Walk 3: A Walk in the Park

Sunday April 29
Montparnasse and the Jardin du Luxembourg.
I posted a quick blurb on Sunday about this walk but we are supposed to go into a little more detail for my class.
At the beginning of the walk we saw the cutest little carousel outside the Montparnasse train station. I kind of have an obsession with carousels...

she was the only one riding the carousel and she looked like she was having the time of her life!

The area of Montparnasse used to be full of cafes and bars where many famous artists and writers would meet up to share ideas or just hang out-just like in Midnight in Paris. (I was going to insert a clip here from the movie but I couldn't find the right one on youtube. So... go watch it if you haven't already! It's the best!!) We passed a lot of these bars and cafe's on our walk but I wasn't looking at the book so I had no idea.
We went on a little detour to see this statue of Alfred Dreyfus.

The statue was intended to go in the Ecole Militaire courtyard but instead was hidden in this little corner of Paris where most tourists will never see it. The Dreyfus affair is still a controversial topic in France.

Next we entered the Jardin du Luxembourg and just had a nice stroll through the park. I wasn't really looking at the book so here are a few of the things I enjoyed :)

these are beehives. it is actually forbidden to walk on the grass because of all the bees!

there were lovely statues all throughout the gardens

But my absolute favorite part was this fountain where tons of kids were racing little sailboats around. French kids are so adorable. It was a beautiful day!