Built by Marie de Medicis starting in 1611, the Luxembourg Gardens now house a wonderfully large public park and the French Senate. It also happens to be about two blocks from Chris and Joelle's place, so it's a nice place to walk around if you have nothing else to do.
Sunday was such a day.
Petanque is a popular game with men in France (one gets the sense that it's more popular with working class men), and it's fun - I played it once in Mali, of all places. None of my friends play it. It's hard to miss the Petanque fields in the Jardin de Luxembourg. The people watching the game are almost as much fun to watch as the players.
Another popular staple is in the center of the park - a big fountain where children push little sailboats back and forth, and chase the ducks, in this case an adorable duckling.
Another neat staple in the park around the mini horses for kids to ride. This time around, it was kind of odd - the horses were all tied together, by themselves, in the middle of the park. So, I started petting them. Soon, others saw what I was doing and we got a nice little crowd of parents and kids petting the horses. Only in Europe would no one worry about a lawsuit.
The horses were beautiful, especially as the sun started going down.
The other big thing to do in the garden is sit and people watch, or read.
I love the way the French manicure tress.
As you can see, it's quite a large garden. One word of warning, stay on the pebble pathways, and not on the grass - it's a no-no and the cops will yell at you.
