Mont Valerian

This seems to be the month for going up things: museums, skyscrapers, and today - a hill. Mt. Valerian is just outside of Paris in Surenes and is easily accessibly both by the T2 tramway leaving from the Porte de Versailles and by a suburban train from St. Lazare.

Mont Valerian is small at just over 162 meters above sea level, but it is high enough to give a decent view of all the buildings that pop out from the Parisian skyline. Most notable in the center were the Eiffel Tower and the Montparnasse Tower, and on the west, the group of high rises that constitute the (new) business neighborhood of La Defense. I put new in parenthesis because new, in this context, means about 30 years old. The name reminds me of the last place where I worked: I arrived shortly after a new wing was built, and 10 years later the classrooms were still being called the new-wing classrooms. Any suggestion to change the name was met with glazed eyes. When, I wonder, is it appropriate to drop the adjective? Oh yeah, New Testament. I guess a couple millenia might not even be enough.

To return to this hill:  for a long time, at least since the Romans and possibly earlier, grapes were grown, harvested, and made into a decent wine. At the same time, the hill was associated with diverse religious groups (hermits and the like,) which made it a place to go on pilgrimage, particularly during Holy Week. Both these activities came to a halt, first with the French Revolution and its attack on the Church, then later in the early 19th century when a decision was made to protect Paris with a series of 16 forts: Mont Valerian being the largest and most important. From around 1840 on its history is rather bloody (cf. the Commune, the Franco Prussian War), and during WWII, it became a torture center for the Nazis: over 1000 people were killed here.

Memorial for those killed by the Germans during WWII.

Today there is still a military presence in the fort, but it is surrounded by many leisure activities: tennis courts, a pony club, fields for picnicking and throwing balls for one's dog, playgrounds. There is also a trail that surrounds the fort that has overlooks with maps, a "parcours sportive" (ie: various places for pull-ups, push-ups  climbing poles,and stair exercises,) The trail has many walkers and joggers, and  is a nice place to escape the noise of the city on a lazy Sunday afternoon.