Traipsing Through the Tuileries

 I think Jack Russell terriers are the breed of dog I see most often in Paris, which is odd.  Though small, they have an enormous amount of energy and living in a typically small Parisian apartment must be tough for them.  This one however was having the time of his life chasing his ball in the Tuileries garden last weekend.

 It was a beautiful day to be out and about and it was only by sticking to the side paths that we avoided the crowds of people enjoying the weather and the art installations that had been placed in the gardens as part of the annual FIAC contemporary art salon.

You probably know that French parks typically don't allow people to walk, play or picnic on the lawns.  These boys, who kicked their ball onto the adjacent lawn, were standing stymied at the lawn's edge, not knowing quite what to do: should they go onto the lawn to retrieve the ball or not?

They looked back and forth at each other for a minute or two and finally the smaller one got up his courage and dashed onto the lawn, grabbed the ball, and ran off as quickly as possible.  I left them playing happily once more.

It seems the chairs surrounding the lawns have had a new coat of paint this year, and unlike the darker green of previous years, this time the paint matches the green of the lawn with uncanny precision.

And then of course there were the other colors to see, like this enormous sculpture that looks like a huge multi-colored peanut

and this shipping container turned pop-up movie theater.

I love the guy with his bag of popcorn in hand, ready for the show to begin, but that balloon is going to cause an argument!

The largest piece I saw in the garden was this one, a cylinder that must have been more than 50 feet long, widening as it went.

I was more interested in the view of Sacre Coeur between the buildings though.

(Sorry I didn't make notes of the artists and the names of the pieces.)