A journey back in time. That’s what this small street in Paris offers you. Take a moment and admire the Avenue de Rouvray here in front of you. It is a short street. It starts on Rue Boileau, but it leads nowhere, it ends in a dead end. However, this tiny street evokes a vast stretch of history.
For centuries, this area of Paris was covered by the Rouvray Forest. Imagine rolling hills and thick woods, a place where the only inhabitants were wild animals and the occasional hunter. Then, in the 19th century, the forest was cut down, transformed into the Bois de Boulogne, the large park you can see to the west of here. In 1927, a new street opened up and it was named Avenue de Rouvray. It commemorates the forest that once stood here. This street is but a faint echo of its past, but it’s a powerful reminder of the history of the city.