Mes petits Gaulois

Wednesday we went to the French alternative to Disneyland - Parc Astérix. Benjamin is past master of all things Astérix, so had the time of his life. During the Astérix version of the fairy tale ride, where you go in a boat and see scenes from different Astérix books, Benjamin acted as our tour guide to the amusement of the people in front of us. He gleefully told us which book each scene was from as we passed them.

A very large Astérix overlooks the park. 

 

 

My parents, acting as Roman spies, or something like that.

 

Another Roman spy. 

 

We measured Noah the day before, and he was exactly one meter tall without shoes, so was just barely tall enough for most of the rides. He enjoyed this roller coaster, which went around its small track four times. He did NOT enjoy the higher roller coaster nor the "Mo-Mo the Monster"-type ride (he must take after you, Jordan). He didn't throw up, but he did ask to get off once we were already moving.

Benjamin took a turn acting as village chief, Abraracourcix, in the Gallic village.

Then it was off to meet the heros themselves, Obélix and Astérix. We missed our photo op here because the boys shook hands, then went straight through the door, forgetting to turn around and pose for a picture! 

 

 

 We made it around to the Dolphinarium twenty minutes before the start of the show. The sun was beating down on us (a rare event during my parents' stay!) and it was a cruel form of torture to sit there and fry while looking at the refreshing water in front of us. But we got front row seats for the show.

We found the smaller version of the swings on the other side of the park.

And had a little bit of time to play on the playground before the park closed.
Here is Noah, my little Gaulois.

  One note about the park closing, just in case any higher-up in Parc Astérix happens upon this little blog one day... someone needs to come give them some lessons on tourism and theme parks. The park closed at 7 pm... the rides closed at 7 pm... and so did the bathrooms, restaurants and shops!! The ladies' room near the park entrance was overrun by people of both sexes since it was the only one still open as we made our way out.

I'm also not sure what trains or Moon cars have to do with Astérix; those didn't really seem to fit the theme. But we never had to wait much more than about twenty minutes for any ride, which was a definite plus, and we had a great day. It only took the boys a couple of days to get over their crabbiness from all the extra excitement. They can't wait to go back.