randomosity

The Gar­dens at the Pal­ais Royal are dis­tinctly dif­fer­ent from those at the Lux­em­bourg. A grand urban court­yard, the Pal­ais Royal have been a pub­lic garden from imme­di­ately prior to the Revolu­tion. The Pal­ais Royal was owned by the Duc d’Orleans, an aris­to­crat who sought pop­u­lar appeal. As today, the court­yard was sur­roun­ded by cloistered shops and atelier and served as a meet­ing spot for the ‘com­mon folk’.
Today, the garden itself is green and large and a won­der­ful spot to sit and read and be amongst a milieu.

Entry to the garden is through the pal­ais itself and the con­trast from the bust­ling street to the south could not be more extreme. You emerge from the con­crete jungle into a lush garden with a bor­der­ing walk­ing paths and a foun­tain in the centre that cre­ates two sep­ar­ate private areas. Chairs are provided and one can eas­ily while away the hours engrossed in a fine book.
At the south end of the garden is a rather dis­cord­ant sculp­ture fea­tur­ing black and white cyl­in­ders that have risen to vary­ing heights out of the patio itself. Impress­ive, artistic, taste­ful?? hard to say. Def­in­itely unique.
What is par­tic­u­larly nice about this garden is the oasis that it provides amongst the hustle and bustle of the sur­round­ing streets. Its a defined area and you are very con­scious of the sur­round­ings. But the lush­ness of the gar­dens them­selves allow you to eas­ily escape in appro­pri­ate diversion.