Observations on the Natural Urban Landscape of Paris
Some things that I noticed while poking around the natural urban landscape of Paris that contrast with what I see where I live in the northeastern US :)
- There are no squirrels. I remembered last Fall that I had seen a little French girl in a park in Boston excitedly pointing out and chasing the gray squirrels--now I know why! :)
- Most of the public walking and play spaces in Paris urban parks are not grassed, but consist of a hardened mixture of sand and sandy fines. Grass seems to be used for visual accents, and not generally for recreation.
- Landscaping tends to be very controlled with pruning so as to achieve an artistic effect. Trees are sometimes pruned so that their branches form a rectangular shape, or to just grow sideways in two dimensions.
- There are no American robin redbreasts (of course! :) or blue jays. The urban birds seem to be mostly pigeons, English sparrows, and crows/ravens (not sure how to tell them apart). I did see one all-brown bird pulling up an earthworm, but these birds were rare.
- There is no "pooper scooper" law in Paris, so you need to watch where you step! ;) But the sidewalks are washed by the municipality, so there is certainly no "poop buildup". ;)