Tuileries Garden

The Tuileries are the largest and oldest public park in Paris. The gardens were an integral part of the palatial scheme created by the kings of France. With their landscaping, vistas, and sculptures, they provide the perfect complement to the buildings. The preservation of this exceptional historic monument and the interlinking of the Tuileries and Carrousel gardens have made it possible to bring a major art form—that of landscape design—into the Louvre.

I had a nice brisk sunset walk from the Tuileries Gardens down to Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe. A lovely walk I do recommend that everyone tries at least once. And while you are at the Tuileries Garden admiring the flowers and the French garden design thought up by Le Notre, the famous Versailles park designer, you could take a little detour to the carousal.

And after which, a short walk to the Place de la Concorde, one of the major public squares in France and the largest in Paris.  As beautiful as this square is, during the French revolution, this was the place where Kings and Queens met their death at the guillotine as part of the public execution. Famous people beheaded here includes King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, Princess Élisabeth of France,Charlotte Corday, Madame du Barry, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Antoine Lavoisier, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis de Saint-Just andOlympe de Gouge.

The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaohRamses II. It is one of two the Egyptian government gave to the French in the nineteenth century. It is in the exact spot of the obelisk that the guillotine once stood.