Floral display on the south steps of the church of the Madeleine, early September.
The flowers were petunias and nicotiana, between rows of dwarf fountain grass. A sign said the arrangement was sponsored by the Paris Mayor’s Office and installed by “l’atelier de jardinage des Champs Élysées.”
Another quick look down.
We were walking along the Rue Caulaincourt bridge over the south end of the cemetery when we spotted this pretty planting arrangement in yellow below.
Cimetière de Montmartre is the third largest of four necropolises built in the early 19th century, just outside the Paris city boundaries.
It was placed below street level, in an abandoned gypsum quarry, which had previously received the hundreds of bodies of those killed in the riots of the French Revolution.
The entrance is at the end of Rue Rachel, under Rue Caulaincourt.
A glimpse through an interstice caught. . .*
Looking out through leaded glass windows.
The Musée de Cluny or National Museum of the Middle Ages is a wonderful small museum in the Latin Quarter of Paris — and the home of “the Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries.
Unfortunately, this was the closest look that I could get of its modern take on a medieval garden — designed by Eric Ossart and Arnaud Maurieères. It was closed for “security reasons” the first week of September. Since it opened in 2000, I suspect that the wooden decking needs repair or replacement.
Travel tip: admission to many Paris museums is free on the first Sunday of each month — many more will be free starting in November.
*Walt Whitman, from “A Glimpse.”
My favorite flower display in Paris last week was at the entrance to the Cour Carrée of the Louvre, near the Pont des Arts.
But I’m a pushover for massed dahlias — these were yellow, white, orange, and dark red, mixed with some burgundy amaranth and caster bean plants in the back.
Unfortunately, a tall iron fence blocked them off from close inspection.
I didn’t have a zoom lens, so I did the best I could to get some useable photos by pushing the camera through the bars and holding it out.
The space is named “Garden of the Princess” for Mariana Victoria of Spain. The three-year-old Infante was brought to live in the Louvre in 1721 when she was engaged to the preteen King Louis XV.
Although she was deemed the “sweetest and prettiest little thing,” four years later, Louis broke off the match in order to marry an older Polish princess.
Mariana was sent back to Spain and later married King Joseph I of Portugal.
We were lucky enough to be in Paris and Brussels all last week. The weather was wonderful: slightly cooler than Stuttgart and — my photos below not withstanding — very sunny.
While taking pictures at the grand bassin rond in the Tuileries Garden, I remembered this turn-of-the-century photochrom (above) from the Library of Congress.
My slightly “antiqued” version, the first Saturday of September.
There are more photos below — click on any thumbnail in the gallery.
enclos*ure 