Le Jardin Botanique de Tours

In our endless search for green space and new places for Lucas to run, we decided to try the Tours Botanical Gardens. They were magnificant! This is one small corner of the gardens devoted to dahlias.
Doesn't this look like a great place to play tag?

It's about a 20 min. walk from our apartment. We walk everywhere here. It's just easier. It doesn't hurt that gas is $10.00 a gallon and destroying the planet. Why not use our own power to get us around? The kids are great ages for this because they can walk forever. We save the car for out-of-town excursions and big trips to the grocery store.

During our visit, the kids thought it would feel better to run through the grass with bare feet (public grass in France is often off-limits but not in this portion of the garden) so Steve ended up with all the shoes strapped to his backpack.

The kids were happy to find that it wasn't just flora at this park. There were a number of enclosures with various animals from flamingos and wallabies to farm animals and one very sad, lonely looking bear.

Ever since Steve and I were first married, we've lived in a house with a yard (aside from the camper in Alaska). Living on the 6th floor of an apartment building is all new. The kids expressed concern on arriving about finding natural places to play. We have not been disappointed. There are so many parks and gardens and we walk along the river nearly every day. The other day we brought paints down to the river and the kids painted while I curled up on a bench and read a book. I think I could get used to this!

I have to admit that I love the long walks with Steve and the fact that the kids can't yell at us for kissing in public. Hey, we're in France, everyone does it!