Tuesday we took Penelope to the Bois de Boulogne, and specifically, its Jardin d'Acclimatation. The Bois de Boulogne is a long story--it is Paris' 2nd largest public park (Vincennes is larger), and thus one of the world's great urban parks--we thought we might take a lot of it in on a days's visit, but concluded rather quickly it would take more like a week. Next time. The Jardin d'Acclimatation started as a zoo, and even included a human zoo (imagine...), but, in the last century, it has been primarily a children's pleasure park. It is immense, larger than any I have seen that are strictly for children, and includes features and attractions too numerous to mention. We spent the better part of a day and barely scratched the surface.
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The Bois de Boulogne is nestled between western Paris and
La Defense, just to the north; Camping Paris Ouest is located
in the the Bois de Boulogne, and we have camped there many,
many times, from 1979 to 2009; but never spent any time
looking at the park itself; another visit... |
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| A huge, diverse, children's place |
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Just inside, the misting from the ground gets
P's attention; later it would be a major struggle
getting her out of them and drying her off |
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It's not Disneyworld, but then you're never very far from you
know where |
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There are many, many, many rides, all for
children, but mostly for children over one
meter in height, or more; and pricey, too |
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We explored the place for an hour or so--mostly the rides--
then had another picnic lunch; and then P again burst into
song... |
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| A rhinoceros ride settled her down |
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| It was to be another day of a very late nap |
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| Feral, but kid-savvy peacocks roam the place |
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In the Franco-Prussian War, after the
Emperor was captured and surrendered at the
Battle of Sedan, Paris held out and underwent
a brutal siege; for months pigeons from this
tower were its only means of communication
with the outside world (there was the
occasional, very risky, hot-air balloon, too);
after the city's surrender, Prussian troops
quartered in the Bois de Boulogne |
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Soon to open, the Louis Vitton Foundation at the Bois de
Boulogne; at first, I thought it was a parody of Frank Ghery's
magnificent Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao; no, it's no
parody; designed by Gehry himself; will be magnificent, too |
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| Everything literally under the shadow of La Defense |
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| Among the newer rides |
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Penelope's favorite, undoubtedly, was the huge misting/
spraying field--a soft compound floor with jets spraying mist
and sprinkling all over, a basketball court and a half; nice
for a warm day |
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But she was also pretty captivated by the Guignol puppet
theater next door; the Guignol puppet tradition goes back
to the 18th century; the place was packed |
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Enthralled; despite (presumably) not understanding a word
of it; it relies heavily on audience participation, and she could
thus get into the spirit of the thing via the responses of the
other children...or maybe she has just learned a lot of French
already |
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Thus; traditional Guignol has a working-class and moralistic
orientation...fairness, etc. |
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| More characters appear |
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The villain, who explains his nefarious intentions in detail to
the audience...eliciting boos and other disapprovals |
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| Smack! The villain gets his due |
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After morality plays, a good trampoline session is always in
order |
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| We eschewed the camel rides |
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Opting instead for a couple of the kiddie rides for which P
was tall enough...here, of course, the train |
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And here, wisely, the taxi (an Uber?), as a passenger...
"faster, Rudolfo, faster!"...although she and the driver did
get into a disagreement about who could blow the horn;
all-in-all, it was a pretty great day, although exhausting
for both child and grand-parents |
