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Luxembourg Palace was built for Maria de Médici
and modeled after her childhood home in
Florence, Italy. Today, the French Senate meets here. |
We are in store for a surprise on our visit to Luxembourg Garden, and it isn't related to the
Generale de la Securite Exterieure (France's secret service), which is headquartered beneath our feet.
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Monument aux Ètudiants Résistanants,
by Gaston Watkin
|
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Fontaine de Medicis, built in 1630,
was designed by Tomasso Francini. |
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Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the restoration of the
Fontaine de Medicis, which had fallen into ruins.
The task was undertaken by Jean Chalgrin, the
Arc de Triumph's architect. |
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| Fontaine de Medicis |
Somewhat disappointed by the overcast skies (the splendid 60-acre garden would be even more magnificent with some
soleil), we are curious when we spy some activity at the bandstand. A small crowd is gathering, and in the bandstand a group of about 30 young musicians are warming up. An insignia on their bright red shirts doesn't help us in detecting where these kids are from. The beautiful blonde band director leads Ken to speculate they're from Sweden, and he's nearly right. The donation basket, into which we toss a few euros, solves the mystery: These talented music students are from Norway.
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| The Norwegian band warms up. |
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| Saxophone players are cute all over the world. |
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| I have a definite soft spot for talented young musicians. |
In addition to enjoying the concert, we bask in the memory of all those dozens of youth band concerts we've enjoyed through the years. I still am especially devoted to the Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra, and I can't help thinking how incredible it would be to help arrange a RYJO European tour someday. What do you say, Vern and Karen Scarbrough: You in?
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| Marius dans les ruines de Carthage, by Nicolas-Victor Vilain |
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| Oh this little place? It's just our summer cottage! |
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