Luxembourg Garden

I visited Luxembourg Garden on a warm and sunny afternoon, the first clear day after a cold rainy week. It was Sunday and the garden was packed with people, families with children, couples holding hands, tourists with cameras, restless youth and the elderly.

The gardens are in a formal French style with broad lawns crossed by stone pathways. At one end is a palace and the gardens are organized on an axis around the palace.

The focal point of the garden is a large octagonal pool in front of the palace. Colorful sailboats float slowly by on the still water. Children crowd around the pool and push their boats with brown wood poles.

Colorful flowerbeds containing perennial and annual plantings surround the lawn. No one is allowed to sit on the lawn in this garden, and Parisians are respectful of this rule. There are hundreds of green aluminum chairs throughout the garden.

The garden is terraced with chairs on every level. Fountains, urns and statuary are abundant.

Trees are clipped into gigantic blocks of foliage.

While Luxembourg Gardens is visually formal, it is used informally. On a sunny weekend, it is almost chaotic, with thousands of people milling about, children shouting, families picnicing, friends talking.

I walked by one couple with two large dogs on lead. One of the dogs lifted his leg and marked his territory on the coat of a man sitting on a bench, engrossed in conversation with his friend. The couple tugged at the dogs leash and rushed away before he detected the wetness on his coat.

A faint breeze stirred the sound of music. In a small wood, a four piece band and a vocalist entertained the crowd with traditional French country tunes. There were few chairs for the audience, but people reserved them for the elderly.

The vocalist sang three songs in a smokey voice and then the concert ended. The musicians packed up their instruments.

Luxemboug Garden was extablished by royalty in 1611. Today it is for the people and remains one of the most popular gardens in Paris.