The French Journal

French theme parks: Pro and con

There are those of us who stay away from theme parks in the USA (usually).  And when it comes to French vacations, time is so precious that such a visit does not have any chance to make our lists. But if you're neutral on the matter,The Times (London), offers some opposing views.

First, a trip to space, at the Cité de l'Espace in Toulouse, is presented as an entertaining experience, one that's not "dumbed-down." Its theme is becoming an astronaut, so there are training sessions, tests, simulations, and an IMAX film about a space station. Overview: "For a fraction of the price (of a real visit) and a 90-minute flight from London to Toulouse on a conventional aircraft, you can enjoy all the delights of the solar system, weightlessness and even the Mir space station. And you can take your children."

On the other hand, the venerable Charles Bremner assaults Disneyland Paris and Parc Asterix, where "you pay a fortune to queue for hours with thousands of tourists eating chips and ice-cream to experience thrills that last sometimes no more than a minute."

One difference between the two parks the visitors at Disney are mostly British, those at Asterix are French. In the end, he finds Parc Asterix more bearable, but we're measuring degrees of misery.

Who is Guignol?

A familiar scene from movies about France: children gathered in front of a puppet show, usually in the Luxembourg Gardens. This week's Boston Globe tells all about Guignol, the puppet clown, who is the star of these productions, and who is celebrating his 200th birthday. Guignol is the creation of a silk-worker in Lyon, Laurent Mourguet, who used to extract teeth and used the shows to distract his clients. His legacy creation lives on, anarchic and irreverent; along the way, he may even lead his audience to sing a song or two.

The Globe feature is part of a bigger sequence about Paris and kids; while obviously of interest to travelers, there's more about native Parisian children than is usual for this type of story. Also, the satiric puppet show, The Guignols, owes some of its heritage to Guignol, but take care to note the differences. At the head of this post is a three minute documentary about one of Guignol theaters in the Buttes Chaumont (not directly related to The Globe article) which allows you to sample (and to smile).