Le Jardin du Luxembourg: Live or Virtual Visit
Feeling like taking a walk through a garden today? I have a recommendation. On a sunny mid-October morning, I visited the Luxembourg Gardens live and virtually while testing a guided tour application. Gary Kraut’s Luxembourg Gardens tour began at the kiosk on one side of the Sénat and ended on the other side. The GPS and phone camera helped me stay on the path and Gary’s easy-to- follow instructions and his map guided me physically. Simultaneously following the tour and taking photographs, I needed that GPS, 15-second rewind and camera to get me easily back on track.
During the walk, I picked up new tidbits on information as Gary guided with a very casual, easy-to-listen tone. No spoiler alert, but some of the topics that I enjoyed learning about:
• Original of the Statue of Liberty model was moved in 2012
• Origin of covered pockmarks on the Sénat wall
• The English word for pétanque
• The history of the flat apple and pear trees
• Escape stories about the resident rose-ringed parakeets.
There was much more to listen to and learn about but you will have to download the app to get the answers and enjoy Gary Kraut’s tour on your own. I have replayed the tour twice more! Visit Gary Kraut’s website.
I found a Luxembourg Gardens map and brochure on the Sénat website (French)
Enjoy!
September Festival of the Beehives
Sculpture commemorating the Student Resistants during the Second World War
Pockmarks covered up from bullet holes in the Senate building
Two fields for playing pétanque (jeux de boules)
Gardeners are replanting around Luxembourg Gardens with Autumn plants
Chess players near l’Orangerie greenhouse at Luxembourg Gardens
