Photograph by Mike Kirwan

Ah, springtime in Paris…

Paris comes alive in the spring, a time when the city thaws out from the doldrums of gray winters.

Parisian boutiques roll out daring new designs, restaurants update their menus to include fresh legumes ripe for the season, and locals trade in their husky scarves for leaner neck wraps.

We’ve already told you about UNESCO’s secret Paris garden. While Paris itself goes through a bit of a rebirth, so too do the city’s parks, and none more so than the Parc Floral de Paris. Contained within the enormous Bois de Vincennes, the Parc Floral de Paris is a vast aggregation of 3000 manicured plant varieties set around a tranquil, artificial lake. Best of all, visitors can literally enmesh themselves amongst the flowers on small grass pathways that maze through the Versailles-worthy gardens. Homemade picnics are encouraged. The park’s amphitheater hosts a wide array of events all year, including the annual jazz festival.

The Parc Floral de Paris is a world class botanical garden and perhaps one of the city’s best kept secrets. Aside from the summer’s jazz festival the park doesn’t attract wide swaths of tourists. Their absence makes for a nice respite from the hoards of springtime visitors throughout the center of the city.

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