French ducks apparently say 'coin, coin' and sheep here say 'maa' rather than 'baa'. That was one of the fascinating topics of discussion at my last French class. The teacher, together with Israeli Einat and Greek Vasso laughed at our 'cock-a-doodle-doo'. Apparently, all cockerals in the non-English-speaking world say 'coo-coo-reekoo'! Fascinating. We took a trip down to le Parc de Bercy last week, which is close to Paul's university. Max was a bit too keen to grab one of the ducks:
Steve Irwin lives on - Max struggles to get closer to the ducks!
And he's off! Note how the ducks are beginning to panic.
Where's the plum sauce for my canard?
Speaking of duck, I'd a lovely meal (with duck!) last week when Kate O'Sullivan was over with her flatmate, Nina and friend Torie. It was brilliant to catch up with Kate as I hadn't seen her since last June!
Kate, Nina and Torie in the Nord-Sud Restaurant in Montmartre
Torie, Mag and Kate - with snails!
The weather has been pretty poor this week - wet and quite cool for this time of year. We're fortunate to be very close to the park though, so we can take Max outside when the sun comes out. There are also fantastic free indoor playcentres here which I go to when it's raining. They're like creches as they're staffed, but you can't leave; a bit like a council-run parent and toddler group. I'm hoping that they'll help with Max's transition to nursery when we get back, although I've now found out that there's no space for him until November!
I was gutted to have missed out on Jenna's hen night last night which sounded like a great laugh. To console myself, I invited some of the neighbours round for a few drinks and a laugh at Eurovision. Today we went to Sophia's Baptism - Sophia's the daughter of my Australian friend, Olivia. The Christening was in St Joseph's - the English-speaking church close to the Arc de Triomphe. We then went back to Olivia and Robert's apartment for champagne and cakes and had a good laugh with her Aussie parents and other friends. Sophia's a wee cracker - a really happy, chubby baby:
Sophia Matilde Phoebe Doolittle - what a great name!
We arrived home this evening just in time to catch Neil's samba band playing on the canalside at the end of our street. Again, I've a video which I'll try to upload but here's a pic of them in action - they make a great sound and have loads of energy. It sounds a bit like the Paul Simon music that Paul loves and really suits the sunny weather.
Neil (far left) and his dancing drumming band.
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