Paris ~ Les Épesses ~ Angers
Sunday Sculpture
Time to get back to the blog. We are well behind, which is a sign of the amount of fun being had, as this blog entry will make clear.
Sunday was a make-up workshop day at Simon’s sculpture class, and his teacher kindly agreed to let Charles join for a couple of hours, which he was delighted to do, and quickly set about making a javelin man out of wire frame and clay.
Study of concentration in his corner, and quickly charming the regular sculpture class ladies.
Meanwhile, Simon’s own culture slowly coming along, with the first figures now precariously plastered in place…
After a busy morning of sculpting, time for Sunday lunch on the square for Charles and Simon.
Only the healthiest of food on the menu of course…
All around Paris
It was a busy week around Paris in between school time.
Aisling was out exploring the streets with Niamh, who came up with a novel way to turn her scooter into a convertible with a hard top in the rain.
Just shove the umbrella down the back of the raincoat and you’re good to go!
We tried a new crêpes restaurant which was quickly declared a success, and checked out the amazing chocolate creations in the window of Patrick Roger:
We marvelled at the beautiful stonework on the Haussmann era buildings, this one with snaking Gaudi-like decorations.
Niamh also spotted the handy device in action which they use to clean the facades. Simon could use one of those for his complexion…
Aisling worked on her balloon art skills, Charles got a haircut (and his first hair wash by a hairdresser), and there were fun times on the metro:
As always we fired into the champ de mars for some playtime … leading to the inevitable crash out at the end of a long day!
Niamh and Simon even snuck in an extra lunch at the café des abattoirs when no one was looking (or at least, they were at school)…
We were reminded that although we’d observed almost no petty crime in Paris, which overall has felt like a very safe city to live in, it’s not immune to it, as this motorcycle outside our front door one morning showed, having been broken down, presumably for spare parts.
Dinner out
This week was also a rare event for Niamh and Simon – dinner out!
We have managed many lunches, but took a while to get organised with babysitters for evening outings.
This week was an exception however, and we were up and out.
Time for an early evening stroll across the champ de mars for dinner at Mariette, with Spanish-influenced French food just across the park in the 7th arrondissement.
A beautiful evening and a lovely meal – and just good to be out!
Puy du Fou
Friday afternoon was another dash from school to the train station, as we were off to … Puy du Fou!
Never heard of it? You’re not alone, but you might do well to learn more about it. Puy du Fou is one of the premier theme parks in the world, and doesn’t offer a single ride.
Instead, it is a sprawling park where a variety of shows take place – mostly in open air – recreating times past, from Romans to Vikings to the Three Musketeers.
Something of a pain to get to, you take the train several hours west of Paris, then you drive for an hour and a half. This is truly a destination spot, and once there it’s easy to see why.
We stayed in the Iles de Clovis thatched huts (you can choose from a variety of themed accommodation), which was great fun and set the scene perfectly for our visit.
Sitting on stilts above the lake, you sleep a little Bora-Bora style with fish swimming underneath your pillow…
Meals are buffets in a themed restaurant and wait staff in costume, to add to the fun 🙂
The Birds
Saturday and it was off into the park! Each day has a different sequence of shows you can choose between and navigate across the park, so for a short stay a bit of planning is essential.
We started our day with a show we knew little about, but which turned out to be one of the highlights of our entire trip so far – the birds!!
Wow, the birds!
What an extraordinary show. A team of falconers with birds of prey of all shapes and sizes. As with all the shows, the performers narrated the show, talking about the history of the location and the linkages to birds of prey down the centuries.
The narration is in French, but you can hear an English translation through the park’s app – they are very organised!
There were knights with hawks riding on the back of their horses, and snake-stomping Secretary birds from South Africa vigorously stomping the life out of rubber snakes…
The falconers were all around the stands with the birds sweeping up the face of the crowd between them under bright blue skies.
Owls, hawks, eagles, sea birds, all swooping right overhead…
To showcase the birds’ amazing ability to hunt from great heights, they launched a balloon high, high, above the stands … full of birds!
Periodically a hawk or falcon would be released and plummet at extraordinary speed towards the ground and grab hold of a dummy bait mocked-up like a bird they would hunt.
Amazing!
Then the highlight of the show was the “ballet of the birds” at the end when all the birds were released together and swirled around and around the stands in a mesmerising choreography…
An unforgettable experience to start our day at Puy du Fou – and one that Charles quickly declared a highlight of our trip so far.
The Vikings
With barely time to catch our breath from the birds, it was off to the Vikings!
We sat and watched as a recreated peaceful 11th century village on the banks of the Seine was invaded by a marauding group of Vikings…
After a few skirmishes, the main event was a Viking ship that surfaced from under the river, complete with (very good at holding their breath) crew members already aboard!
A couple of friends from the bird show stopped by to check out the action:
… of which there was soon plenty, with sword fighting, tower scaling, town pillaging and explosions of various sorts all over the place. Glad we live out of reach of the Vikings these days!
The Knights of the Round Table
Set around the same time period, we then went to watch the knights of the round table go through various trials, starting with extracting the sword from the stone amid a flow of water and fire…
No sooner did they have the sword than there was quite a bit of squabbling and a fight that broke the sword in two.
Luckily, the lady of the lake (sporting a mermaid tail no less) was on hand to supply a replacement…
Reunited the knights set sail but were more focused on gambling than sailing, leading to the ship nearly being lost, and ultimately a renewed commitment to the cause.
At which point … out of the lake comes the round table itself.
And then what else walks up right out of the bottom of the lake? A horse and rider of course! Impressive show.
The Coliseum
At this point you are probably wondering whether Puy du Fou has a full sized Roman coliseum.
Of course Puy du Fou has a full sized Roman coliseum!
We felt truly transported back a further thousand years as we made our way slowly with the crowds of thousands towards the arena, wondering what would be in store. We had a feeling it might involve Christians (or at least Gauls) and lions…
The coliseum at Puy du Fou is the real deal. Quickly pronounced by Charles his equal favourite along with the birds.
We were designated into two halves in the crowd: Gauls and Romans.
We fell in the side of the Gauls, and cheered on the plucky underdogs throughout the show as the Roman consul called the shots on the other side of the arena to our loud boos.
There was an impressive parade of animals and carriages, including this huge flock of geese being herded along:
At the appointed hour the Roman consul gave the signal and magically a red cloth roof was pulled over the stands, framing the arena and giving a bit of relief from the strong sun.
Easy to picture how impressive this would have been in roman times. It was impressive enough in 2018!
We had real chariot races (of course), with dramatic falls and chariots coming apart at strategic moments.
To Aisling’s delight the white team won.
There were Gallic prisoners paraded through the stadium, and we all voted loudly for clemency – here is Charles giving his enthusiastic thumbs up.
Sadly the consul was not very inclined and there were more trials to come for the unlucky prisoners 🙁
By this stage you are probably wondering whether these trials involved being attacked by an albino lion.
Of course they did.
And did we mention the enormous tiger and a small pride of lionesses also facing up to the defenceless gaul leader (lady on the right)…
Somehow the Gauls prevailed in the end, courtesy of one of the Roman generals falling for the Gallic leader and turning on his compatriots.
A fantastic spectacle throughout – extraordinary that they put this on multiple times a day, and a wonderful way for the kids to get a sense of history outside of books and Internet.
La Lance
Were we finished? We were not. We hadn’t even seen a single jousting tournament or any trick horse riding yet.
Quickly remedied!
This corner of the park focused on the time of Joan of Arc, as she left her town in the hands of Marguerite who was to defend it against the advancing English. Bird of prey balloon visible in the distance!
As advertised, there was jousting by knights and trick riding aplenty:
After many battles and disappearing walls, Joan of Arc returns and helps Marguerite to triumph over the English amidst many explosions and realistic fighting…
Around Puy du Fou
And there was even more, including the impressive indoor Three Musketeers show with sword fights galore and trick riding on a massive water-inundated stage (but no photos allowed).
Beyond the shows, there was also plenty to explore around the park, including recreated towns from the year 1000 onwards.
We watched a stone sculptor at his trade, as well as a blacksmith in his workshop with a large set of bellows and a fine anvil for hammering out new swords…
Aisling admired the mechanical singing owls…
We saw the birds of prey pouncing from their balloon in the sky from all around the park…
… we wandered through the mazes and took tactical ice cream breaks …
And at the end of a long day, we relaxed by the lake to watch a fountain show set to music in the late afternoon light:
Fair to say we extracted full value from our day out in Puy du Fou!
We could easily have spent three days there. What an amazing concept and experience. Without doubt a highlight of our trip.
Dinner in Angers
Headed back to Angers with tired kids that evening as the park was sold out for accommodation on the Saturday night.
Quick dinner was called for before collapsing into bed to rest up for more adventures to come on Sunday…