Special fun in Paris until mid August.
 

Yesterday we went to the Grand Palais in Paris for the third day of a special exposition that will continue to the middle of next month. It is called something like "Grand Spectacle --Great Machines". Although the hosts only speak in French, we spent a couple hours laughing hysterically at such elaborate machines as the one that you crank to dig a spatula into Nutella, then continue to crank as it spreads it on bread, then rolls it down a shoot through a little red curtain that opens on cue and presents it to the waiting guest. There are giant machines that spin a musician inside a huge wheel to play a set of drums, machines that are worked by chickens, and many more. The highlight is a giant catapult that several times a day they rig and cut the rope with an axe to catapult a piano through the air to smash to bits on the concrete floor some 25 to 35 feet away. For 5 euros, I guaranted that anyone who visits this exposition will never ever say the French have no sense of humor.

Is this happening every day? I can't find any info on the net but might want to try and stop by this afternoon? Please, more info - and thanks!

John

My hubby and I were laughing about this! In English (http://www.quartierdete.com/pdf/PQE_...am_english.pdf) or in French (http://www.quartierdete.com/).

Thanks for the info, we're going to try and get there wednesday!

It is closed on Mondays. We only knew about it because we saw a movie and they had a trailer, showing the piano catapult.

Neo!! Hello, you are sorely missed!
Cannot wait to hear all the details of your TripS!

Keep Crankin! lol
Scarlett

How's the apartment in Paris? Anxious to read your report!

Sounds like a lot of fun--and a great thing to do for anyone traveling with children this summer.

Thank you for sharing this info, Neopolitan - Too bad we're going to miss this as we are arriving on the 3rd week of August - looks like a lot of fun...how is the weather like there right now?

Thanks again for this tip, we went to the expo the other night and enjoyed ourselves a lot!!! Amazing to get travel recommendations while on vacation!

How can I go on vacation and miss out on great information like this??!! :-d

We can't wait to go with our kids in a couple of weeks - merci for the tip!

Kwren, make SURE your kids don't miss the demonstraations of the snow machine and giant water cannon! You'll be smiling about it for days!

:-)

posting again because the other reply hasn't shown up yet (which proably guarantees that as soon as I push the button they will both print)...

Thanks john - I've made a note of both those and we look forward to seeing them! :)