We heard a local say "Jardin de Tuileries is for the tourists. The locals go to Jardin du Luxembourg." I agree.
Stepping out of the Luxembourg station, we were engulfed in a sea of red-capped French kids just coming out of the school early as per every Wednesday. We were thinking, great, the park will be swamped with kids. We were so wrong. There's something about these vast city parks that seem to be always big enough to engulf limitless amounts of people and still have enough chairs and benches for you to find your own oasis. They are smart -- every inch of space is interesting so the crowd can evenly disperse themselves. There are areas designated for playing chess, playing petanque, playgrounds, sailing toy boats etc. It's not just one big green patch.
Jardin Luxembourg gardens is beautifully landscaped, with formal gardens gracing the front of the Luxembourg palace. The best part was the GINORMOUS playground. The entrance fee was 2.50Euros but well worth it. Chloe ran for 4 hours straight and if we didn't stop her, she could have easily camped out overnight here.
Kids are great ice-breaker topics. We chatted with some interesting people, and an old granny fawned over Isaac and said if they sold a doll made exactly like him in a store, she would snatch him up.
Beautiful.
