Plucky Survivors See Europe Day 29: Paris

The weather finally got itself sorted out and it was a lovely day, temperature wise.  I’m still struggling a bit with my various physical ailments and side effects of trying to cure them, so I only managed to get one thing accomplished but it was a doozy.

I had a quick bite at a baguette place near the hotel.  It was sustenance and that’s about it.

Then it was off to the Musee des Arts Forains, the carnival ride museum.  This had been high on my list of things to do in Paris but was closed due to the heat so I didn’t think I was going to get to see it.  They opened up one tour today, so I grabbed a ticket as quickly as I could despite the fact that the tour was in French. I didn’t understand a word the guy said, but they provided a printed guide in English that gave me enough information to go on.

The facility is in a charming neighborhood next to a little shopping complex called Village Bercy.  It had cafes and shops and a Five Guys, which are omnipresent here in Paris for some reason.

The museum was started by Jean Paul Farvand, an actor and antique dealer, who has been collecting fairground antiques for 40 years.  He tried to get a State sponsored museum put together but when that didn’t work, he said “screw it” and did it himself.

It’s located in a series of buildings 19^th century buildings that were used to store and sell wine.  According to legend, Louis XIV came to Village Bercy and heard a complaint from a local winegrower about the taxes that were levied on their wine sold in Paris, so the King decided that since Village Bercy was outside of Paris, it was exempt from taxes and thus a market was born.

The courtyard beckons with whimsy – the tail end of a carousel horse, chandeliers – look up to find the hidden Pink Panther in the trees.

The first building on the tour is the Le Salons Venitiens, designed to evoke Venice complete with a mini-Rialto bridge.  The centerpiece is a carousel, whose mechanicals were made in the 1990s, but the seats on it are from the late 1800s.  It was the first delightful surprise because our guide encourages us all to climb aboard and then set it in motion, twirling around to the merry music as the Venetian scenery passes by.

Afterward, a light and sound show illuminates the Rialto bridge and then you move into a second room with animatronic statues that come to life to sing opera.  It’s silly and not at all realistic but back in the 19^th century, things like this must have been a wonder.

The next building is the main museum, leading with a grand carnival organ from Belgium that plays music using perforated cards.

The next room contains carnival games and cutouts surrounding a grand carousel built around 1900.  And yes, you get to ride this, also!

The printed guide gave some interesting trivia.  Did you know that all carousel horses are built to be looking out in order to beckon riders?  How about that most European carousels go counter-clockwise while those in England go clockwise, so French horses (for instance) look to the right while English horses look to the left?  Or this… you can tell the difference between a French carousel horse and a German one by the tails and ears.  French horses have wooden tails and their ears appear to be up as if listening.  German horses, on the other hand, have horsehair tails and their ears are leaned forward as if the horse is in motion.  I don’t know why I found it so fascinating, but I did.

In the next room was a bicycle carousel.  Hop aboard and everyone starts pedaling, with a top speed of 40 miles per hour.  If it looks familiar, it might be because it was used in a scene in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.”  I opted out of this one because I was already a little woozy before I got there and didn’t need anymore spinning.

The final building holds Le Theatre du Merveillieux, with a flying elephant holding an intricate miniature scene, a “cabinet of curiosities” with more miniatures, and carnival style games.  A few people got try their hand at a spinning top game that is the predecessor of the pinball machine.  Then everyone got to play a horse racing game that is basically skee-ball to move the horses.  Roll the ball up the ramp and it falls into a hole that will advance the horse 1, 2, or 3 steps.  I didn’t win.

The final stop is the grand ballroom, and everyone is encouraged to dance.=

I say screw the Eiffel Tower, screw the Louvre, come here instead.  It’s two hours of pure childlike wonder and delight and I couldn’t get enough of it.  If I’m ever back in Paris I intend to do this again, only with the English language tour so I can get the jokes.  The printed guide says “don’t worry, they aren’t terribly funny,” but all the French speaking people were laughing so…

I came back to the hotel for some rest before heading out for dinner at a place called Hippopotamus.  I found out later that this is basically the French version of Outback or Lone Star – a giant chain with outlets all over the country.  I was lured by the steak fondue on the menu and it wasn’t fantastic, but it was very tasty so I was happy.

A small cup of strawberry sorbet finished off the evening.

Tomorrow, I get up early, do laundry, and then head to airport to fly to London where I will say “Pip pip” and “cheerio” to locals who I’m sure love it when Americans do that.