Paris Sports & Outdoors Tips by davequ

Boules in the parc Petanque Review

This is a current pic of Square Gaston Baty - what was once described as Henry Miller's "little triangle of the Square du Maine"
across the street from one of my hotels in Montparnasse (du Parc) after they cleaned it up and put in a petanque / boules court.

Being a cross between a naive-romantic american tourist and a curmudgeon, I miss the way it was in Oct. 2001:
overgrown, lush, and deserted save for me and the leftovers from a homeless person who spent the previous night on a bench with some bread and a cheap bottle of rouge.

What does remain is a sculpture of Chaim Soutine by his buddy and fellow artist Arbit Blatas, not shown in the pic.

Equipment: Bring your own boules. Square Gaston Baty is one of the many small Espaces Verts in Paris that make it such a great city.

I just wish they would have left this one alone.

Back in '01 when it was an overgrown mess,
I swear you could sit down on one of the inner benches after midnight, and
(if you were sloshed enough), Henry's ghost might park right next to you.

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. "

Address: 6 rue Poinsot

Directions: In Montparnasse, Square Gaston Baty is at the confluence of rue du Maine, rue Jolivet, and rue Poinsot. North from Metro Gaite or South on rue du Maine from Metro Edgar Quintet.

Theme: Other