Montsouris Park, Paris

This park was originally called Moquesouris (mouse mockery), because the abandoned windmills where grain used to be stocked in the past attracted many mice. At the end of the 18th Century, the park's subsoil inherited from the Montrouge mines was transformed into Catacombs , in which bones from former Parisian cemeteries were piled up. During the Second Empire, the park developed as a part of a plan thought by Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann to give the capital's green areas four cardinal points; but this plan was only achieved in 1878. The plan of the park is a perfect example of the gardens arranged during the Second Empire: it is divided by railway lines concealed in ravines bordered with trees and crossed by little bridges. The twisting paths winding up gentle slopes give an impression of vastness. The park includes 1400 trees (some of them are over one hundred years old), ! large lawns, several playgrounds and a puppet theater.