Music and parks; music in parks

Successful big cities embrace large green spaces. I was thinking about this while we were in Singapore. Despite the heat, we walked around the Botanic Gardens, including a stroll through the most a-maz-ing orchid section. Recovery involved being horizontal in a shady spot on the impossibly green grass. With kd lang in my ears and gentle snores alongside, it was a great place for a spot of people-watching.

Paris is renowned for its parks, of course. Parisians live in apartments so seem to live much of their lives outdoors. If they're not travelling on the Metro (and most of Paris seems to use our line whenever we do), then they are in cars or on scooters,or cluttering up the footpaths, or conducting business deals at their local corner bar/cafe. Or they head off to their nearest bit of green. We've walked through some impressive, well-populated green spaces in the past few days:

• The Luxembourg Gardens - Paris's 2nd largest - where people religiously observe the Keep off the Grass signs and old men play boules. (Where ARE the old women?)

• The Promenade Plantee - Once a railway viaduct, this is a remarkable garden that stretches about 4km from the Opera Bastille all the way out to the boulevard Periphique. We walked a good stretch of this elevated pathway in the early evening, sharing the space with walkers, runners, nutters,  readers, eaters...and suspicious loiterers.

• The biggest green space: the Jardin des Tuileries, all 25 hectares of it. This is where Parisians go to have serious fun. The amusement park seemed to have all the things that make people scream loudly. Meanwhile, past the grand fountain and pool, we stumbled upon an outdoor stage being set up. We were back by 8pm that night to join the audience for a free concert of original works based on the remarkable images of a Korean photographer, Ahae. Digital photography has created a monster in this young man...Jill, beware! Over the course of two years, he took over one million photos...wait for it...from ONE window of his home. The first half of the concert was a mix of orchestral classics and new compositions based on his photography. All good. By half time, though,we were ready to go home for dinner. The second half was titled 'A Tone Poem in Twelve Parts'. Enough said.