The Atlantic garden is an amazing place, combining the achievements of engineering technology and landscape design. It was opened in 1994 on the roof of the Gare Montparnasse train station – literally on the roof.

At the station, even the modern man is in some tension: it is necessary not to miss the train, don't lose things... And then rise to vosemnadtsatiletnyuyu height and be in a quiet, green, beautiful place. And safe – the designers have thought through how the concrete platform will support a garden in three and a half acres. The platform stands on twelve concrete piles; a layer of fertile soil in the garden is just 20 centimetres weight load is not too large. Large trees grow in special niches in those piles. 130 holes in the platform provide good ventilation station and car Park below.

And upstairs there is a garden. From below it is quite unknown, and many even can't find it. From Boulevard Vaugirard and Rue Komandan Rene Must there are elevators, but the easiest way is the stairs inside the station.

Since trains go from here to Brittany, the Atlantic ocean, the garden was named Atlantic. Landscape designers françois Brun and Michel Pena to set it up in a nautical theme: wooden sidewalks resemble the deck of the ship; all that is possible, undulating track, grills, benches, lots of blue, white and purple colors.

Located on different levels, the garden consists of two parts – Eastern and Western. In the East the dense lush vegetation, secluded corners, mazes, five small themed gardens. Conditions grasses, ferns grow, tend weeping willows, the Maritime pine aroma reminiscent of the coast. The Western part is not for romance and meditation, there are playgrounds, five tennis courts, ping-pong, Solarium (in its original meaning – that is, an open space for sunbathing).

In the middle of the Central alley is the area of the Island of the Hesperides with the strange construction of the sculptor Jean-max Llorca – fountain of the Hesperides. It consists of a giant meteorological instruments – thermometer, anemometer, rain gauge and weather vane – and a large swinging mirror that reflects sunlight into the fountain pool.

Soaking up the sun and breathing in the floral scent, can not be afraid that you miss the train – through ventilation shafts almost everywhere audible station announcements. And if you have time, a good idea to look into the Museum of the Liberation of Paris – he is right there, in the garden.