The Luxembourg Garden is one of the largest green spaces in central Paris, covering 23 hectares, or 57 acres. (Trivia for me: that makes the Luxembourg Garden 100 times the size of the piece of land we live on near Saint-Aignan.) You get great views of the garden and palace from the top of the nearby Tour Montparnasse.
In the photos above and below, you can see many of central Paris's main monuments and sights. On the upper left is the Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum, library, and cultural center. Toward the top center is Notre-Dame Cathedral. On the right are the dome of the Pantheon and the modern tower in the center of the Jussieu university campus. (Click or tap on the photos to enlarge them.)
Just outside the eastern gate of the Luxembourg Garden is the Latin Quarter. The Luxembourg Palace, on the north side of the garden, is the seat of the French senate. The palace was built between 1615 and 1645 to serve as the royal residence of Marie de Médicis, who was the mother of the young king Louis XIII and his regent. The Luxembourg Museum is also located in the park.
I've taken and posted photos of the Luxembourg Garden and Palace several times before. See these posts from August 2013 and September 2009, among others. You used to be able to take a tour of the Senate chambers when the body wasn't in session. Maybe you still can. I did it once, and I was allowed to sit in Victor Hugo's seat for a minute or two, if I remember correctly.
5.7 acres of garden....
ReplyDeleteno wonder it takes Walt a long time to mow!
I never realised.... ;-)
Those gardens look like an oasis in all that stone...
DeleteT
Oops, that was a silly typo. I've corrected my post.
DeleteIt is in fact just shy of ten times our meadow....
DeleteI mow paths in that!
Looking at the people, for scale, more than a tenth of that parc is mown grass....
apart from dry weather, it must be mow, mow, mow....
hope they do it in shifts!
Am so enjoying your superb tower-top views of Paris and your such helpful labels. We were last there in early July and visited Sainte-Chapelle, the little chapel behind Notre Dame which is perched on the roof of the Conciergerie. It's incredible and very early stained glass has just been restored and there are signs there that the work was financed by Velux. Very good product placement if not very romantic!
ReplyDeleteOn the first photo, I think I spotted the roof of the Hôtel de l'Avenir at the corner of rue de Fleurus and rue Madame.
ReplyDeleteI think I can see the roof of the Avenir too. I took that first photo through one of the glass or plexiglass panels that protect the observation deck of the Tour Montparnasse from the wind (and maybe from jumpers!). You can see a blurry spot in the photo, right on top of the Palais du Luxembourg.
DeleteI just found two of my blog photos on a site that advertises vacation rentals (gites) in Saint-Aignan. I know the owner of the gite but just vaguely. I don't remember giving permission, but then I don't claim to copyright my photos.
wow wow wow-- so cool to see all of that green in the middle of buildings!
ReplyDeleteCities need "lungs"...
Deletepreferably with benches and a cafeteria!
I love the last photo of the palace with the flag unfurled- it's so clear. We were able to see all of Paris in its glory that sunny day which is now past.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed going up there, and I hope you and Lew did too -- despite the stiff breeze.
DeleteLove your vantage point! Puts everything in perspective...
ReplyDeleteWe visited the Luxembourg Palace during the Journées du Patrimoine one year - very impressive. Hard to believe it was turned into a prison during the Revolution and the Luftwaffe headquarters during WWII.
It's hard to believe what hard times -- wars, revolutions, plagues -- France has lived through and that it has remained one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
DeleteThanks for the lovely pics...Jardins du Luxembourg is one of my favorite places in Paris to relax.
ReplyDeleteSadly, there is a Dalloyau across the street, which we have never been able to pass without stopping in and binging on les patisseries.
I still have quite a few photos from on high that I want to post.
DeleteYou can't pass the Dalloyau? And that's a bad thing?
DeleteIrony, Lee I. :-)
Deletethe city is very crowded but nice to see a lovely park
ReplyDeleteI love the views from Tour Montparnasse. I'd love to go up there to take pictures, but am fiercely afraid of heights. Is this a scary location, or is there enough "shelter" to cut off the fear of falling?
ReplyDelete