Delos Helstein and I are very happy to announce the opening of a sim that has been a mutual project (with encouragement from Marie-Louise Harcourt, among many others). Belleville is a "modern" French country village, a place to relax, get away from serious RP, and enjoy spending time with friends. There is no RP specific to the sim, although if you wish to bring a private RP scenario here (for example, WWII would work well), we certainly won't object. The main point is just to be with people you enjoy in a pretty setting.

Belleville - Place de ville

We are still working on the sim, in between RL and SL obligations, but we have a lot of things for you to do here all the same. In the town center, there is a little cafe, Le Sanglier Noir (The Black Boar), and several shops to browse in, including a patisserie and branches of Yoohoo!, Trefusis Designs, L'Optimiste, MaMia, and The Golden Oriole. We're really honored that Trefusis Designs and L'Optimiste have some 20th-century designs that are exclusive to their Belleville locations and hope you will take a look at them.

In the countryside, there are already things to do. You can hike or ride up the hill to the south of town and enjoy the view from the pine grove at the top. On the opposite bank of the river from the village, there is a skating pavilion where the river widens just a bit to make a nice natural rink; we have skates here, and to warm up after skating, you can go into the pavilion to warm up by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate. By the river bank there are some snow activities that are quite fun - however Delos recommends wearing a jacket while making snow angels!

Belleville - snow fun by the river

We also have some pretty urns set out around the sim that are full of snow ... these are actually snowball givers, designed by West Lyvingstone, that will allow you to start a snow fight wherever you like! Just click the urn, take the snowball, go into mouselook ... fight's on!

Although Delos and I are active in Versailles, I have had this idea for a long time, and part of my idea has been that such a sim would be a place where RP'ers from all courts could come and enjoy spending time in modern dress, away from the hassles and factions of court. We wouldn't be court RP'ers if we didn't love it - but if we are into it intensively, we all need little breaks from it. That is precisely the idea of Belleville. We will hold a couple of skating parties this month, and have more activities in the new year, but the most important thing is that it is a place where you can come and enjoy yourself, alone or in a group. We hope you will come and see what we're about. Merci vous!

Visit Belleville