Luxembourg playground x2

The Jardin du Luxembourg has a huge playground that my kids love (the above picture shows less than 1/4 of it). You have to pay to get in (currently 2,40 for kids and 1,80 for adults), but we don't go that often, and when we do, we stay for several hours. If you go when the French kids are in school, it's pretty empty, and usually has a few other English-speaking families. But if you stay until school gets out, it gets crazy, fast.

We've gone twice now, and I realized that I didn't post about the first time, which was a few days before Jill's arrival.

I didn't think Max would be interested, so I sent him off to take pictures and then come find us when he was finished. He surprised me by coming back after about an hour, joining us, and playing with Eva for the rest of the time.

Incidentally, one of my favorite things about this playground are the mature trees growing within it. They provide shade and beauty for the parents sitting on benches!

In what universe is this a comfortable position that one gets into by choice??

Creepy giant fungus way up in a tree!

I love it that I have pictures of all of my kids on this equipment when they were 2, then older and older, until now, when they are 4, 10, and 14! It's been a favorite spot of ours for a very long time.

Remember the area where the old men play boules (otherwise known as pétanque or bocce ball)? On this day, it was packed, and the jacket racks were full to capacity.

They seem to take it pretty seriously. And for the first time, we saw a woman playing, too!

We went back last Thursday. Eva and Lucas were feeling better and we were experiencing some pretty severe cabin fever. Max stayed home with a fever and cough.

The park was in a perfectly lovely stage of Fall -- tons of leaves on the ground to crunch pleasantly underfoot, yet plenty of leaves still on the trees for color.

Lucas and Eva both really enjoy this part of the sandbox (all Parisian parks have sandboxes) that has pulleys for loading sand and chutes for dumping it. You've just gotta love something that entertains your kids who are 6 years apart!

I sat on a bench and read The Zookeeper's Wife. I'm really enjoying it.

I kept looking up at the trees, because leaves were falling down every few seconds. I tried to capture that in a photo (I almost said on film!), but I could never time it quite right.

Eva was amazed by the size of these leaves!

We actually had to leave because it was getting so cold -- even I was cold. I know, right? I'm blaming it on Daylight Savings and dusk arriving so much earlier.

The boules courts were largely empty.

All of the flower beds have been re-planted with mums. Eva was most intrigued by these "piles of flowers". I used to think I hated mums, but Paris is changing my mind about them.

view looking up from the bus stop

It was so good to get out again. And the parks are so lovely here, it feels like a good outing for me as well as for the children!

Jill's last day

Since Jill's last day in Paris was a Sunday, I would not have blamed her one bit if she had gone off and fulfilled some last-minute Paris wishes, but she opted to go to church with us again. I know. I was totally impressed with her dedication.

Eva and Lucas went to Primary together, leaving me free to go to Relief Society for the first time. I definitely got more out of our meetings this time, although poor Jill was left sifting through the French for scraps that she understood. (I tried to give her the gist without being distracting by translating the whole time.)

Max gave his first talk in Sacrament Meeting (on service). I thought he would be really nervous, but he studied and planned it all out on his own and did a great job. Fortunately, they allowed him to give it in English, and the (American) bishop translated for him on the fly.

After church, we came home, ate grilled cheese sandwiches, and read and napped for a bit and then Jill wanted to go to the Jardin du Luxembourg. Surprisingly, the boys didn't want to go, and I bribed Eva into accompanying us by telling her she could feed the ducks.

I always love Luxembourg, but it is fun to see it in the Fall. It looks completely different now from when we came with Michelle & co. just a few weeks ago! The urns were filled with geraniums and begonias then -- now they all have mums and the leaves have changed.

I've never been to Luxembourg on a Sunday before -- and I've also never seen it so crowded before! I guess everyone had the same idea. (This is the shadow of Jill, Eva and I holding hands.)

I always enjoy watching the kids pushing their sailboats around.

Eva had so much fun feeding the ducks, and to our surprise, fish! The water is murky, so I never knew there were fish in there. Apparently fish like to eat bread, too. I think she would have stayed there for hours if our bread hadn't run out.

It was late afternoon, so we got to enjoy that lovely golden light.

Jill wrote postcards while the feeding frenzy was going on.

I used to think it was so strange that people are forbidden to go on the grass in most Parisian parks. Now I'm used to it and love the way it looks. Grass is overrated when you have delightful chairs to sit in and plenty of beautiful things to enjoy.

Eva posed (although somewhat unwillingly) next to this tree trunk to show its scale. Seriously. That has got to be at least a 100 year old tree, right?

The Medici Fountain never gets old for me. I just love its shady, quiet seclusion.

As we left, I spotted these apples on the ground. One end of the garden has a bunch of espaliered fruit trees that I love. There was a ladder nearby, so I think the harvest is underway, but some had already dropped. Is there anything not beautiful about Fall?

We didn't get home until close to 7:00 and I still had to make dinner! Jill was a good sport and packed her suitcase while I cooked. We had a late dinner and watched tv together on our last night. Poor girl, she had to get up at 5:30 and get ready for her 6:30 taxi!

I definitely had pangs of regret as she pulled away for the airport. She was such a great houseguest to have around -- she is so familiar with my family and all of our ways. In fact, I fear I was a very bad host since I really don't consider her to be a guest.

I confessed I was slightly worried that this visit would impact our friendship negatively, since she was privy to so many tantrums, so much whining, a lot of smotherhood, etc. She told me she had been in training for this for years. I honestly didn't know whether to be reassured or terrified by that knowledge...

le Jardin de Luxembourg

One of my favorite places! I walked it through it with my book club friends, explored it with my parents, and returned there today with the kids.

My poor mom was freezing the whole time she was here! (It was often cloudy, windy, drizzling, or raining, and she is usually cold even when I'm hot...) So she was shrouded in her pashmina nearly the whole week, which did keep her a little warmer, but also covered up all of her cute outfits... (Why oh why didn't I call to warn her that the weather had taken a chill turn??)

These chairs are scattered throughout the gardens, inviting people to sit, chat, eat their lunch, read, people-watch...

the cutest beehives ever

There is a little grotto tucked away in a shady corner by the Senate building. I just love the ivy swags -- I found they were very hard to truly capture in a photo...

I promised the kids we would go back just for the playground in-between grandparent visits. As we approached the playground, we noticed it was very empty. Hooray!, we thought, a nice cool day and no crowds to boot! Then we noticed it was entirely empty. It turns out the playground is closed all week so that they can prune all of the surrounding trees...

In an attempt to salvage the visit, we went to the pond to rent sailboats. The man who rents the boats was nowhere to be found. It just was not our lucky day. Fortunately, the kids all had fun watching and feeding the ducks. Eva even tried to share her binkie with them! Thank heavens for big brother Max who reached way out, and nearly fell in himself, to rescue it. We all had to talk her out of sharing her sipper of apple juice with the ducks...

Lucas was worried that Eva would try to get in the water. This so reminds me of when my younger siblings were small -- I always felt so protective of them and concerned for their safety.

We saw an installation that is yet another example of modern art contrasted with classical sculpture. This woman has been trapped in a spiderweb!

This woman is clothed in a gown of swirling leaves.

This woman seems to be pondering her fate.

and this one is surrounded by embellished poles. (don't ask me what this means!)

There always seems to be someone practicing a martial art of some kind in the park, but I'd never seen one this picturesque before!

When we left the park, we went to the wonderful gelaterie nearby, just to seal the deal of having a good day despite the mishaps. I promised the kids we will return to the playground at least once a week until we leave Paris!

This day illustrated for me probably the best thing about Paris: even though everything is more of an effort, and you often encounter unexpected closures, strikes, and other various and sundry inconveniences, you are always rewarded with a plethora of interesting and beautiful things to see! And I just have to admire a city and a people that puts such a high priority on beauty.