In this posting we're back in Languedoc and it's this past autumn. I mentioned that y we'd be moving back and forth in time and place as I post blogs from our year of living in Europe. Don't let your head spin or you'll miss the latest, greatest, smallest circus to come to town!
It's definitely not Cirque du Soleil. But, come on, how long is it since you've seen a real traveling circus? How long since a real down-home super-duper traveling show was announced by posters and megaphones blaring from a truck driving back and forth through your town square ...that is, if your town happens to be in any one of several small villages in southern France?
Here’s the announcement poster that was pasted all over town
Tents were put up in a local green spot just beside the town post-office and a road out of town. It struck me afterward that this was a great location for a quick get-away, should the need arise. But at the time I thought only about the lion that must be living in the circus truck parked just a huff and puff of a walk away from my place. Did the Napoleonic code permit that sort of thing? Didn't matter. Of course I was going to the circus!
We went to the last show, figuring it was the grown-up thing to do, and let the kids go in first. We bought our tickets at the time of the show, stepped inside the blue tent and back in time. We sat in whichever of the empty folding chairs we liked among a throng of about 60 local adults and kids. Not a huge crowd; but not a huge tent either.
The circus had only a few tame animals. There was no lion, imagine!@Xzz! It seemed to be run by one rather handsome family (they resembled each other). So did the animals (resemble each other, I mean). The animal acts were big on ungulates, being headed by a dromedary, a camel, and a llama.
Here’s the juggler before he dropped a few:
And here are the acrobats and a balancing act. Sometimes, white sparkly smoke came up from the ground underneath the acrobats, adding to the suspense and mystery.
and here the girls doing their hoola-hoop act:
You gotta love it!
To COMMENT from the homepage: Click on Title of Post to get to its own page. Comment box appears below post. Subscribe for updates on art, travels, and adventures in creative life. You can also find me at my Facebook Page and Website for my art and news of upcoming shows/sales.
It's definitely not Cirque du Soleil. But, come on, how long is it since you've seen a real traveling circus? How long since a real down-home super-duper traveling show was announced by posters and megaphones blaring from a truck driving back and forth through your town square ...that is, if your town happens to be in any one of several small villages in southern France?
Here’s the announcement poster that was pasted all over town
Tents were put up in a local green spot just beside the town post-office and a road out of town. It struck me afterward that this was a great location for a quick get-away, should the need arise. But at the time I thought only about the lion that must be living in the circus truck parked just a huff and puff of a walk away from my place. Did the Napoleonic code permit that sort of thing? Didn't matter. Of course I was going to the circus!
We went to the last show, figuring it was the grown-up thing to do, and let the kids go in first. We bought our tickets at the time of the show, stepped inside the blue tent and back in time. We sat in whichever of the empty folding chairs we liked among a throng of about 60 local adults and kids. Not a huge crowd; but not a huge tent either.
The circus had only a few tame animals. There was no lion, imagine!@Xzz! It seemed to be run by one rather handsome family (they resembled each other). So did the animals (resemble each other, I mean). The animal acts were big on ungulates, being headed by a dromedary, a camel, and a llama.
The animals didn't do tricks so much as parade around for us to admire them. I was in the second row and could see the camel smiling. There were horses, too, among them the tiniest pony (I suppose it was) I'd ever seen. Then, after we were whipped into the proper show-froth frenzy, the human acts came on.
The boys were the acrobats and doubled as the clowns. The girls did a hoola-hoop act. The juggler looked like the uncle. He kept dropping his props, but we kept rooting for him. What this circus lacked in skill it made up for in lots of good-cheer!
Here’s the juggler before he dropped a few:
And here are the acrobats and a balancing act. Sometimes, white sparkly smoke came up from the ground underneath the acrobats, adding to the suspense and mystery.
and here the girls doing their hoola-hoop act:
You gotta love it!
To COMMENT from the homepage: Click on Title of Post to get to its own page. Comment box appears below post. Subscribe for updates on art, travels, and adventures in creative life. You can also find me at my Facebook Page and Website for my art and news of upcoming shows/sales.
Wow!! Sure wish entertainment like this still existed in my neck of the woods . . .
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