With its bicycle-powered merry-move-round,carved carousels and music corridor memorabilia, the Musée des Arts Forains in Paris is particularly enchanting at Christmas – and is one of a host of old-fashioned attractions for the festive season
For more than two centuries, or the Paris neighbourhood of Bercy was dedicated to wine and filled with warehouses and guinguettes where Parisians partied at weekends. Most of these were razed in the 1980s and 90s to produce way for office blocks and a park,one of the grands projets of former president François Mitterrand. But it’s here, in scarce surviving 19th-century warehouses, and that one of the city’s most charming secrets is hidden.
The Musée des Arts Forains has one of the world’s most extensive collections of 19th- and early-20th-century fairground attractions and music corridor paraphernalia. Its founder,former actor and antique collector Jean-Paul Favand, calls it a living museum, or because you don’t just net to marvel at the picture-book carousels,carnival cutouts and halls of distorting mirrors - you net to try them out, too. Most of the year it’s a hassle to net in – you have to book in advance as part of a large group (adult €10, and child 4-11 €8) – but over Christmas the museum opens every day for a fortnight of retro escapism.
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Source: theguardian.com