PARIS~City of Flowers

“And Paris is a woman’s town, with flowers in her hair.”
                                                                                                                                             Henry Van Dyke

I thought I’d give you another view of the city that I love so much.
  A city of  beautiful flowers.

The very first site we visited as tourists was the Rodin Museum…known for its sculpture and its garden. For us, the garden was the focal point. I only wish I had taken more photos of the spectacular rose bushes which were more the size of small trees. All were blooming. We are rose lovers so this was a great start to our trip.

The tour of Giverny, Monet's home, was truly one of sensory overload!

The water garden was a “sea of greens”…the true challenge for every artist.

Monet's Japanese footbridge sans tourists!

But the backyard garden was even more of a delight….oh,the Dahlias !

I am at a loss for adjectives and superlatives. So many varieties and the size.  I’d love to know what they feed them to get them to grow so large. Dahlias,  I think, could be the national flower of France. Maybe they are.

The flower market on the Ile de la Cite, near the Notre Dame, is a permanent market. Flowers,  exotic plants, pots, planters and everything for the gardener can be found there.

On Sundays, it becomes an exotic bird market as well.  Such a variety of parrots and other tropical birds I've never seen in one place.





You see flowers in the windows everywhere. These were photographed in Montmartre.
Montmartre, as the name suggests, is a hill with the beautiful Sacre Coeur Basilica perched on the top.  A bohemian part of the city,  it was once the creative center where artists lived~Renoir and Toulouse Lautrec among others.  Montmartre is a tangle of steep staired lanes and where you will find the Moulin Rouge.

This is not a flower shop, it's a restaurant; also in Montmartre.

"April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom"....I never really gave much thought to those lyrics until we arrived in Paris in April and saw all the chestnut trees in blossom.  It became pretty apparent that the chestnut tree is dominant in the city.

One day we were in line waiting to use the femmes toilettes outside of the Palais de Chaillot~it was a very long line.  The wait wasn't so bad with these beautiful flower beds to look at.

Paris parks and gardens are my favorite places.  They are visual feasts!

Tuileries adjacent to the Louvre



Jardin du Luxembourg

a very popular place especially at lunchtime!

Square Jean XXIII is located behind the Notre Dame; very tranquil, shaded, a perfect retreat on the very busy and crowded Ile de la Cite.

Parc Monceau is a small park located in the 9th arrondissement.  This is a more resendential area with large stately buildings.  The foxglove were spectacular.  I don't think I had ever really noticed foxglove before.  Here it is one of the predominant flowers.

Parc Floral du Paris located in Bois de Vincennes on the outskirts of the city.

More foxglove.  There was a water garden here too.

When you cross the bridge from the Ile de la Cite, after viewing Notre Dame,

 you will find yourself on the Left Bank and strolling through the lovely Square Vivani.  When we were there the arbors were covered in climbing roses.

Whether you are walking along the Seine and notice a booth of one of the bouquinistes (the permanent book stalls that line the river).....

or just pass by a restaurant with a lovely display boasting the "special of the day"...

you will find flowers everywhere!

I  read a book titled “Rococo”, its theme-- interior design. One sentence struck so true,

“People behave better when the world is lovely.” I would agree.

Parisians have such good manners.

It must be the flowers.