“Fountain of the Observatory”, also known as the “Fontaine des Quatre-du-Parties-World” or the “Carpeaux Fountain”, for its sculptures by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux . It was installed as part of the development of the Avenue de l’Observatoire by Gabriel Davioud in 1867.
After we got our Berthillon glaces at the lovely little cafe, we walked on up the boulevard towards the Jardin du Luxembourg. The Fountain is the first thing you see as you enter the garden from the south. The sculptures are magnificent, as are so many of the sculptures around the city — one of the things that I found most beautiful in Paris, with so much art everywhere.
In the large garden itself, there are so many people playing, lounging, walking, playing tennis, children on the playground equipment, walking, eating, shooting wedding photos, or riding bikes with dogs in their baskets. We met this ex-pat with his dog “Yoyo'”, I kept calling the dog Toto for obvious reasons.
This was the couple having their wedding photos done. The ex-pat and I and several others were also taking their picture as well as their photographer.
So this was just the start of our first afternoon in Paris — wandering around this beautiful garden, seeing how the real Parisians live their lives and enjoying it the way they do. Paris is full of these wonderful parks, this one being the biggest and one of the most beautiful. There are more Jardin de Luxembourg photos in the gallery pages.
2 Responses
Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm for Jardin Luxembourg, Paris, France, and the French. I, too enjoyed Jardin Luxembourg when I was there some years ago. I remember the little sailboats in the pond – reminiscent of the French course “French in Action” from which I learned in 18 hours of watching “je suis fatigue” and just one or two other useless tidbits, while being charmed the whole time.
The French engage with life a little more deeply, I think, than Anglophones. They enjoy its pleasures more. They suffer from its setbacks more. They are a little more reflective. This would explain the spirited little site you discribe.
I will admit that they can be snobbish or severe. And occasionally a little officious. For instance, we were just poking around the official tourist office at Verisailles and we asked the good looking thrity-something clerk about the weather forecast. She gave us a sort of bored look and pronounced “They say it will do one thing, and it does something else entirely.” A much more satisfactory answer than “I don’t know and I don’t care.” We found that if treated with a modicum of respect, as if we were visitors in their land, respect was always reciprocated and help was rarely far behind.
And oooooh, the foooooood! Everywhere is it delicious.
Again, thanks for the reminder.
Yes, they told us it was raining every day we were there!
It wasn’t…
And yes, the food is amazing.