Paris High Line

The High Line in Manhattan, a former rail viaduct that has been converted to a linear public park over the last few years, has become popular (OK, a cliché) as a reference and inspiration for the landscape component of large projects.  One hears less about the equivalent project in Paris, the Promenade Plantée, carried out a few years earlier and presumably a major inspiration for the High Line ( it is referred to on the High Line website).  In spite of being less fashionably located (and having a rubbish website - why can't the French do websites?), the Parisian version, starting at the back of the Bastille Opera, is well worth a visit.  Elevated viewpoints in great cities are usually enjoyable and this is no exception - highlights include this extraordinary sexing-up of an otherwise unremarkable building with giant versions of Michelangelo's 'Dying Slave'.