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| Jardin du Luxembourg |
One of my favorite things about being in Paris so
far is the gardens. I love how easily accessible a lot of them are to either
school or the metro. On a majority of afternoons during the week, my friends
and I always seem to end up at a garden. Whether it is to enjoy our ham and
cheese panini or nutella crepe (or sometimes both) or merely just to pass our
time until our next activity, I appreciate how habitual our presence is at the gardens
throughout Paris.
My favorite
and most frequently visited garden so far is the Jardin du Luxembourg because
of its close proximity to school as well as my house. As a runner, it has been
frustrating for me not to have time to run on a daily basis. However, when I do
have extra time in my day I jog on over to the Jardin du Luxembourg for a 5-8
mile run. As a person who usually needs music to pass the time during a run, I
found that it was actually more enjoyable to run without music here. With a
distraction like music during a run, you miss out on listening to the French conversations
around you and you are unable to fully appreciate the blooming flowers and foliage
surrounding you on the path. During my numerous visits here, I have also
observed the numerous activities that are available to visitors of all ages.
For children the garden offers the following: rides, slides, playgrounds, a
puppet theatre, remote control boats, and pony rides. For adults the garden has
tennis courts, places to play chess and a nice path for running.
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| Boboli Garden, Florence |
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| Pitti Palace, Florence |
The Jardin du Luxembourg takes up 224,500m2
of land which makes it the second biggest park in Paris. Construction of the Luxembourg
Palace and garden was started in 1612 by Marie de’ Medici because she did not
want to live in the Louvre anymore. Her
decision to move occurred two years after the assassination of her husband, King
Henry IV, by Francois Ravaillac. Marie was born and raised in Florence and
spent 15 years of her life there before being married off to Henry IV. Due to
her childhood spent in Italy, she was influenced by the Pitti Palace in
Florence, in particularly the Boboli garden, when designing the Jardin du
Luxembourg. Marie hired Salomon de Brosse to build the palace and fountain for
her. She then sought out the gardener Tommaso Francini, who was responsible for
assembling a park that Marie spent some time at as a child. 18 years after
Marie started working on the garden, she increased the area of the garden tremendously
with the help of gardener Jacques Boyceau de la Barauderie. Today the garden
has around 70 statues and monuments and numerous fountains.
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| Jardin des Tuileries |
I
have also visited the Jardin des Tuileries near the Louvre. This park is
actually older than the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was designed by Queen
Catherine de Medici, a distant cousin of Marie de Medici, in 1559. Catherine
also referenced gardens from her childhood in Florence when planning the Jardin
des Tuileries. Another place with beautiful scenery is a park called Square du
Vert-Galant next to Pont Neuf. This park is rather small but has benches and grassy
areas to sit and eat your lunch or read a book. It has a great view of the
Seine and has a quieter atmosphere than that of the bigger gardens I just mentioned.
I still have yet to see some of the other gardens in and around Paris. Here is
a list of Paris’s best parks and gardens: http://www.timeout.fr/paris/feature/selection/the-ten-best-parks-gardens Check
them out!
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| Square du Vert-Galant |
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| View of the Seine from the Square du Vert-Galant |
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