Happenstance: Jardin des Tuileries & Pont des Arts

When Ken and I made our “must see” lists for Paris, Jardin des Tuileries hadn’t made the cut because we didn’t know much about this garden, so I guess it just wasn’t on our radar, but as we made our way home on the 2nd day, we happened to stumble upon it and decided to have a look. Jardin des Tuileries is a public garden located between the Place de la Concorde and The Louvre in Central Paris, with sightlines to L’arc de Triomphe. Similar to most of Paris’ public gardens, there are a plethora of green metal chairs and loungers for anyone to hang out and relax, a small pond and plenty of pristinely manicured foliage to admire.

Paris’ gardens are impeccably maintained, but also super user-friendly–these green spaces really get used by a little bit of everybody! They always seemed to be bustling, but they’re so vast, and there are so many of them tucked in around the city that they never seemed over-crowded (maybe that’s the city-dweller in me talking though!). I don’t know if it was just that we had sunny weather most of the time, or if I’d been cooped up inside too long over the winter, but the gardens and parks ended up being one of my favorite elements in Paris.

After an hour of lounging in the park, we exited by way of the Louvre’s main gate and began walking along the Seine towards Île Saint-louis. We hadn’t been walking for more than 2 minutes when we were struck by the view of a golden bridge shimmering under the setting sun. As we got closer, we realized it was the lock bridge, The Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge which has become a destination for couples wanting to honor their love by attaching a lock to the bridge and then tossing the key into the Seine. You can read more about the idea behind the romantic gesture here.

We just thought it would be a fun thing to do together while in such a romantic place. So as we made it to the bridge, I grabbed our lock from the bottom of my bag, we found a spot to attach our ‘love lock,’ tossed the key in the Seine and then gave each other a smooch or two: a memorable way to commemorate our first trip to Europe together, and approaching 2nd wedding anniversary!