• St. John's Home
• Picture Pages Intro
• A poet visits
• St. John's Under Snow
• The Lord Mayor Visits
• Science Discovery Day
• Venice Art Trip
• Yr7 Normandy Trip
• Serre Chevalier Ski Trip
• Fireworks Evening
• Summer Term 1999
• Building Work II
• Pila Ski Trip
• Autumn Term Roundup
• Building Work I
• Night Under Canvas
• Summer Fun Day 1998
• Junior Sports Day
• 1998 U.S. Ski Trip
• Helicopter Visit
• A Cricket Match
• Easter Term Roundup
• First Match for the U8s
• Summer Concert
• Paris Art Trip
• Saracens Visit
• End of Year
• A hectic half a term
• 1997 U.S. Ski Trip

Having heard Anthony Slinn's excellent lecture on the Impressionists on the Thursday before Half Term, a lucky party of St. John's boys were in Paris by the Saturday viewing the original paintings and even visiting and sketching at Claude Monet's magnificent house and gardens at Giverny - as Neel Shukla can be seen doing below.

Giverny is about 40 miles out of Paris heading towards Rouen in the valley of the Seine. Here Monet developed a house and gardens, diverting a tributary of the Seine in the process, that has become world famous through his Water Lilies series of paintings. His Japanese bridge also features in his paintings from Giverny and here we see some of the St. John's party on that bridge. If you don't believe it is the same bridge click on the picture for convincing proof.

The River Seine, the Pont d'Iéna and the Eiffel Tower - taken through the windows of the coach returning from Giverny. The group packed a fair amount in to their two and a half days in Paris. They visited the Louvre, admired (and photographed) the glass pyramid and even managed a fleeting visit to the Mona Lisa. On the Monday morning they had a sightseeing tour that took in all the famous landmarks; and on the evening before the group decided to forgo the pleasures of bowling (well, you can do that in North Harrow) and instead took a bateau mouche tour of Paris by night on the Seine.
The sign on the Eiffel Tower, by the way, is telling us that there are only 797 days to go until the year 2000.

But of course, Paris isn't all wide boulevards, monuments and art galleries - it is also food. On the Saturday night they ate in at their hotel but on the Sunday night they went out to a bistro in the Latin Quarter. Here is Luke Pascoe getting stuck in to the soup course.

This was an excellent trip helped, of course, by the glorious autumnal weather. I bumped into the group briefly on their return on the Monday evening and it was clear that they had had a marvellous time - but I bet they were glad they had the rest of half term in which to recover.

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