Jardin des Plantes — Paris
Paris is a city with a lot of open green spaces and we're sure that they're excellent in the warmer months... However when we visited the grass was covered with snow and there were strict signs to ward us off the lawns in order to give the seed a chance to grow. No matter for us as we already had our eye on the indoor gardens... as per usual.
Jardin des Plantes is situated almost in the very centre of Paris and one of the most interesting that we've seen architecturally.
The strong Art Deco shape of the main glasshouse is quite distinctive and is painted in an olive green hue, echoed on the inside with a more vibrant green tone in the foliage. From a distance we thought that the pillars were made of marble but on closer inspection they appear to be huge chunks of glass that show hints of pink and purple when viewed at a certain angle.
We particularly loved (as ever) the overall greenness of the building and it's contents; the many shapes of the leaves blended together with the structure beyond and seemed to form new lines and negative space became all the more important.
As well as the Art Deco tropical house there is also a Mexican and Australian hothouse which plays host to plants from all over the world.
Visit the Jardin des Plantes website for opening times and prices.