As I’ve said before, I don’t really do cafés. I mean, I like them and all, but I don’t have a favorite where I spend my afternoons with café crème scribbling in a notebook. But I do have a favorite garden, the Jardins du Palais Royal, and one of my quintessential Parisian indulgences, when I have a rare free moment, is to recline in one of the garden’s metal lounge chairs on a sunny day, feet up on the edge of the fountain. All of the Paris parks have these chairs, some that are reclined, some with arms, some just simple chairs that you can move around to get the preferred sunny or shady spot. But Palais Royal’s gardens are surrounded by arcaded shopping galleries, not streets full of noisy, smelly traffic. Pure bliss.
And the window shopping isn’t bad. I particularly am fond of the Prince Jardinier boutique, so was disturbed to see they are temporarily closed after a fire. The online boutique is still open, though, and wouldn’t you know it, they are selling authentic Paris park chairs, rescued by the Prince Jardinier from "retirement" in the local dump, and given a good scrub and paint job.
No, they are not cheap; the reclining chair, my preferred, is €495. But where else can you get an authentic piece of Parisian history for so little? Until I can afford one of the little apartments above the shopping arcades with a view of the gardens, then a chair will do just fine…
