Jardin du Luxembourg

When the sun finally appeared this week, we decided to take a stroll in the Jardin du Luxembourg.  Kelly and I consider this our original quartier in Paris.  As most of you know, we met on BYU Study Abroad in 1980 and spent 6 months in Paris together.
On our way to the gardens, we stopped at two of the neighborhood churches.  The first is the Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés.  The philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes is buried here.  There was an interesting modern sculpture on the sidewalk in front of the Abbey.

Saint-Germain-des-Pres

The second church is Saint-Sulpice.  It is the just slightly smaller than Notre Dame so it is the second largest church in Paris.  It was popularized by Dan Brown's novel The DaVinci Code and has a famous organ.  In the 18th century, a gnomen was constructed inside the church.  This gave the priest the ability to determine the times of the equinoxes and thus the date for Easter. A brass meridian line was inlaid across the floor and up a white marble obelisk, about 30 feet high.  On the top is sphere with a cross.  The south transept window has a small hole with a lens so that a ray of light shines on the brass line.  At noon on the winter solstice the light touches the brass line on the obelisk.  At noon on the spring and fall equinoxes, the ray touches a copper plate on the floor near the altar.  All this just to determine the date of Easter!

Kelly at Saint-Sulpice

The Gnomon and Brass Line at Saint-Sulpice

We finally made it to the Jardin du Luxembourg and the large fountain.  You can see the duck house behind Kelly's shoulder.  In the spring, the kids rent old wooden sailboats to push with a long stick across the fountain.  The large building is the French Senate.  It was originally Marie de Medici's palace and these were her gardens.

Fountain at Jardin du Luxembourg

We walked to the other side of the gardens towards rue d'Assas where Kelly and I lived.  There are now trees and grape vines and other plants cultivated in the garden.  We found a curious tree that still had orange fruit hanging from it.  The sign said it was a plaqueminier and the fruit was called kaki fruit-I'd never heard of kaki fruit.  I had to come home and look it up--it was a persimmon tree!

Persimmon Tree

I felt like I was transported back 30 years when we walked past the old Marionnette Theater (Guignol du Luxembourg) and out onto the rue d'Assas.  The theater has shows Wednesday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays in a new modern building in the Jardin.  Children in France go to school for only a half day on Wednesdays.

Old Marionette Theater

There at the corner of rue d'Assas and rue Vavin was the Pension Pedron where we lived and had our classes.  The Pension was up three flights of stairs and my room faced rue d'Assas. The neighborhood has changed a lot and now has many upscale shops-especially children's clothing shops.  There was a furrier in the shop on the corner that is gone.

Le Pension Pedron

76 rue d'Assas

We walked by the boulangerie we used to frequent on rue Vavin and saw only a couple of familiar shops remaining.

Boulangerie on rue Vavin

Rouge et Noir on rue Vavin

The store Rouge et Noir was also still on rue Vavin.  It is a game store--you can see a chess set in the window.  Then we hopped on the Metro at the Vavin stop and headed back to our apartment and the 7th arrondissement.

I never dreamed 32 years ago that I would one day be strolling through this same quartier with my husband and a teenage daughter.  At least Paris and I continue to age with dignity.