The crown jewel of the Paris city parks. This place is just wonderful. I wish we spent the better part of each day here, as it was a block from our apartment on Rue Vavin. Here is a picture of our daughter walking her baby doll (Baby Betty) into the park’s gated entrance).
The huge playground is open from 10am to 6:15pm each day and costs 2.50 Euro for kids and 1.50 for adults. It is worth every penny! There are plenty of seats inside and outside the iron fences to relax and watch your kids play or just relax and read a book. The very old fashioned caroussel is next to the playground and costs 1.40 Euro per ride.
There is something incredibely charming about this old thing – the floor does not move, the animals are suspended from the top of the caroussel only which is quite different and leads me to believe this is the oldest such device our girl has ridden on during our vacation. The horses and other animals (giraffe, elephant, etc) are so very old – all nicked up, worn, tattered, yet classy looking.
The kids on the oustide row of horses are provided with little sticks they hold in their right hands. As the carrousel spins the kids try to fish the stick through a device holding metal rings – this starts out easy but looks very challenging when at full speed. There is no prize for the “winner”, just something extra for the bigger kids to do while spinning around.
The playground has two distinct sections – one for ages 7 and up (dark green and brown in color) and one for those younger (the vibrant primary colored play equipment) with large sandbox.
On Wednesday afternoon (and weekends) there is a Marionette show in the park. We missed it as our girl took a late nap and slept through the 4pm start time (as did we!).
All the school kids have a half day on Wednesday so the park is packed and filled with youthful energy. It was neat to see our girl playing with the other kids (sometimes she gets a bit, um, uncomfortable around throngs of other children) – but in this park, she, like her daddy, was at ease.
There is so much more going on in the gardens than the stuff for young kids. Several bocce courts, tables for chess, tennis courts, benches and chairs for people watching, and a musuem to go along with trails for running, walking, biking, etc.
Jeff
OWTK – live in Paris!
https://www.owtk.com
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