Le Pavillon de la Fontaine

When I lived in Paris thirty (!) years ago, I used to walk through the Luxembourg gardens frequently. The pension (boarding house) I stayed in was not far from the entrance on the north and the school I was going to was a few blocks from the west side of the park. When I moved into an apartment across town, I could take the RER B line from there to the Luxembourg station and walk through the park to school.

I don't think the Pavillon is open all year round. But it certainly is in the summer.

The park is beautiful, in my opinion, all year long, even in winter. You can get lost along the shady pathways around its edges or stroll in the brilliant sunshine (when it's sunny) around the central fountain where kids are often sailing little toy boats. You can sit and read or watch people go by. I used to watch people play tennis on the several courts in the park. Back then I think that they were clay courts; now they're paved with a hard surface.

You can even have a drink or an ice cream at the Pavillon de la Fountain, pictured here, something that I've never done.

The park is named for the Palais du Luxembourg built for Marie de Médicis in the seventeenth century. She had the garden behind the palace designed and built in the Florentine style. In the years since the French Revolution, the garden has been modified and rehabilitated several times, and it was eventually opened to the public. The French Senate meets in the palais on the north boundary of the park, as it has since 1799.