The Luxembourg Gardens (Jardin du Luxembourg) is the second-largest public park in Paris and is very popular with Parisians. There are statues, manicured trees and assorted activities, and during warm weather the gardens are a pleasant and peaceful place to be. At the north end of the gardens is the Luxembourg Palace, currently the home of the French Senate. This being the case, we were only able to admire it from the outside.

The palace was built in the early 17th Century by Marie de Médicis, the widow of Henry IV and mother of Louis XIII. De Médicis was a native of Florence and had the palace built to resemble the Pitti Palace, located in that city. Residents after de Médicis included Cardinal Richelieu, the brother of Louis XVI (who was later to become Louis XVIII), Napoleon Bonaparte (when he was the French First Consul) and Hermann Göring, who made it the headquarters of the Luftwaffe in France during World War II. At other times it was a museum (before the French Revolution) and a prison (during the French Revolution).

The gardens have grown and shrunk and been redesigned at various times, and they have been both carefully maintained and woefully neglected. At the moment it's pretty clear there's an army of gardeners somewhere with the Jardin du Luxembourg constantly on their minds.



The flowers dazzle, the trees have corners and the lawns are immaculate. The gardens are clearly popular with joggers. Just south of the palace there is a large octagonal pool where children float small sailboats, pushing them off with sticks when they get too close to the edge.



Statues and monuments are everywhere, devoted to royalty, artists and celebrities of centuries past.



Apparently somewhere there is a playground and a marionette theater, but we didn't see these attractions. We did pass a pony ride concession as we were leaving, though.

From the gardens we walked around aimlessly for awhile, exploring more of the left bank. Some of the shop windows were very appetizing, and Nella couldn't help visiting Pierre Hermé, another fine purveyor of macarons and gorgeous pastries.

Eventually we boarded the Metro and headed for a center of less edible art, the Musée de l'Orangerie.