Holiday Weekend in Paris

It was an event-packed, sunny and almost-summery long weekend for the Pentecost holiday in Paris.

As the French Open kicked off at Roland Garros stadium on the outskirts of town, some two million curious visitors thronged the Champs Elysées to stroll through a huge, ephemeral, two-day garden park dubbed “Nature Capitale”–a literal Elysian field stretched out in front of the Arc de Triomphe. Created by landscape architect Gad Weil and the Young Farmers union to call attention to farmers hard hit by the financial crisis, the lush display was not a protest demonstration but a joyous celebration of French agriculture, including stands of forest trees and beds of more than 50 vegetal and floral plants–garlic, cabbage, wheat, rice tomatoes, linen and lavender, mustard, melon and corn, among others–along with cows of native French breeds, a black sow and her new litter, and a sextet of goats.

And on Sunday, on the big square in front of the Hôtel de Ville, Paris’s City Hall, a huge barbeque organized by the butchers of the Ile-de-France region served free grilled beef and lamb to all comers.