Tuileries

Jardin des Tuileries was the first garden visited in Paris. Within an hour of our arrival, we walked to Louvre Museum and found the Tuileries just beyond.

There were few visitors to the garden on that cold and rainy afternoon, but the gray skies seemed well suited to the stone architecture of the Louvre.

Tuileries is a formal garden with expansive stretches of lawn crisscrossed by wide paths of crushed stone. Along the paths, a variety of trees are planted, as well as formal beds of blue and purple flowers, including irises and geraniums.

There are several large pools of water, including three fountains. The largest fountain is centered in the main crushed stone corridor through the garden. In the distance is the Orsay Musee, which houses Impressionist art.

Near the oblisque of la Place de la Concorde, the largest pool reflected the gray tones of the sky. Trees are trimmed to limit their height, so the buildings and monuments can be better appreciated.

On the very last day of our stay in Paris, I returned to the Tuileries. The day was warm and sunny and I arrived at noontime on a workday.

The garden was crowded with people walking through the main crushed stone pathway through the garden.

Working people ate their lunches on the benches and lawns throughout the garden.

There is a generous supply of statuary in the Tuileries, created by important artists of the past. Even the trees and shrubs are trimmed into hedges and topiaries, making them statue-like in form and function.

The marble man above has seen too many tourists, but the woman below looks beautiful against the red blooms of a buckeye tree (Aesculus).

But despite the famous statuary, the enormous fountains and the gigantic monuments at the Tuileries, my favorite spot was a shady copse of trees,

where groups of old friends gathered in the dappled sunlight.