In which I become the photographer of Paris

On Tuesday I wandered down to the Jardins de Luxembourg after class. If I remember correctly, a sixteenth-century Medici queen got homesick for Europe and commissioned Italian-style gardens for her amusement, though they came out looking more French than Italian. They're laid out formally, French-style, with no walking on the grass allowed (or picking of flowers), and the yellow-white-blue color scheme was lovely. The gardens themselves were ringed by pots of pink geraniums, which seem to be a preferred form of decoration here. While I was there, several different people asked me to take pictures of them, some in French, some in English -- apparently I look honest enough to be trusted with others' cameras! Later I was befriended in the RER station by an old lady with a very thick accent who told me all about the visiting children's bands in the gardens all summer. (Yesterday someone even asked me for directions in the RER station -- fortunately I knew enough by then to give accurate ones, but three days ago that could have been me!)

Here are a few photos of the Jardins de Luxembourg. The big palace now houses the Senate.