Luxembourg Gardens is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris. It's the place to hang out if you want to get some rest on a bench and admire the beauty of the nature around you. This tour will take you to the most popular attractions around Luxembourg Gardens.
1) Café Procope
The tour starts with the well known Café Procope - the oldest café in Paris, located on rue de l'Ancienne Comedie. It was opened in 1686 by Francesco Procopio dei Knives and it was frequently visited by iconic French figures like Voltaire, Danton, Robespierre, etc. What makes this café original is its epic decor that takes you back to the 17th century and the excellent dishes they serve there.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and *Checco* / Francesco
2) Patrick Roger
Patrick Roger is considered to be one of the best chocolatiers to be found in Paris,he even won the title of best French artisan in 2000. He is well-known for his ganaches, dark chocolate flavored with lime or hot pepper. He recently opened a new store in St. Germain. Another store of Patrick Roger can be found in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris.
Image Courtesy of Flickr and elisabet.s
3) Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine
Situated on the second floor of the Paris Descartes University, The Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine in Paris is also known as the Museum of History of Medicine. It was built in 1803 at a place where the old “College and Academy of Surgery” once existed. The museum is spread across two floors. The lower floor is used to display furniture and cabinetry while the second floor is used to house the instruments in glass cases.
Many strange things are present in this museum like creepy old medical instruments, medical models, and odd artificial limbs. One of the most wicked items is a small circular table standing by the staircase. If you look closely at the table, you will see a complicated design made entirely of human body parts with a real human foot as the centerpiece. Given to Napoleon III by an Italian naturalist doctor in 1866, this work of art is prepared from petrified brains, blood, bile, liver, lungs and glands upon which rests a foot, four ears and sections of vertebrae.
In the 18th century, Dean Lafaye, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, started this collection for the museum. Many other people also later contributed to the museum. After 1795, the collection was housed in an attic until the administration of the college approved the idea of displaying the collected instruments and artifacts to the public.
Located at the “Renee Descartes University”, this surgical museum was reopened to the public in 1955, after a 150 year gap. Doctors from around the world are regularly hosted here for special functions and luncheons. There is also a public library having a massive collection of historical texts.
The museum is richly paneled and contains not only the instruments of surgical practice, garnered over the course of 250 years, from 1750 to 1900, but also the portraits and biographies of famous surgeons. Several college deans are also immortalized here.
If you are a fan of medical museums or a doctor yourself, do not miss visiting this relatively small but absolutely remarkable museum. The place takes only an hour to see and it is delightfully scary!
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Luca Borghi
Sight description based on wikipedia
4) Odéon Théâtre de l'Europe
The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe is one of France's six national theatres. It was built between 1779 and 1782 in the garden of the former Hotel de Conde. The famous play “The Marriage of Figaro” was premiered here two years later.
The Odéon theatre in Paris made history after it was inaugurated by Marie-Antoinette on April 9, 1782. The theater was built in order to house the Comédie Française. This was the first theater with a proscenium arch where the audience in the hall was seated on benches. The King's actors played in the first monumental theatre in Paris.
Named as "Second Théâtre Français", it became the first theatre in France to present Shakespeare in English. But Odeon Theatre is so much more than a historical monument and a proof of living history as it intends to bring change not only in an individual or in the elite but into the community as a whole.
In the early 1820s, the Odéon theatre had an excellent orchestra. Operas, ballets and plays are performed here. In 1825 Berlioz first heard Weber’s Der Freischütz here. In 1826-7 he wanted to have his early opera Les Francs Juges performed at the Odéon but he was not given permission by the government. Berlioz had seen the two famous plays Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet of Shakespeare here for the first time. An Irish actress performed in both of these plays. Her extraordinary talent with which she nobly presented the dramas of the famous poet made a profound impact on Berlioz’s music and life. Later he married to her.
Plays from all around the world were performed in this theater in the following 300 years. The Odeon Theater in Paris was given the title of "National Theatre". In 1990, the theater was renamed Théâtre de l'Europe and it became a member of the Union of the Theatres of Europe.
With a glorious history of numerous actors and actresses showing their performance on plays of famous poets and writers, this theater is a place worth visiting.
Image Courtesy of Flickr and kmaschke
Sight description based on wikipedia
5) Place Edmond Rostand
Once you continue straight ahead on Rue de Medicis, you will reach a beautiful square with a fountain in the middle - Place Edmond Rostand, dedicated to the famous French poet and dramatist. Here, you can get something to eat at the famous cafe Rostand, or check out one of the temporary photo exhibition that might interest you.
Image Courtesy of Flickr and gadl
6) Jardin du Luxembourg
The Jardin du Luxembourg is the largest public park located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The garden is largely devoted to a green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and centred on a large octagonal basin of water, with a central jet of water; in it children sail model boats. The garden is famed for its calm atmosphere. Surrounding the bassin on the raised balustraded terraces are a series of statues of former French queens, saints and copies after the Antique. In the southwest corner, there is an orchard of apple and pear trees and the théâtre des marionnettes (puppet theatre). The gardens include a large fenced-in playground for young children and their parents and a vintage carousel. In addition, free musical performances are presented in a gazebo on the grounds and there is a small cafe restaurant nearby, under the trees, with both indoor and outdoor seating from which many people enjoy the music over a glass of wine.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Yair-haklai
Sight description based on wikipedia