The Magic of Paris Carousels

It is easy to fall in love with Paris...the food, museums, architecture, people....Paris is magical.

And the magic continues with her many carousels sprinkled through out the city!

Each one is special....

Love the bicycle style tire on the horses by Eiffel Tower....

Night lights make them even more special.

a second carousel near the Eiffel Tower...

A couple arrived for a pre wedding photo shoot...

Fabulous they are including play in their lives!

The hot air balloon is calling me to ride ...

"Carousel of Extinct and Endangered Animals"

in the Jardin des Plantes...

The tops are as interesting as the animals....

In Montmartre, the carousel is enclosed in glass...weather never a problem..

To be Cinderella?

Or a Viking in a Dragon ship?

Luxury?

Or a fast car?

A climb to the second level?

The oldest Carousel in Paris from 1879 at the Jardin du Luxembourg..

With the special  ring game..."Jeu de bagues".

The ring game goes back to the beginning of the Carousel....

In the 1100's Arabian and Turkish horsemen played a competitive game on horseback...

It was like a war and the Spanish crusaders called it "carosella".

The game later came to Europe and was called "carrousel" by the French.

A ring-spearing tournament was part of the game.

 A  man with his lance, rode his horse rapidly toward a small ring hanging from a tree limb by ribbon.

Aiming to spear the ring!

In France in the 1700s, they invented a way to train for the "art of ring-spearing".

"Carved horses and chariots suspended by chains from arms radiating from a centerpole"

And thus, the carousel was born! 

We are never too grown up to love a carousel....even if we are getting married!