luxembourg bahçeleri, paris

A few weeks ago, while on our trip back to the UK, I Eurostarred it under the Channel to Paris with my family for a couple of days. It has been a very long time since I was last there – France were just winning the World Cup – but as it is ten years this year since I met my wife down in the south of France, we decided we needed to finally go to Paris. My wife knows the city much better than I do, and so she found us a great place to stay in the 5th arrondissement, in the Latin Quarter. My four-year-old son loved it! He loved the Metro and the Eiffel Tower best, but one of the most fun places was the Luxembourg Gardens. After a morning of sightseeing and city buses, followed by a lunch at Quick (I love my Quick), we spent an afternoon in the park, eating ice cream and watching the little wooden boats on the pond, and while my son played at length with the Parisian kids in the massive playground there, I took twenty-five minutes to make a sketch of the Palais de Luxembourg itself. I wasn’t expecting to sketch much in Paris so this was a bonus! The Sun was shining, and it was a really happy day. But that wasn’t the best bit.

We really wanted to see the famous puppet theatre, and watch les petites marionnettes at the Theatre du Luxembourg. I have always loved puppets – I secretly want to be a puppeteer – and so we watched Les Trois Petits Cochons, hosted by the classic puppet Guignol. The ticket lady explained to us that the first four rows are four children only, so adults must sit further back. I didn’t think my son would dare go and sit with the other kids, but he bounded away, au revoir, and sat among the French children excitedly awaiting the show to begin. He has learnt a few words in French, but mostly wanted to tell everyone he had seen the Eiffel Tower. Most of the children there were his same age. I am not sure what I found more entertaining – the puppet show, or my son’s reactions to it. He loved it, was animated by every plot detail, even though he couldn’t understand the language he knew full well what was going on. At point he jumped up and turned around saying, “Daddy!! they said ‘ça va
bien’!”. When the Big Bad Wolf – le Vilain Loup – failed to blow down the brick house, he burst out laughing, pointing and yelling a Simpsons-esque “Ha-ha!” It was pure pantomime, and we loved every bit of it. I want to go back and see something else! 

tarafından Pete Scully