Champs-Elysees goes country to show off nature

[May 24, 2010]  PARIS (AP) -- Want a stroll in the country right in the heart of Paris? Head for the Champs-Elysees, the French capital's most famous avenue.

It's tossed out its city dress and gone country -- transformed into a vast garden of flowers, herbs and crops, and replete with farm animals.

The two-day event that started Sunday during a holiday period in France was drawing thousands of Parisians and tourists strolling down the country lane, crowned by the Arc de Triomphe.

It's aimed at instructing city-dwellers in the values of Mother Nature while highlighting the work of France's farmers.

Gad Weil, whose Nature Capital group conceived the project, says, "It's a way to remind people that man lives at the heart of nature." Nature, he said, is "our heritage."

[Associated Press]

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