Abandoned Places I: The Quest to Discover La Petite Ceinture

Taken from my Instagram http://instagram.com/fantasticmrfox42
La Petite Ceinture, near Bercy.

Now I have been on La Petite Ceinture a fair bit whilst staying here in Paris, I love how different the atmosphere is down there in comparison to other parts of Paris, and it allows me to satisfy a long nurtured childhood urge to walk ON the train tracks. Having watched the Railway Children way too many times as a child and gone on many a walk with my Nan back in England to our local railway, I just can't help feeling a little nostalgic when I am down there. In fact I spent a great portion of my time growing up around railway tracks, as teenagers we hung out down there with the usual teenage anti-social behaviour, we even slept down there once. But we never went ON the tracks. Now I can't get enough…

Today I submitted my end of term papers for the last semester of my masters (woohoo!), and to celebrate weeks of being inside staring at the computer, I decided I would go find a new section of La Petite Ceinture to explore. Now as I have a fellow abandoned places friend, and he is still upset that last time I went down without him with my real camera, this time I promised I would leave the camera at home and only look for a way in whilst he, rather sadly, was still hard at work. This of course, is easier said than done, I spent about two hours wandering around where it SHOULD have been and did eventually find it, after walking brazenly though an active construction site and shouting at strangers in my substandard French to tell me how to get it. I will go back very soon, avec my friend and camera to take more pictures. In the meantime here are a few from the other part of the track that I have previously explored.

La Petite Ceinture, near Parc George Brassens

I will post another piece about how to get down here with some more pictures soon.