3-046-994 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Parisians at Sceaux: dining in a tree, 1872. Unusual restaurant in France. '...concerning the little town of Sceaux, which is eight miles south of Paris, the guide-book [entitled " Paris, and Excursions from Paris," by C. B. Black], tells one how to get there by the railway in half an hour. It further testifies that Sceaux is much frequented by the Parisians on Sundays and holidays. What remains of the old Castle of Sceaux has been converted into a restaurant, and the grounds into gardens for balls and other amusements. We learn, moreover, that large quantities of strawberries are cultivated there. All this seems very promising for a summer day's excursion; and when the opportunity is also granted of banqueting in a rare fantastic arbour, which has been constructed aloft, betwixt the spreading boughs of a mighty chestnut-tree, the resort of pleasure-parties to such a place as Sceaux is readily accounted for by its special attractions. The Illustration, supplied by a sketch from the pencil of our own Artist, presents a lively scene of free social enjoyment'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.