Toulousain (Bean and Pork Stew). And as dessert indulge
yourself with Violette de Toulouse (Violet Flower
Crystallized in Sugar). Your Parisian sommelier (wine
steward) will be happy to suggest appropriate wines to
accompany each course.


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Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on
computers and the Internet, but he prefers drinking fine
Italian or other wine, accompanied by the right foods and
people. He knows about dieting but now eats and drinks what
he wants, in moderation. He teaches classes in computers at
an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his
Italian travel website http://www.travelitalytravel.com
which focuses on local wine and food.