It’s 2016 and I’m still behind my posting schedule. I’ve already had three other trips after our Europe trip so you guys can really imagine my backlog. Tee hee. Just looking at it is enough to make me feel overwhelmed. So from now on, I’m gonna keep the travel entries for Europe shorter and will keep it to one to two places per post. I will be eliminating some of the minor places we visited or passed by and just focus on the major ones. Will also just opt for photo heavy posts. I’ll still be giving travel tips but they’ll definitely be a lot shorter. Hope that’s alright with you, loves!
***
On our third day, my husband and I decided to bring some breakfast and eat inside the Luxembourg Gardens to have a picnic of sorts. It was a great plan as we wanted a relaxed and kind of a romantic morning.
It was the perfect place for a breakfast date, to be honest.
Marie de Medicis, widow of King Henry IV, had the garden and the palace in it built after the death of her husband. It became her new residence. The French Senate owns the garden and also meets in the Luxembourg Palace.
Getting inside the garden complex is free but as for the palace, you can go in for a fee when there’s no official function happening.
There are also cafés inside the gardens if you wish to have a full-on meal. We opted for a small picnic though and even ate as we explored.
I think the best part of the garden is the Fontaine de Medicis. I love the eerie and mystical feel to it. In the middle of the fountain are characters from Greek mythology – Polyphemus, the giant son of Poseidon as he looked on and surprised lovers Acis and Galatea. In the story, Polyphemus was in love with Galatea and out of jealousy, he killed Acis. But in the end, Acis was turned into a river spirit and became immortal like Galatea.
The fountain and basin in front of it is surrounded by trees and during the summer, people like to sit on metal lounge chairs by this area. We stayed for about an hour here just talking and enjoying the cool, summer breeze under the shade of the trees.
It was indeed a lovely morning.
The Jardin du Luxembourg is located at: the 6th arrondissement of Paris. For a map on how to get there, click here.
Best time to go: Spring/Summer. I’ve also been here during the winter and it can be freezing. The chairs by the fountains are still there but it can be too gloomy and cold to sit and lounge around.
More later!
Love,
Carol
*Trip is not sponsored by any country’s tourism department, company, or brand but by my side of the family living in Europe. 😊
