Luxembourg Gardens

A trip to Paris is not complete without a visit to Jardin du Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Gardens.   The gardens started in 1612 when Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV, constructed the Luxembourg Palace as her new residence.  The palace is now the meeting place of the French Senate which owns the park.  Covering 23 hectares (56.8 acres), the park is known for its lawns, tree-lined promenades, tennis courts, flowerbeds, and model sailboats floating in the Grand Bassin.  We're looking forward to spring flowers in the park and walk up Boulevard Saint-Michel from Place Saint-Michel (across from Notre Dame).

Boulevard Saint-Michel is lined with market stalls on this beautiful weekend day and we stop to admire the products available as we proceed up the street.

Street market

We reach the park and enter at a gate by the Palais du Luxembourg, home to the French Senate 

Entering the park

Map of the park

At a bandstand just inside the park, a group is singing for all of us passing by.

Music in the park

We listen to the music for a bit and then head over to the octagonal Grand Bassin which is packed with people relaxing, walking, and sailing small rental boats.

Relaxing at the Grand Bassin

Palais du Luxembourg in the background

We continue walking through the park, viewing the gardens, the people playing tennis, and the pony rides next to the tennis courts.

Beautiful gardens

Tennis and pony rides in the park

Leaving the park and walking back through the city toward the Seine, we find more street markets in the neighborhoods along the way.

Neighborhood street markets

The Luxembourg Gardens are spectacular any time of year, but particularly beautiful in the spring when the new flowers are in full bloom and the park is packed with people enjoying the day.

Visiting the Louis Vuitton Foundation

La Fondation Louis-Vuitton (Louis Vuitton Foundation) is an art museum and cultural center sponsored by the Group LVMH and its subsidiaries.  The foundation is run as a legally separate, nonprofit venture, part of LVMH's promotion of arts and culture.  Opened in 2014, the building was designed by Frank Gehry and is located in Paris' Bois de Boulogne, bordering the community Neuilly-sur-Seine.

The museum is currently between exhibitions, but is open for visitors and we head over to see the building and a brief show of its architecture and construction.  We walk to the end of the Champs Élysées at the Arc de Triomphe and then follow Avenue de la Grand Armée to Porte Maillot where we enter the Bois de Boulogne forest and walk through it to the foundation.

Arc de Triomphe

Through the Bois de Boulogne

Approaching the Louis Vuitton Foundation

Views of the exterior

Entering the lobby

We view a small show of the architecture and construction of the building and then proceed to the top of the building and head outside to explore the architecture ourselves.

Architectural exploration

Models

Wandering through the outer structure

The views of Paris peeking through the structure are fabulous.

Glimpses of Paris

We descend to the lower levels and view the water features and pool at the base of the building.

Water features

It has been a real treat to explore the building and its history.  What a fabulous display area, even without an exhibition on display at the moment!