We’re currently enjoying perfect weather over this long 3-day weekend (tomorrow, Easter Monday, is a statutory holiday.) So I met my Swedish friend in front of the opera house at Place de la Bastille and off we headed to the Coulée Verte. Inaugurated in 1993, it’s a 4.7 kilometer (nearly 3 mile) elevated linear park built on top of an obsolete railway in Paris’s 12th arrondissement.

Opened 16 years later in 2009, the New York High Line modeled itself after the Coulée Verte.

I think A. said we walked 15,000 steps. I know we walked for two hours straight. What a pleasure to stroll freely without fear of getting run over by a car or bus.

We walked and talked (that’s not us!)

And talked and walked, enjoying the scenery along the way.

And then we went to a café to sit down and have a drink. The waiter brought me a teeny-tiny bottle of mineral water. ‘How much is this?’ I asked. He replied that it cost 4 euros 60. I said I didn’t want it. He brought me an espresso for 2 euros 60. A’s Coke cost 4 euros 60.

Then we walked again and headed to Place de la Nation. I really like the 12th arrondissement. If I ever considered moving (which I’m not), I’d move there.

Some of the buildings in A’s neighborhood, built around 1900, are gorgeous. Look at this door below, located at number 17 avenue du Bel-Air. Pure art nouveau.

A girl watching her papa chalking a cat on the sidewalk.

We sat down again for another pit stop, it was nearing 7 pm.

7 euros for the (half) glass of wine, 7 euros for the vanilla milkshake.

And then I took myself home on the metro, crossing the city to the other side. All in all, a lovely relaxing day.