Friday, October 26, 2012

Le Jardin des Tuileries--Tuileries Garden | Paris Travel

Tree-lined path in le jardin des Tuileries.

 
Our Silver Paris

Welcome to my Paris travel journal,
where I share our experiences of our special journey to Paris.
Please use these posts as a guide for your own travels
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Visiting just the outside of le Louvre was amazing, and that had been only the first part of our anniversary journey!  As our "walking tour" book guided us, we continued walking west away from the Louvre, through le jardin du Carousel, and into le jardin des Tuileries.  Even in September, this garden was abloom with color.  The various wings of the Louvre in the background added so much to the gardens, too.

Le Jardin des Tuileries, with part of the Louvre building in the background.




From one of our walking-tour books:

Jardin des Tuileries were royal gardens, laid out in front of the Tuileries Palace in the 16th century.  Since the 17th century, the public has been able to enjoy then, too.  Tuile means a tile, and refers to the kilns that made tiles for the rooftops of Paris that stood here in the Middle Ages.  The palace was build for Queen Catherine de Medici in the 16th century, but was burnt to the ground during the Paris Commune in 1871.  ~Frommer's 24 Great Walks in Paris, p. 99.  (ISBN 978-0-470-22897-5)

Fountain in le jardin des Tuileries.



As we strolled along, we could tell we were getting ever closer to place de la Concorde, the plaza at the end of the jardin.  The Obelisk rose in the distance.

Strolling along the promenade in le Jardin des Tuileries, looking toward the Obelisk in place de la Concorde.

Camera lens motion blur; I had recently read about it and decided to try it.  :)

As we passed more gardens and a café, we noticed a couple posing for their photographer.  Looked like wedding photography!


There were many different paths to take in this symmetrical garden, and we strolled down a few of them.



This old tree lay where it fell a long time ago.

We walked up a ramp along the left side of le jardin (as we walked toward place de la Concorde), where an art gallery is housed.  This building is called l'Orangerie, and houses a collection of Impressionist paintings.  On the other side of le jardin lies the Jeu de Paume which houses temporary modern art exhibitions.  L'Orangerie was not open, as far as we could tell, so we simply enjoyed the view of the pond and fountains in the center.


Then we walked down to the central fountain and sat for a bit.



Okay, pigeons are pigeons wherever you go.  But a jogger jogged through and disturbed them, and I got a neat shot of startled birds.


Then they flew right at me.  :)


We exited le jardin des Tuileries by its "grandiose gilded gates," according to our walking-tour book.  Indeed they were!






Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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