Luxe, Calme et Volupté

Luxuriating an afternoon away at the Jardin du Luxembourg can be more of an adventure than you would think. Especially on one of those sparkling fall days when the foliage is turning multi-hued shades of gold and bronze, dried leaves crunch underfoot and it is still warm enough to take off your coat in the sunny spots.

We biked there on a Monday afternoon and even with the weather being so perfect it wasn’t overrun with people. We locked our bikes to the fence at the south end of Rue d’Assas and entered the park where the pétanque courts are. Right away I spotted a woman player inside the end court which is, of course, an unusual sight in this male dominated game. We had brought our cameras along, Monsieur L with his large format fancy one and me with my teeny coolpix. He took his time shooting the pétanque players and I wandered off towards the children’s playground.

A little boy seemed lost and was looking about for someone. I went up to him to see if I could be of help. Almost immediately a man came over and took charge all the while ignoring me. He told the boy that he would find a park attendant to take care of him, and began leading him away. I was a little concerned [and somewhat paranoid] that he might be a child snatcher so I followed them until I saw the little boy being handed over to a uniformed guard.

I was peeved at the way I was treated by the boy “handler”. He had read me as a foreigner and perhaps thought that I was incapable of dealing with such a serious situation, but the mother in me was offended nonetheless. I went back to look for Monsieur L and found him talking to an older woman out walking her Norwegian cat on a leash. She had a lot to say about her cherished cat.

We finally continued on towards the pond around which crowds of people were basking in the late afternoon sun. A crazy glittering and intricate sculpture caught our attention. Some children were busy helping to decorate it with more little tags and flags and hanging baubles. The project’s creator told us that the “galleon” has been 20 years in the making and he planned to finally launch it in the pond in a week’s time. We were all invited to witness and celebrate the momentous occasion. I am always moved by such random eccentricities often encountered so serendipitously, and the connection they engender between strangers, young and old. And the idea that an elderly man continues to act upon his childlike inclinations, building his cobwebby ship to sail around his whimsical little world, and where else but in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Voir sur ces canaux dormir ces vaisseaux dont l’humeur est vagabonde; c’est pour assouvir ton moindre désir qu’ils viennent du bout du monde.

Les soleils couchants revêtent les champs, les canaux, la ville entière, d’hyacinthe et d’or; le monde s’endort dans une chaude lumière.

Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, luxe, calme et volupté

[from"L'Invitation au Voyage" by Charles Baudelaire, 1821-67]