Jardin des Tuileries

 The majority of my "recording" time goes to my blog, but I try to save at least a bit of time for written journaling as well - mostly it's just when I can steal a rare moment, but today's journaling time was set in place before I left the United States.  Part of my planning for Paris was to spend time relaxing in Le Jardin des Tuileries.  The reason for that is that this is where mathematician Mary Somerville came to relax when she was in Paris in 1817.

The family traveled here because Mary's health was poor - partly from having been working too hard in England.  Here are her own words:

"My health was never good at Chelsea [London], and as I had been working too hard, I became so ill, that change of air and scene were thought absolutely necessary for me. We went accordingly to Paris; partly, because it was near home, as Somerville could not remain long with us at a time, and, partly, because we thought it a good opportunity to give masters to the girls, which we could not afford to do in London. When we arrived, I was so weak, that I always remained in bed writing till one o'clock, and then, either went to sit in the Tuileries gardens, or else received visits"

I can see why she found the Tuileries Gardens relaxing and restorative.  The rest of this post will simply be pictures and a video.  Sadly I have no means of video editing, so it's rough - but hopefully make the place more alive anyway.

I wonder what Mary Somerville might make of it had she known that very nearly 200 years later someone else would come here to reflect and relax simply because she had done so once upon a time.