Les maneges de Paris

We've had quite a tour of the carousels (maneges) of Paris. Certain types of people (often diminutive) have a keen eye for them. The first carousel we saw was in the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Garden), near our hotel. It's the most low-end carousel I've ever seen. Basically it's like a big umbrella, with things hanging down from radially arranged rafters. The "things" are mostly horses, a giraffe and a camel, and also two coaches that each seat four kids. The whole thing rotates as a rigid body—no fancy up-and-down motion of the animals. In addition, the "floor" is just the dirt on the ground; the floor does not rotate with the carousel.

The seats on the carousel all have seatbelts. I was surprised at first, because European society does not seem to have a strong emphasis on safety, unlike the litigious obsession we have in the States. For example, construction projects here mingle without boundaries with pedestrians. Why bother with these seatbelts? Then it came to me: because the floor doesn't rotate with the carousel, if a kid falls off his seat he'll be trampled by wave after wave of horses.

A cool twist they had is that kids occupying the seats in the outer ring were offered wooden rods a bit over a foot long. Near the edge of the carousel there was a station that dangled rings. With each rotation, a kid tries to snag a ring by putting his rod through the ring. A skilled kid might get 15 rings in the course of a single ride. The kid who gets the most rings gets... well, nothing, except the satisfaction of a job well done.

I wondered: What would happen if a kid were to, say, take off her sneakers and mittens, unbuckle her seatbelt, and start to climb out of one of the coaches? Coincidentally, Amelia shared my interest in this question. Although I missed her investigation, the answer is the kid gets kicked off the ride! Fortunately, JoJo has a more sedate appreciation of the carousel.

At the other end of the carousel spectrum is the luxury model (complete with up-and-down motion and rotating floor), but with two stories! I'm not sure, but I think there may have also been bathrooms and bar service. We haven't ridden one of these yet—but not because JoJo hasn't asked.