Bateaux Mouches

Mum came to visit last Wednesday. She hadn't been to Paris since she was in her early 20s, and we wanted to show her our local places, and also do some of the things she remembered doing before. On our first day we walked round the Jardin du Plantes and went to the mosque teahouse for mint tea and baclava, and watched people smoking shisha pipes. It really is a beautiful place, and I'm so glad to have lived nearby. I found myself thinking "oh I wish I'd spent more time here" and those feelings are coming thick and fast now. I'm pushing them out for our last few days.

One of the things Mum was keen to do was the Bateaux Mouches, which she remembered doing with her parents when she about 18. They leave every evening from Pont de l'Alma, opposite the Eiffel Tower, and you chose either the menu "Prestige" or "Excellence" - don't they both sound good? We had dressed as instructed: "formally, for everyone's pleasure", and I feel sure that we were giving pleasure left, right and centre! We ate three courses with wine and cheese while we cruised up and down the Seine from La Defense and the mini Statue of Liberty down past the Jardin du Plantes and back. We had much hilarity photographing ourselves avec the Tower, and also bought the photograph which the roving professional took of us, which Mum professed to like although really it makes us look like we are on day release. It was such a fun evening, and Mum said all was exactly as it had been the time she'd done it; perhaps if I come back to Paris in many years with a daughter in tow, I will get to take her.

Pleased with the menu "Prestige" - but what's that behind us?

Alors! Note Richard's look of wonder

Big fans

It was lovely to have Mum here, and I felt like I was feeling nostalgic almost on her behalf, for her memories. I know I'll have my own of Paris from living here, and I guess I'll know in time to come which things have made an impression, and which things I'll forget quickly. I never know until later on. One thing I know I'm glad of, art-wise, is that I've always liked French illustration, that style from the 50s and 60s that you see in old kid's books and on New Yorker covers. But before, it always seemed a bit cheating or pretentious to incorporate that style into my work. But NOW I can say, "Oh yes, the French influence you see there? It's from my year spent in Paris. Unavoidable picking these things up." See - all pretension avoided. Phew! And I will use the same explanation for my beret and thick French accent.

Coming soon: Wish you could have seen Richard's school's final show? Wish no longer!! My description will make you feel you HAD been there, so vivid and illuminating it will be! GASP at the dramatic monologues; LAUGH ALOUD at the clowns' antics; QUIVER WITH FEAR at the close proximity of... Philippe!