Finding a Slice of New Zealand on the Outskirts of Paris

The Uncanny Valley of walking down a street in France that looks awfully like home

A suburban road in Bougival, Île-de-France. Note the cars parked on the left. Photo by William Sidnam.

Recently, I did a double take.

I was in Bougival, a small town around 40 minutes from Paris. It’s known as the site of the Machine de Marly, a 17th-century hydraulic pumping device that pumped water from the Seine river to the fountains of Versailles.

It’s also known for being where Neymar, the Brazilian football star of Paris Saint-Germain, apparently lives.

But when I took the train to Bougival, my aim wasn’t to see either the Machine de Marly or Neymar, but rather to walk on the Chemin des Impressionistes — a path along the banks of the Seine that was once frequented by fin de siècle Impressionist artists including Monet, Renoir and Sisley.

However, while I was making my way from the train station to the banks of the river, I found myself somewhere I didn’t expect.

Auckland, New Zealand.

Auckland Domain. Photo by William Sidnam.

Though my hometown might be some 18,500 km away on the other side of the world, there was something oddly…