The Buzz On The Champs Elysees

Charles Bremmer, London Times Paris corespondent reports today Tourists were not the only species swarming on the Champs Elysées over this mid-August holiday weekend. Squadrons of bees were also enjoying the sunshine, part of a fast-multiplying population that are making honey a new Paris industry.
The Tuileries, Luxembourg and lesser gardens of central Paris are home to hundreds of thousands of bees which, like those in other urban areas, are said to be far more productive than their chemically-stricken country cousins.
"There is a huge quantity of flowers in Paris," Yves Védrenne, General-Secretary of the National Apiculture Union, said the other day. As well as the flower beds of the parks and gardens, the boulevards and edges of motorways offer bee-friendly pollen such as acacias, limes and chestnuts, he said. Not only is the city largely free from the pesticides and fertilisers that are killing the countryside bees, the extra warmth of the urban area promotes earlier breeding.
.There are some 300 registered hives in the French capital, with more believed to be undeclared as area residents try their hand at an art which can be learnt on two-day courses.
The grandest hives were those of the venerable colony on the roof of the Opéra. They were joined this month by some 140,000 bees installed high on the glass and steel dome of the Grand Palais, the 1900 exhibition hall off the Champs Elysées [top picture].
"The bees are very happy in the city. They have everything they need," Sébastien de Gasquet, director of the Grand Palais, told the media. The Tuileries are nearby and "there is enough for them in the grounds of the Grand Palais alone, he said.
The Champs Elyseés honey is to be sold under the Grand Palais label, joining other luxury miel de Paris brands which cost a steep 15 euros for a 125 gramme (4.4 ounce) pot at Fauchon and other grand food outlets.
The honey flavor is described by the experts as sweet and subtle, lacking any trace of exhaust fumes or the Métro underground smell that is a Paris signature.