The Romance and Relaxation in the French Parks

In Rennes under the epidemic, where cultural venues were all closed, I become a passionate "tourist" to all the green areas on the map-the city parks. At first, I went to the park just for taking a walk, but over time, I fell the true love with the wildness and nature, romance and relaxation of those French parks.

The French park was imagined in my head from the literary movie "La Tête en Friche": the encounter between the hero and Marguerite was on a park bench surrounded by trees in the warm sun, where they started their reading journey and soul communication under the shade, accompanied by the bright birdsong and the occasional appearance of squirrel.

It is only when I entered Rennes Park that I realize these scenes are not just in the movies.

Walking through the parks of Rennes (Parc de Thabor, Parc de Gayeulle, Parc de Villejean, Prairie de Saint-matin, etc.), I was constantly struck by the differences between Chinese and French parks: in China, it might be because I have been living in cities for too long, the impression of parks - riverside parks, city parks - have a more or less heavy sense of modern architecture. All the paths are covered with concrete, even the paths between the grass are paved with artificial slabs, the flowers are neatly trimmed, the trees are regularly arranged and look the same, the stone benches along the banks are regularly spaced. These parks echo the construction of the city, but for me, there is a lack of real nature.

The French parks provide a direct experience to the wildness and recklessness of nature. The bottom of your foot is the stone road, from time to time there is fine sand into your shoe, that’s when you have to bear some test of nature. When you are tired, you could rest on the potholes and slightly rough wooden benches, every time you touch their unevenness, it is as if you feel every season the trees have experienced. The park's plants (fir trees, cherry trees, magnolias, etc.) grow with abandon, and the lush, interlocking forests make you feel as if you've entered a secret land, with branches stretching freely and occasionally forming bizarre and interesting shapes. The trees, the willows, every plant and rock in the park complement each other.

The wildness of the park is also reflected in the paths through the forest that are walked by people. In China, people could be afraid of trampling on the lawn, and even sitting on the lawn with trepidation, they are afraid of being looked at differently as uncivilized. In the park in Rennes, what is more interesting than walking on the stone paths is to explore the paths in the footsteps of those who came before us. With feet on the empty dirt road, you could feel the sound of clothes rubbing against the branches along the path, plucking away the branches of trees growing wildly across the road, and follow the footsteps of those who came before us to explore the unknown and secrets of the jungle. This is not barbarism or uncivilized, this is to keep a moment of adventure and curiosity all the time.

My love for the French park is also because it is suitable for everyone, or rather, every kind of creature: children have a place to play and enjoy the recklessness of childhood in the jungle and on the sand, old people snuggle on the long wooden benches and look at the quiet lake from afar across a large green area, couples walk hand in hand on the stone paths, laughing and joking from time to time, and solo walkers walk slowly on the paths, shouting in distance at their puppy playing by the lake, groups of young people by the fireside have a picnic, drinking wine, singing and dancing, swans gracefully pass, ducks occasionally glide on the lake ...... In this moment, one can really forget all the noise of the city, all the unhappiness in life. People and nature harmonize together.

The French Parks make me realize, sometimes more is less. You don’t need to carefully design everything as a humanized masterpiece, you could let things be as original as it is, as wild as it is. Casualty and wildness could sometimes be more real and get closer to people’s heart.

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Pictures from: original