Magic Roundabouts

Yesterday, before the rain came, we wandered in Civic, hoping to spend Miles' pocket-money. It's been a while since I walked through Garema Place or down City Walk and things have changed. Including the merry-go-round.

Canberra's carousel has been on City Walk since 1974, although it dates back to an earlier time, first appearing on St Kilda Pier in Melbourne in 1914. Yesterday, it was looking slightly grim and industrial, it's metal grates down on all but one side, it's paintwork looking faded. Perhaps it was just reflecting the gray of the sky. But it still has the power to take me back to my 16-year-old  self, experiencing the glory of increasing independence without the burden of adult responsibility. Summer evenings riding the carousel with friends, before going to a movie at the Electric Shadows Cinema. So sophisticated!

And now, it also takes me back to Paris - remember? Miles and I were going to find every merry-go-round in the city. If you google 'Paris carousels', you'll be offered a number of articles, many claiming Paris is the 'City of Carousels'. One of the best articles I've read is by Susan Hack, an American writer living in Paris who has discovered many of the city's carousels in the company of her daughter, Sophie.

I don't think Miles, Jim and I found all of them but we managed to find a few. Not surprisingly, our first Parisian merry-go-round was on the edge of the Seine, in the shadow of the Tour Eiffel. It was a dazzling two-storey carousel that Miles was excited to ride and I was excited to photograph.

Our first carousel, in the shadow of the Tour Eiffel

This was the first time in both our lives that we'd seen a two-storey carousel but they are, if not commonplace, then not unusual in Paris. At Christmas, one appeared with the ice-skating rink in front of Hotel de Ville.

The Christmas carousel at Hotel de Ville

We discovered others at the foot of the stairs to Sacre Couer, near the funicular that can save you climbing all those steps. And across the Iena Bridge, opposite the Tour Eiffel's carousel, is another two-storey beauty, not far from Trocadero.

The carousel near the funicular, Montmartre 

Ponte d'Iena's carousel dressed for Christmas

Not all the carousels of Paris are elaborately decorated fantasies. Some are simpler, 'flying horse' models, where the horses hang from the roof of the merry-go-round and spin out as the ride speeds up. On some of these, children sitting on the outer rim of horses are given sticks with which they try to collect hoops, harking back to medieval jousting. This was the kind of merry-go-round we discovered in Jardins du Luxembourg and near the Peripherique behind the old and secondhand book market at Porte de Vanves.

The merry-go-round at Jardins du Luxembourg

The most fantastical carousels we discovered, however, weren't in Paris. An hour from the city, almost in a world of it's own, is Paris Disneyland, with it's Disney perfect Carousel du Lancelot. The carousel, which sits before you as you walk out of Sleeping Beauty's castle, is a Disney cartoon come to life. And if you have to queue for your ride, that's a small inconvenience.

Disney's Carousel du Lancelot

But just when we were becoming blase about merry-go-rounds and perhaps a little tired of their saccharine sweetness, Brussels offered the perfect antidote. A carousel so bizarre, so grotesque, so post-apocalyptic, it looked like it had stepped out of the pages of a Jules Verne novel or Mad Max. A Steampunk Carousel full of flying horses, cockroaches, iguanas, and flying cars. A carousel that might terrify small children but was perfect for a slightly jaded 8-year-old on the first night of the new year.

The Steampunk Carousel, Brussels, New Year's Day  2013

Two Days in Paris

We have spent our first two days in Paris walking, trying to imprint the city on our brains through our feet. It's working. I think. Although when we come back in November, we will be in a completely different part of the city and may well have to begin again.

Yesterday, we walked without direction in the streets around our hotel. Hotel Aida Opera is a few streets back from Boulevard Montmartre with it's crazy traffic and chain stores. It is, though, home to two of Paris' oldest arcades, Passages Jouffroy and Passages des Panoramas (the oldest arcade in Paris). Passages Jouffroy is a delight, home to a number of antiquarian bookshops and a shop of minatures, offering everything a dollshouse needs, Tintin and Asterix figurines and merchandise that made Miles' heart sing. It is on the list for return visits, but after we've been to the Herge Museum in Brussels.

Passages Jouffroy

Today, we set out from the hotel to follow the tourist trail and discovered an uncanny ability to approach buildings from their rear. Perhaps we are backdoor people at heart. Palais Brongniart - back door. Bibliotheque Nationale - back door. Palais Royal and its gardens - back door. Comedie Francaise - back door. Even the Louvre - back door.


The rear of the Bibliotheque Nationale



And the rear of the Palais Royal - with a plague marking Colette's residence.

Miles' one request for the day was to visit the Eiffel Tower and so we did, hopping on a Batobus for a loop around the Seine. Luckily for Jim and I, the top floor of the tower was closed and, with showers looming, we convinced Miles to wait to climb the tower on a day when the views might be better. Miles is determined to get me to the top ... and I am equally determined to go no higher than the second viewing platform, which will be quite high enough. But we began our quest to ride all the carousels in Paris, discovering our first at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

The carousel at the Eiffel Tower - a magnificent two-storey merry-go-round.

I also succeeded in falling for a gypsy scam - about five minutes after warning Jim to be on the lookout for pickpockets. I'm an idiot, what can I say? But my tip for the day - when a gypsy asks you if you speak English, say 'non'. Otherwise you might find yourself donating a few euros to save deaf and mute children living ... somewhere.