Please describe your perfect Luxembourg Gardens picnic--which day would you choose, what would you bring (including food, of course), where would you shop for you food, where in the parc would you lay your blanket? Any and all information will be appreciated...

oh, the memories! we were picnicing on a parc bench feeding the pidgeons with fare from a shop we found I couldn't remember where but we bought wine, goat cheese, olives, bread from poilane,
a paté, we were young and it wasn't the one I married.

Darn! I thought this was another Degas put-on! (see Perfect Paris)

That is one of my favorite Paris places!!

But I don't remember doing anything special in preparation. We grabbed chicken salad sandwiches on wheat bread from a bakery window & bought drinks in the park from a concession stand. We moved about... where the kids sailed the boats, the special botanical gardens, sat on the iron chairs near the mansion, etc.

Don't bother to bring a blanket you're not allowed to sit on the grass!

Suze is right- no blankets.

We got food from various shops on rue du Baci, and had our picnic at the edge of a pool & fountain in a shady alcove of the park. Perfect.

RE: cigalechanta

Your touching lament brought tears to my bloodshot eyes. How sad that the best ones often slip silently off into the misty twilight while we are away taking a leak.

You are not allowed to lay blankets or generally be on the lawn in most Paris public parks. YOu have to sit on the chairs or benches on the sides of the paths. Luxembourg Gardens also has an area with picnic tables near a kiosk that sells beverages and maybe snacks, but that area isn't that bucolic as it's under the trees and doesn't have any grass. You can enjoy sitting on benches around the fountains or something.

There are signs that tell you to stay off the grass. They are usually "pelouse interdite" or "pelouse au repos". There are a few parks in Paris where you are allowed on the grass -- I think Champ de Mars and Place des Vosges are two of the few.

A picnic in the Luxembourg is a ritual for my francophile father. It begins with a visit to the Rue de Buci, usually to buy fruit (my favorites are fresh figs and fraise de bois), wine, a baguette (the four de Pierre, I think is where we usually get bread), cheese (brie, reblochon, munster), charcuterie (rosette de lyon and a good pate de campagne), and finally dessert (Gerard Mulot on the Rue de Seine). We carry this bounty (don't forget a knife and a corkscrew) to the Medici Fountain, and enjoy our picnic on a bench next to the fountain.

It would be about 2 pm on a sunny spring day. A warm gentle breeze would stir the crisp leaves left over from the sudden retreat of winter.

Long shadows would catch our eye as they danced lightly over the warm earth below towering banks of pristine white clouds slowly adrift in an indigo sky.

We would be sitting in the shadow of a graceful sculpture near a small pond in sight of the moss-covered Fontaine Medicis.

The fruit trees would be ablaze with pink and white blooms and we would smile upon hearing the faint laughter of happy children at play in the distance.

My partner and I would be slightly tired from walking the Latin Quarter and visiting the Cluny and possess a healthy appetite from having just a café crème and almond croissant for breakfast.

We would have poked our heads in several small shops on the rue du Baci and agonized a bit before selecting just the right slices of warm spinach and ham quiche, creamy chicken salad, crisp garlic bread, fat ripe figs, olives, cheese, cherry and peach tarts, and a large bottle of Pineau des Charentes or Pinot Noir.

And then the tour groups would arrive to ruin it all for us!

and one would take a leak hitting your picnic basket!

Great post with plenty of good ideas.

How far away are the shops on rue de buci? Is that the best place to get picinic supplies?

The Parc Andre Citroen is a great park for on-grass traditional picnicking, a favorite with Parisians but less used by tourists. It's hard to "picnic" in the Luxembourg Gardens when you have to stay off the grass and just rely on the little chairs. You could have a *light* meal there easily, but for a true picnic, where you can spread out and relax, go elsewhere.