Paris Abandonnée

Hey All,

This week has been especially busy with finals approaching and projects coming due. I finished my last project for my microprocessors class, a working reproduction of the electronic game Simon of the 1980s programmed from scratch. Our electronics class combines the theory of semiconductor devices with labs where we have to design and test practical applications. The only thing I don’t like about the course is the lab section is at 8am, and playing around with high voltages when still half asleep is never a good thing. Today in electromagnetism we worked on another study in optics where we used a pulsed laser to send audio signals through air. We hooked up my laptop and were playing music using the lasers across a distance of several feet. With the semester ending soon, I have been trying my best to make an effort to explore the city while I still can.

The best thing about being in a city for several months is that you get the chance to explore parts that not even the most ambitious tourists venture out into. Since I arrived I had been hearing about an abandoned railroad that ran through a large part of the city. Finally deciding to look into it I discovered that the railroad indeed existed, it is the former Chemin de Fer de Petite Ceinture (translated as The Little Belt Railway). True to its name, it once made a complete ring around the city in the outer arrondissments serving mainly to link the main train stations into Paris with the rest of the city. Built before the turn of the 19^th century, it saw a decent amount of use until the 1930s when the expanding subway system’s efficiency rendered it obsolete. With the city already built up around its corridor, once the railway fell out of use it simply became abandoned as it is to this day.

The rail corridor is still public property and is posted ‘No Trespassing’ but we couldn’t give up the chance to take a peak at the Paris of over one hundred years ago. We took the metro out to the 19^th arrondissement to one of the best parks in the city, Buttes Chaumont. Transformed into an English gardens from an old landfill and execution site, it boasts a landscape of steep hills, a waterfall and grotto, and a good view of the north of the city. Hopping a fence from the park we climbed down into the railway long overgrown with grass. We were lucky to have a good flashlight with us (thanks, Dad!) since the tunnels were still intact.

Heading southwards towards the Seine we found the old relics of an operating train system still intact. Signaling lights, switches in the tracks, and control booths were slowly decaying away. All were built in a style that one could tell was very old. The railway ran through the backyards of the outskirts of Paris proper neighboring apartment buildings and crossing over roads on rusted bridges. Aside from a few homeless and a couple of other urban explorers, we were the only ones in the railway.

The coolest parts were the stations and platforms that still lined the track. The pavement on either sides of the track was now cracked and overgrown with weeds, but one could tell that they were once in use and vibrant. A few old staircases up or down to the track were intact and locked with a gate. One of the coolest railway stations we found was built on a bridge overlooking the track in with a large glass window and stairs down to the platform. The station had been bought and was made into someone’s house, as we looked in we could see a kitchen and living room through the grand window. Another station we found was long abandoned and covered in graffiti but still accessible from the track.

Walking all the way to the Seine we ran into the intersection with Gare de Lyon, an active rail station linking Paris with the south of France. Not wanting to trespass on a railway that anyone actually cared about, we exited the railway and took the subway back. Aside from a few sections that have been reclaimed or merged for a few miles with other parts of the Parisian rail system the Petite Ceinture still winds through the landscape just like it did decades ago.

I also was able to check out another place just off the beaten path. On either side of the city are two large parks, Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes each several times larger than Hyde park in London. They hold racetracks, playgrounds, and sports centers along with acres and acres of woods and trails for walking and riding. In 1907, Bois de Vincennes was also the venue for a large event in the purpose built Jardins Tropical. Buildings were built for the event to house the many animals from across the globe that were on display. An even more popular display than animals were people, native tribesmen of France’s explored or conquered lands that were exhibited in their ‘natural’ habitats.

Today the buildings of the tropical gardens are still tucked away in a corner of Bois de Boulogne though in disrepair from the ages and their exotic plants overtaken by native ones. Walking amongst the paths you can still see all of the buildings much as they were during the fair. The main concourse of the event was now overgrown with grassy fields. It was a cool glimpse back at Paris of a previous century. 

This afternoon we had a final meeting with the staff of the FAME program to discuss the past semester and collect photos and testimonies for the website. It’s hard to believe that we had a similar meeting just five months ago welcoming us to France and telling of the semester to come. However, I still have time before finals and my plane back home and intend to make the best of it. I also promise to finish writing about my travels, including Italy and Germany before I leave. Until then, take care all.

-Adam