Coulée Verte René-Dumont

This guide to the Coulée Verte René-Dumont in Paris traces the old Vincennes railway line, silent since 1969 and boarded up for two decades before the city planted a garden on top of it in 1993. Below, in the reopened stone arches, a former Hermès craftsman named Serge Amoruso hand-stitches leather bags in view of passersby on the street. Climb the iron staircase and you're suddenly at second-floor height, moving past rose gardens, bamboo groves, and Haussmann apartment windows. Best walked slowly, watching both the plantings above and the workshops below.