The trampoline has a bounce trainer to go along with it.
The Jardin d'Acclimatation
Wonderland In Paris
By Richard Erickson
Paris Kiosque - September 1998 - Volume 5, Number 9
Copyright (c) 1998 Richard Erickson - used with permission
Because people often ask if children
are allowed in Paris and if they have to stand
around on street corners while their parents 'live it up'
in bars and cafés, I have been meaning to do
some coverage of them - of places for kids -
without going and doing the Luxembourg all over again. It
is a bad no-no to write 60-word sentences and I
will try not to do it again. Through some freak
of nature, weather was not too bad in the spring,
it was great for the World Cup, and it has
been utterly miserable ever since.
I figured there was no
point in doing any playground reporting if the photos were
going to show the kiddies in puddles. Week after week,
I have waited for playground weather in vain.
On Friday,
24. July, the weather was half-good so I hit the Jardin d'Acclimatation
for some photos. Lucky me.
Doubly lucky, because it
has been raining or worse ever since. In this week's
Café Metropole column, there is also a mention of a
show for kids called 'Picasso's Paintbox.'
Just inside the
entrance to the gardens, there are two museums. One is
called the 'Musée in Herbe' and
this is where the
Picasso show is, and the other is the 'Musée National
des Arts et Traditions Populaires.'
I am mentioning these two museums first,
even through I didn't visit them, because of the weather.
If it is too wet for the garden and the
playground, these are two perfectly good museums for kids.
The first thing to do in the park - for free! - is get to look fat. Great!
For adults, the often overlooked 'Musée National des Arts et
Traditions Populaires' is also worth a visit - I did
a feature on an Asterix show they had once, and
found out the museum's permanent collection is very interesting, especially
if you would like to see how ordinary people lived
in France a long time ago.
The Jardin d'Acclimatation is
a park just for kids. At its longest it is
just under 700 metres long, and at its widest it
is about 250 metres across; so it is not small.
It is located at the top end of the Bois
de Boulogne, next to Neuilly, but its address is in
Paris.
The history of the Jardin d'Acclimatation is harder to
come by. Napoléon III sold or gave the Bois de
Boulogne to Paris and the Baron Haussmann had his way
with it. But nobody wants to mention the Jardin d'Acclimatation.
However it is a very real place. Just inside the
Sablons entry, there is an open pavilion full of funny
mirrors, and opposite it there is a theatre. Next comes
an enchanted river, hidden within its own park. You can
take boat rides past water wheels; but I think the
boats are pulled along by an underwater cable.
On the
north side there is a carny area where there are
little wooden huts full of shooting galleries and throw the
darts at balloons booths. Opposite this there is an old-car
track, which runs
on guides in the roadway, so
there is no steering to do. For steering, there are
normal bumper cars - and there are a number of
rides.
From where I was, the birds were so tiny I don't know what they were.
These are mostly small
in scale and do not have - as many -
of the bright lights of the big travelling operations. There
are not many people around but some of the booth
operators tell me there are big crowds on the weekends
- if the weather is fine.
Other sources told
me they thought the prices are high, but these are
probably experienced theme-park visitors, who have come to expect a
certain amount of 'wow!' and gigantic for their money.
After
the spend-money attractions, there is a big cage full of
birds and this is followed by a little train hidden
in the trees. At the bear pit, the bear was
alive and walking around.
A groundsman was telling the kids
to keep off the truck-farm, but further on kids could
thoroughly explore the farm buildings. Kids came towards me riding
ponies, between the 'dome' and the 'dragon.' The guignol was
just beyond, followed by the 'Maison Enchantée' which I didn't
see because I found where the nannies hung out.
In
the middle of the area for teenies to play, there
is a big, shallow, wading
pool. It is so
shallow that the water doesn't reach its edges. If a
baby fell in it, you wouldn't get wet above your
ankles pulling it out. It looks like it could hold
about 500 kids.
The mysterious blobs on the pool bottom
are just mysterious blobs.
Around here there were some of
the usual playground things you see these days; the ones
that look like they were built by Ikea to be
kid-proof. These included a good collections of 'just' slides.
I
saw the mountain deer and the signs saying not to
feed them; so I didn't see the 'bowling' behind the
fake mountain. Just beyond this, there is an area for
bigger kids, the ones who like to climb on things
dreamed up by adults so kids will not learn to
climb trees.
The radio-controlled boats on another lake looked like
fun, even with the booms floating on the water to
keep the boats inside an area and away from the
ducks who chose to live there too.
Going this way
I missed the miniature golf and other unnamed 'attractions.' Scattered
between all of these items, there are a wide variety
of kiosks selling drinks and candy and there are some
café-type places as well.
If I noticed the circus tent,
I've forgotten it. There was another conical-roof structure that seemed
to have no purpose other than keeping off rain or
too much sun. Maybe it is a hideout for successful
rain-dancers.
There are a lot of trees around for
the sun, and there are some odd structures as well.
One tower looked like a vertical airport for pigeons, but
I've seen real pigeon towers and they didn't look quite
like this one. Maybe the Prussians built it as a
lookout post when they camped somewhere around here.
It is
a big park for little kids. Just walking in and
out of it will wear them out. For medium-sized kids,
there are more than enough attractions, without getting too close
to the ones that require money.
These can be held
in reserve as rewards or promised as bribes if you
are having a hard time with your little but dynamic
charges.
In order to make your money stretch a
bit, you can buy a 'carnet' good for 16 'attractions'
for 150 francs. As an adult, if you intend to
visit the park a lot, there is an annual entry
ticket for 350 francs.
Besides the Sablons entry, which is
about a 12-minute walk from the métro at Sablons, there
are three other entries on the Bois de Boulogne sides.
As a low-tech amusement park geared entirely for kids, the
Jardin d'Acclimatation seems to me - no expert on this
sort of park - to be a pretty good one.
There are a lot of different
attractions, and a lot
of them require or invite participation by the kids. From
their viewpoint, it might seem like paradise.
This is the
antique car barn, where the cars wait for 'hands-off' drivers.
Through trickery and lies, faked illnesses and invented 'work,' I
have managed to be able to avoid the newer high-tech
and high-hype amusement parks, so I can't compare this one
to those ones.
If you only know 'those' ones,
and you have little kids, and you are in Paris,
I will go out on a limb and give the
Jardin d'Acclimatation a recommendation.
I think if your kids have
been cooped up in hotel rooms and have been going
gaga in restaurants and cafés and generally complaining about all
the walking around you've been doing, then they will really
like this park.
You might too. I'm not sure if
you can go on all the rides though. I saw
what looked like some moms hanging around at loose ends
like they were waiting for their kids - kids whose
faces looked like they were in wonderland.
Richard Erickson, living in Paris for the last twenty years, has been putting
Paris online as long as anyone. More of his writings can be found in
Metropole Paris
where this article first appeared.
He can be contacted via
erickso@world-net.sct.fr.
Museum Passes