À Paris!

If you've always wanted to visit Paris in the springtime, or if you've ever been there, you must start reading Cynthia Nims' blog, Mon Appétit. Nims is a Seattle food writer, author and delightful, appreciative traveler who's spending a month living in Paris, a city she knows well. She's visiting old haunts, discovering new ones, and sharing it all on her blog and Twitter feed. You'll be missing a treat if you don't tune in!

Photo above by Nims with the following caption: "A cool bee house in the Jardin des Plantes, they called it a 'hotel de charme' (boutique hotel) for the bees." [Note the chestnut trees in bloom in the background.]

This Bee's Life

My friend Linda is in Paris looking after her daughter who is finishing her school finals there. (What a good mom!) In her spare time she's exploring the city and came across these beehives in the Luxembourg Gardens. The apiary school, called the Rucher du Luxembourg, was created by the Société Centrale d’Apiculture on the Senate estate in 1856, and it still holds classes and produces honey from its hives. It sells its bounty once a year at an annual autumn honey festival at the garden’s Orangerie or nursery.