With all the wandering around Paris that I do, often followed by Tim posting a video he shot in places I was recently meandering around, I’m kind of surprised that I haven’t bumped into him yet.
In any event, give his YouTube channel a follow. He’s pretty knowledgeable, not to mention entertaining.
Come for the underwater swimming “apparently wasn’t a great spectator sport”, stay for the “Olympic pigeon shooting, and you’ll notice I did not say ‘clay’ pigeons.”
One of the things I regularly do when I’m in Paris is just wandering through its neighborhoods, wandering aimlessly while on the lookout for some hidden historical gem. As a bit of a history nerd, no matter where I go, there’s always something new to discover, even if it’s not where I originally planned to end up.
Take one day last year. I started out to take my usual walk through the Bois de Boulogne, but—classic me—when I passed Hippodrome Longchamp, on a whim I decided to turn left and crossed the Seine, thinking I was heading for Saint-Cloud, (more on Saint-Cloud in a future post) but no, I found myself in Suresnes, a town just north of Saint-Cloud. It wasn’t exactly on the agenda, but hey… daily discovery achievement unlocked!
Now, about Suresnes… it’s a charming place, I’m sure, but even less pedestrian-friendly than Paris or Boulogne. Especially around the bridge where traffic was buzzing and construction was everywhere. This wasn’t turning into the peaceful nature walk I would have been enjoying in the Bois de Boulogne, so I did what any good explorer would do: I headed for higher ground. After all, the higher you go, the quieter it gets—I hoped.
I climbed the steep streets, the noise started to fade, and soon enough, I found myself in a residential area, and then—thankfully—surrounded by green space and playgrounds. Near the top, I was rewarded with a sweeping view of Paris, and, in true “let’s-see-where-this-goes” fashion, I detoured down a pathway into a large park.
A quick glance at Google maps revealed I was standing in Parc du Mont Valérien. Another discovery! As I read on, I found out there’s a fortress at the top of the hill, Forteresse du Mont-Valérien, which has a whole history of its own, not least of which was during the 1870 Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. Naturally, I fell down a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
Here’s where things get wild. During the siege, Paris was completely blockaded by the Prussian forces, and the food situation got dire. So bad, in fact, that once the Parisians finished eating all of the cats, dogs and horses in the city, they turned to eating some of the animals from the Jardin des Plantes zoo. Yeah, I had to read that couple of times too. We’re talking Côtes d’Ours (Bear Ribs), Chat flanqué des Rats (Cat with Rats), and Cuissot de Loup, Sauce Chevreuil (Haunch of Wolfwith a Deer Sauce) showing up on menus. It’s almost unimaginable now.
As for the elephants, their names were Castor and Pollux, and according to some survivors of the siege, they weren’t particularly appetizing.
