Even the ducks are under shelter from the
rain,
near the Maison du Lac.
Where Everything is Bercy
Except the Cour Saint-Emilion Métro Station
By Richard Erickson
Paris Kiosque - November 1998 - Volume 5, Number 11
Copyright (c) 1998 Richard Erickson - used with permission
Just as the weather forecast
predicted, it is windy and it is probably going to
rain. If it wasn't for this, Paris might be having
a 'Golden October.' A lot of the leaves are still
green, but some have changed and if there were some
light, they would be worth seeing.
When I took a
ride on the new métro line 14 last week I
noticed the name of a new métro station: 'Cour Saint-Emilion.'
This is between Bercy and the Bibliothèque, so I guess
it is where the old wine depot used to be.
Today, my particular train on the line 14 has few
passengers so I take my own advice to play 'driver.'
What seemed to be a fairly straight route in the
middle of the train during my last ride, is revealed
to actually have a number of curves, and even slight
rises and falls.
Also since last week, passengers have discovered
that windows can be opened for ventilation, so the sound
of the train is much louder. The brakes are very
loud for some reason.
Leaving Châtelet, the train accelerates
strongly, for the fast, long non-stop run to Gare de
Lyon. The distance is shorter to the Bercy stop and
the train is slower; as it also is from Bercy
to Cour Saint-Emilion.
The is nothing remarkable about the interior
of the new métro station. On the surface, I notice
there is no sign for the métro. I also notice
it is raining.
Most people leaving the station are heading
east; through the open doors of old wine warehouses. This
area is still 'under
construction' and I go through a
courtyard where there is nothing to see, and through some
more old warehouses.
The new métro station has no
'Métro' sign, for easy finding.
Beyond these, new urbanism has taken over.
There are new cobbles underfoot and new concrete and glass
is everywhere else. Straight ahead is a huge building named
'Bercy Expo.' Its sub-name is 'Centre d'Affaires International de l'Alimentaire
et de la Table.'
On 2. and 3. November
it will host the 'Convention Export Vins et Spiritueuex Bercy-Expo.'
If your company wants to take part in this, it
will cost at least 6,000 francs, plus tax.
Inside the
entry hall, there is a restaurant and a tabac and
some other services. Everything looks cool and business-like, much more
boring than the new métro stations. There are no signs
saying 'Public Welcome' or 'Free Drinks This Way.'
On the
outside terrace, facing west, is all of the rest of
Bercy. In front, the concrete and glass. To the right,
as yet unimproved; still in the old warehouses, is the
future 'Musée des Arts Forains.'
On this rue de Bercy
side, there are a lot of the old warehouses left,
and I think the plan is to turn this into
an area of wine-bars, restaurants and wine shops. It will
end with the present 'Ecole Boulangerie,' possibly at the rue
François Truffaut, or the combo of rue des
Pirogues -
rue de Thorins. I am vague about the street names
because I didn't get a map - there is one
in the métro station - and it is all still
'becoming' rather than 'is.'
Welcome to Bercy-Expo. Bring an umbrella.
As for wine shops, there are already a lot of
them on the street level of the Bercy-Expo building. These
might be intending to move back to the traditional warehouses
when the time is right. Or maybe they intend staying
near the business of the commercial centre.
At the river
end of what might be the rue des Pirogues -
rue de Thorins there is a large rectangular box named
'UGC Ciné Cité,' but because of the increasingly steady rain
I do not bother to take a closer look at
it.
The old wine warehouses in the entire block between
the rue des Pirogues and the old rue de Dijon,
are all in a reconstruction area - and the way
back to the métro cuts through this.
From the new
métro station of Cours Saint-Emilion west to the 'Palais Omnisports
Paris-Bercy,' is the new park, which is named 'Le Parc
de Bercy.' Everything has Bercy in its name.
This name
is a bit of a puzzle which started as a
great estate in 1522, by the name of Château de
Bercy; and
it continued to exist until 1809. This estate
in turn, was put together from older properties, one dating
from 1385.
Someday, this will be part of the Musée des
Arts Forains.
With the installation of the first wine merchant
in 1809 and the later subtraction of land for the
Paris-Lyon railway in 1847, the large estate came to pieces.
In the 18th century the sale of wine
was illegal outside Paris, so this location right outside the
city limits was an ideal spot to warehouse, sort and
bottle it. The whole thing burnt down of course, on
31. July 1820. Over 52,000 barrels were destroyed and 115,800
hectolitres of wines and spirits were lost.
Thirty years later
Bercy was the largest wine-trading centre in Europe; counting all
the accessory services associated with it. With the annexation to
Paris in 1860, its merchants were given ten years of
city tax-relief. Paris had the whole thing locked up behind
walls by 1885, as well as having its finger in
the adjacent wine warehouses in Charenton.
But even before Bercy
was within Paris, clever restauranteurs opened up a long series
of guinguettes along the Quai de Bercy. These, many famous
for their frites, attracted much custom, including orchestras in canoes
to entertain them. On holidays there were fireworks, boat races
and regattas.
My histories do not bother to mention the
demise of the wine trade at Bercy - in fact,
it never entirely died. The Seine
started it with
river transport, but by the mid-19th century, the railroad was
on the opposite side of the area of Bercy. Now
there is the new Bercy-Expo, the Champagne houses on the
ground floor and some of the old warehouses are still
there to be re-run as the guingettes of old.
At
first it seems not many of the old warehouses are
left, but there are quite a number of them.
The
city of Paris has turned the rest into 'Le Parc
de Bercy.' This is the second large park created in
Paris since the time of Baron Haussmann. The park has
been opened in stages since 1994 and was inaugurated in
September 1997.
With the rain being fairly serious by now
I go no further into it than the Maison du
Lac. What little I see through the gloom, shows a
park with paths, little lakes and lots of vegetation; a
great variety of vegetation as it turns out.
Although everything
looks new and tidy, several items - a few paths,
some bits of walls - are recycled from the oldest
of Bercy days. After a few years, everything will look
as if it has been together a long time.
All
of this, even if not quite finished, is quite a
bit to get - along with a new métro station.
When the wine bars open in the old warehouses
and the cobbled alleys are turned into outdoor terraces, and
the accordion players float by in canoes under sprays of
fireworks; then you will agree that the new métro line
has been worth every gazillion it has cost us -
visitors and Parisians.
Richard Erickson, living in Paris for the last twenty years, has been putting
Paris online as long as anyone. More of his writings can be found in
Metropole Paris
where this article first appeared.
He can be contacted via
erickso@world-net.sct.fr.
French Fried: The Culinary Capers of an American in Paris