Jardin du Luxembourg

                                                                                                             2014  7  22 

                   Jardin du Luxembourg 

I came to stay in the area where Sorbonne students usually lodge. It’s been a long time.

I visited shortly the Marc Chagall National Museum, the Foundation Maeght, the Fernand Leger National Museum, Vallauris and the Picasso Museum in Antibes and went to Lyon; then I went to Marseille, a port city, to see the cathedral on the hill.

 
I’ve been told to mind my wallet numerous times, so I carried my bag under my arm as a precaution. There were not many people around, yet someone stole my wallet from my bag while I was walking around the port.

It was an admirable epic skill, and I blushed with embarrassment.

I headed right back to Paris without stopping by the Mediterranean Sea. I couldn’t just go home as I had already made plans.

I canceled my hotel reservation and went to stay near the dormitories of Sorbonne university that I had once stayed at. The old lady that speaks good English has aged and her son greets me.

He warns me to be careful as there are more pick-pocketers from Romania in Paris since the requirement for a visa to cross the EU border has been abolished. Too bad I’ve already been robbed.

France is at higher latitudes and thus colder than Seoul; it was 7 degrees Celcius in the morning and 14-15 degrees Celcius in the afternoon. Everything including the food was under restriction, yet there were good things about my lodge in Paris.

I felt refreshed like a student and like studying, and was able to walk safely as it was in a good neighborhood in the middle of Paris. And above all, my lodging was right next to Jardin du Luxembourg.

It’s spelled the same as Luxemburg, the small country in Europe.
I sometimes wonder if a condition for a city to be an international city is to have a large-scale park for its citizens in the middle of the city. New York has Central Park which I had enjoyed for several years, and Washington D.C has a large national mall, and London has Hyde park, and Paris has this huge, beautiful park.

There are tall, well-bred trees, long and unique horse chestnut tree-lined street shaped like square slices of radish kimchi, good-looking trees planted inside big mustard-colored pots, a flock of ducks floating around a big pond, beautiful flowers of various pastel colors, statutes, museums, and a playground for children in Jardin du Luxembourg. The elderly are playing, throwing Pétanque, and a lot of people are sitting on steel chairs that suit the green background, reading and enjoying the sunshine.

I see students from Sorbonne University talking and discussing; they look very healthy and fresh, and I think of our young Koreans who will compete with them on the global stage.

The museum in the park is exhibiting portraits of Josephine, the first wife of Napoleon. I see a small stadium, so there may be a concert as well.
These great gardens make me thankful to governments for building gardens for their citizens and people from all over the world. I am also reminded that it is much better to enjoy the nature with company than to enjoy a huge park alone surrounded by walls.

After coming back from the US, I started taking walks around Sajik Park next to my house.

Since the garden of the hanok (a traditional Korean-style house) I had lived for a long time was cut back to make way for a road, I now take walks around Sajik Park more often.

But it is sad; when it comes to scale or contents, to tje discerning eye that looks after the park and its trees, Sajik Park certainly lags behind compared to the gardens of other cosmopolitan cities. Also, they are destroying old hanoks in Gwanghwamun Gate area which used to be linked by roof tiles and are building a new apartment complex. But on the other hand, I have rich memories of watching black and white films together with neighbors, and the 500-year-old zelkova which is gone now but which I used to touch whenever I went to school,and taking a walk with my beloved late father; so, Sajik Park is always a new place for me in my heart.

Walking down the well-designed Jardin du Luxembourg, I recalled memories from different places and times.

I guess that’s how it is with one’s hometown – even though they lack in something, they are ingrained in one’s heart.
 

The park must hold memories of lots of people

Though gone with the wind sometimes

The spirit of the memories

Seen with the eyes would still be there

If they are ingrained in one's heart