La Maison Fournaise

There's a lot happening in Paris at this time of year. It's because September is about the only time when half the population is not on holiday, and there is still a bit of strength left in the sunshine.

Today we went to a dance that was being held in the open air beside the River Seine at La Maison Fournaise, not far from where we live. La Maison Fournaise is a well known restaurant, part of which is converted into a gallery of Impressionist art. There is also a gallery of contemporary art just across the courtyard.

This building was the setting for Renoir's famous painting Le Déjeuner des Canotiers. A canotier was a straw-hatted Sunday boatsman of the type you see flexing his muscles in the painting. The setting is preserved much as it was at that time, apart from the new office block development just across the river...

My wife dressed herself and the children up like 19th-Century characters and they had a great time prancing around to Rhumbas, Tangos and Charlestones. That's them in the photo. I'm thinking they might be worth a few Euros the next time someone shoots a period drama in Paris...