The Jardin des Plantes is a quiet park located just off the Seine River in the Latin Quarter of Paris. As part of Paris’ Natural History Museum the various botanical gardens serve as a collection of plants found in France and neighboring countries and are used to educate visitors and botanists alike.
The gardens were originally planted in the mid-17th century by Louis XIII’s doctor, Guy de La Brosse, who wanted to cultivate herbs to improve the health of the king. But La Brosse also saw the opportunity to use the gardens for education and worked hard to ensure that the collection of plants he’d been cultivating were documented, tagged and mapped out for future botanists to learn from.
When Molly and I strolled through the Jardin des Plantes on a Saturday afternoon it was full of families and kids running through the lined bosquets trees. Many people were headed into the Natural History Museum but most seemed content to spend the afternoon on one of the may benches enjoying the beautiful and eclectic gardens, a quiet sanctuary in the middle of Paris.
Adam and Molly Go 