It is Sunday. The sky has patches of blue. The sun makes fleeting appearances. But the wind is chilling, so we decide to go to the Catacombs. Metres underground, a constant 14 degrees and no wind. But the trouble is, the queue of like-minded people is so long that we would have had to stand in the wind for an hour.
So we decided on Le Jardin du Luxembourg instead.
I can tell you exactly how to pronounce Luxembourg because the voice-over man on the Metro said it so beautifully, it's Lukes - omm - booor.
Approaching the Gardens from the north, we walked through an initial, extensive linear public space in great demand by families with young children romantically called Les Jardins des Grand Explorateurs (the gardens of the great explorers) established in 1867.
Lots of grass for ball games. The variety of grass used in public areas seems not to grow at the same rate as we are used to. I have never seen cut grass or grass being cut. It seems to grow to about 80cm and then stop. In high traffic public areas, the playing spaces are constantly rotated with one area fenced off for grass-recovery while the others are open for ball-games.
An impressive fountain by Carpeux, the sculptor whose work was displayed extensively at the Petit Palais, sets the theme of exploration of the world.
Table provided. Just bring your bat and ball. These guys were serious players and had drawn quite a crowd on onlookers.
No shortage of future soccer players here, both boys and girls.
A bother and sister learning to roller-blade together. One very long section at the side of the park was fenced off and paved for scooters, skateboards, roller blades and bikes. Plenty of seats for mum and dad, too.
What attracts kids more than high-tech scooters? A pile of dirt, of course!
When you live in a two bedroom apartment of 85 square metres with no garden and rarely a car, there are no prizes for guessing why people spend so much time on the street, in cafes and restaurants, at galleries and events, and in parks like this. And every park has specific areas for the very young, the very old and every age group in-between.
Les Jardins des Grand Explorateurs led directly onto Le Jardin du Luxemboug.
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