Destination Set Go: Children

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Theatre de Guignol

I was looking for something that might interest the kids a little bit more than museums or window shopping, and came upon a series of puppet theaters that are scattered across Paris. They are all patterned after the tradition of Laurent Mourguet, who created the original Guignol character, which the theatres are now named after. Mourguet began his adult life as a silk weaver and trader, but that profession dried up and he explored the field of dentistry - which during the late 1700's consisted mainly of pulling teeth and selling drugs to kill the pain afterward. To attract customers to his booth, he decided to create a hand puppet and put on mini-performances. Hand puppets were a new invention as most puppet shows involved the traditional marionettes controlled by strings.

Here in Paris, the shows are advertised as 'marionette' shows, so I was a bit disappointed when we arrived and the performers used hand puppets. I guess I should have done a bit more research first. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the show, which lasted about 30 minutes. Even though the children don't understand much French at all, they still understood most of the plot and had a great time.

Theatre de Guignol in the Champs Elysees

CJ having fun

The performance is beginning

Asari and Jacob enjoying the show

Theatre de Guignol in the Jardin du Luxembourg

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Streets of Paris

The dichotomy of Parisians and their city is mind-boggling to me as an outsider at times. The fashions, food and architecture are at once fabulous and innovative while drawing from the classic sensibilities of the past. That being said, the streets themselves are littered with spittle, phlegm and dog feces. They can be pretty revolting at times. Oh, how do mauve suede Louboutin's survive the minefields that they have to walk through daily? Maybe a few more months here and I will have the riddle solved.