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Any Port in a Storm :: Compass Points :: Europe :: Paris :: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
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kerouac2
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Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Thread Started on Dec 24, 2010, 9:53pm »		[Quote]
The office closed early today, so I decided that it was time to see a rare Parisian site. The Musée des Arts Forains (The Fun Fair Museum) is rarely open to the general public. It opens to groups or "by reservation only" but you can't just walk up to it and visit. Except right now, for Christmas.

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It is located at Bercy, the old district of Parisian wine merchants, where there were rows and rows of warehouses, with rails running down the lanes for transportation of the barrels.

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The stony exterior tends to intrigue visitors even more. What is hidden behind these walls?

And suddenly you arrive at the entrance. I think I became a six year old again the moment I saw this.

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Pass through these doors to buy your ticket...

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(Is there more?)
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kerouac2
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #1 on Dec 24, 2010, 10:43pm »		[Quote]
I entered a completely different world in a different century. The afternoon became a timeless night in the past. Everything was dark yet luminous, very much dreamlike.

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There were old time carnival games in progress.

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In the next chamber, however, there was music combined with the hushed silence of a crowd.

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Objectively, there was absolutely nothing exceptional about this performance, but it was neverthess a magical moment of grace, particularly when you are not expecting it.

(more to see?)
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kerouac2
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #2 on Dec 24, 2010, 11:05pm »		[Quote]
I continued to explore this dark universe which would both enthrall children and frighten them at the same time.

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Horses were clearly a major obsession in the world of carnival entertainment. Horses were everywhere, on the ground, on the walls, on the ceiling.

[photobucket height=480 width=640]http://s450.photobucket.com/albums/qq228/kerouac2/Arts%20Forains/?action=view¤t=3f991136.pbw[/photobucket]
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kerouac2
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #3 on Dec 24, 2010, 11:16pm »		[Quote]
One of the "horse race" games had been transformed in to a café waiter race.

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I continued wandering....

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I evntually found myself in the "Salon vénitien" where a different performance was in progress.

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« Last Edit: Dec 24, 2010, 11:19pm by kerouac2 »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
kerouac2
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #4 on Dec 24, 2010, 11:27pm »		[Quote]
I ventured out into the courtyard for a few minutes. In spite of the daylight, it was not what I would call an ordinary daytime scene.

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kerouac2
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #5 on Dec 24, 2010, 11:51pm »		[Quote]
I visited a final section destined for the enjoyment of small children. I stilll think they were trying to scare them.

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There was an old bean bag throwing game that really wasn't all that old, but it made me realize how quickly political figures can seem to be from the ancient past.


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Do you know who all of them are?

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I walked past the brasserie, which was not doing business at that particular moment -- too early and too late simultaneously.

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Outside were steaming cauldrons of mulled wine. I don't even like mulled wine, but it woudn't have taken much to convince me, considering the meteorological conditions.

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People lived in such a fascinating world back then. They were interested in all sorts of things and places.

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I needed to run along. After all, it was Christmas eve! Time to go.

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You go through Bercy Village to get to the Cour Saint Emilion metro station. It is a shopping and restaurant area created in some of the other wine warehouses.

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The original warehouses weren't quite big enough for their needs, so they sort of, uh, added on a bit of construction on the back side of the buildings.

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The metro entrance on line 14 doesn't really look like a standard Paris metro entrance, but it gets the job done.

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Merry Christmas!
« Last Edit: Dec 25, 2010, 12:00am by kerouac2 »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
greyghost1
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Ah paris!



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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #6 on Dec 24, 2010, 11:52pm »		[Quote]
I visited a few years ago with reservations and became part of a tour in French that lasted almost 2 hours. it is absolutely great fun and riding those rides is awesome. In fact I won the waiters game with waiter #11! If I can post a few pics I will. But your pictures are awesome with the snowy background outside and your indoor pictures are just great in that very low light. And the holiday decorations are even better! Oh that was so much fun and so is your pictorial journey!
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greyghost1
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #7 on Dec 25, 2010, 12:26am »		[Quote]
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greyghost1
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Ah paris!



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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #8 on Dec 25, 2010, 12:33am »		[Quote]
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it worked so here are a few more
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On a ride with one of the French grandmothers in the group we joined.
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absolutely at my best...
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my favorite photo!
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Those waiters...
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I just won the waiter game...
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This is an absolutely wonderful ride but kids can't ride it cause they are too short.
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kerouac2
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #9 on Dec 25, 2010, 12:37am »		[Quote]
Wonderful! As you know, there are about 4 different photo cutouts to use in that Venetian area, but you used the same one that I took a picture of!

(I agree -- that carousel is hard work, since it runs entirely on the legwork of the riders and does not have a motor.)

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greyghost1
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Ah paris!



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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #10 on Dec 25, 2010, 12:39am »		[Quote]
Just a few more:
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Again thank you kerouac2! It was a great journey and Merry Christmas to all of you.
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bixaorellana
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #11 on Dec 25, 2010, 1:16am »		[Quote]
Oh my goodness! I saw GreyGhost's name on the main page, which made me happy (hi, hunny!), but it also alerted me to this thread that I did not see earlier.

That's it, Kerouac -- you have totally aced it on the magical, fun Christmas category. This is so delightful, I'm positively wriggling! Your photos are great. Thanks so much for going out into that cold courtyard -- those are my favorites of a fabulous bunch.

And GG, you really added to it. Looks like you happily turned into a six-year-old also. :D

Are there cards or something explaining the dates and venues of the various items, or were you all too enthralled to want to break the magic with silly old facts?

Just wonderful!
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greyghost1
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #12 on Dec 25, 2010, 1:23am »		[Quote]
Hi b... I don't know what Kerouac had in way of an escort but we were on a guided tour with Diane and the entire 2 hour tour was in French but I understood some of it.There is a website that describes much of the attractions. it has a English translation but the French one is MUCH better. website: http://www.pavillons-de-bercy.com/
Wasn't it great that Kerouac took those photos? WOW!
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #13 on Dec 25, 2010, 3:28am »		[Quote]
Yes, great, but two of yours are favorites, too -- the horse thing next to the piano, and the man's head. I forgot to ask .... that's a wax figure, right? At first I thought it was a real person.

Thanks for the link!
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #14 on Dec 25, 2010, 3:51am »		[Quote]
Those photos are amazing- thanks to both of you for sharing those. What a magical place. I feel like I've gotten Christmas early.
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greyghost1
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #15 on Dec 25, 2010, 6:06pm »		[Quote]
Hello b...Yes he is wax figure from the Grevens (sp) wax place in Paris-which is also a museum. One room is filled with them and they sing opera and all kinds of things. And yes they look very real. If you look at kerouac's second post picture number 3 is the same unicorn but it has colored lights on it. When we went there were no colored lights on things like that like there was when he went. That made it even more unusual.
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #16 on Dec 25, 2010, 7:26pm »		[Quote]
That's the Musée Grévin, greyghost1. :)

On the evening news, they showed that the Musée des Arts Forains had a special dinner for 200 homeless people last night, with all the same entertainment and attractions. The report was quite moving, because these people do not have much magic in their lives.
« Last Edit: Dec 25, 2010, 9:03pm by kerouac2 »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
greyghost1
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Ah paris!



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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #17 on Dec 25, 2010, 8:46pm »		[Quote]
Thanks kerouac...I knew I had it wrong.
And that is so great that they had a special dinner there...how cool is that for the 200 lucky ones.
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #18 on Dec 26, 2010, 12:54am »		[Quote]
Merry Christmas, Kerouac, and thank you. Magical!

Fun addendum, greyghost. Thanks.

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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #19 on Dec 26, 2010, 7:28pm »		[Quote]
Gosh, I love this board! Thank you to you both. That was very special for me and I will be sharing with my husband when he comes home tonight from work. Thoroughly enchanted.
Cheers,
Mich
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #20 on Jul 22, 2012, 7:29am »		[Quote]
This place looks so neat! I hope they open it to the public again this year. Did you find the special public dates on the http://www.arts-forains.com/ website or hear about it somewhere else? I think we are going to end up doing the holidays in Paris again so if they post the dates there I'll check the website when it gets a bit closer. Keeping my fingers crossed for Dec/Jan!

Kerouac thank you so much for spending the time to document your travels and interests. The folks who contribute on this forum allow us to travel through them when work and life keeps us grounded. And when we do get to travel it's great to have new points of interest and to be able to have decided in advance if they are actually interesting to us.

A couple of years ago I was asking my young daughter what things she would like to do one our next trip and she said that she wanted to go to the animal museum, the post card places, and go ice skating. The first two were based of your photo essays Grande Galerie de l'Evolution and Where I live in Paris.

We ended up going to the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution a couple weeks after your post and spent nearly half the day there including a separate dinosaur exhibit in the basement level that had skeletons on loan from museums around the world. Had a great time!

After a half day at Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, we walked across the Rue Riquet bridge and tried to see how many of those postcard buildings we could find. Surprisingly we did quite well and had a bit of fun doing it. We even found what we think is the window you took those pictures from. I now find myself looking for old pictures so I can do a "now and then" when I find something interesting.
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #21 on Jul 22, 2012, 8:01am »		[Quote]

Jul 22, 2012, 7:29am, 6lucky wrote:

Kerouac thank you so much for spending the time to document your travels and interests. The folks who contribute on this forum allow us to travel through them when work and life keeps us grounded. And when we do get to travel it's great to have new points of interest and to be able to have decided in advance if they are actually interesting to us.


I would like to second those sentiments - Kerouac has created many many interests for me, not only in Paris, but in France and other countries too!
At the moment I am lapping up the recent Avignon theatre report and am already thinking of a visit in 2013, combined with our usual Paris trip. :D
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #22 on Jul 22, 2012, 10:11am »		[Quote]
Thanks for your kind remarks.

Last Christmas, this place was only open to the public from 26 December to 2 January. I hope they have longer opening dates next Christmas!
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #23 on Jul 27, 2012, 5:38pm »		[Quote]
We're hoping to rendezvous there over Christmas with our daughter who's to be in the Hautes-Alpes. I hope they lay it on with a lavish and gaudy hand.
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #24 on Jul 27, 2012, 5:43pm »		[Quote]
I was hoping to return last year to invite the daughter of a close friend to discover it -- but she became seriously ill just before the date. I will be paying close attention to the dates for this year to try again.

Frankly, I think that it is a shame that it is a private place that is rented out for private events at Christmas. At other times of year, fine, let them rent it out, but the Christmas season is a time when it should be available to everybody. I just hope that it snows again.
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #25 on Jul 27, 2012, 6:33pm »		[Quote]
I hope the girl is doing better.
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ssander
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #26 on Aug 10, 2012, 9:50am »		[Quote]
K...

Just discovered this thread from 2010...incredible!!!

Thanks so much.

SS
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #27 on Oct 13, 2012, 6:28am »		[Quote]
update for 2012
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #28 on Oct 13, 2012, 5:28pm »		[Quote]
All right! Thanks, K.
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Re: Paris: a magical Christmas eve afternoon
« Reply #29 on Apr 22, 2013, 6:24pm »		[Quote]
I just discovered this thread as well and now hope that they will be open again this year 2013/2014 as we will be visiting at Christmas. One question I had regarding line 14 Metro - it says that it is accessible but from the photo I couldn't make out where the elevator would be for a wheelchair.
I know 14 is pretty much the only accessible line and I have researched the bus system already so I wanted to check. Merci !!!
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