Le Cirque d'Hiver

I'm a real circus junky so when Irv and Iris recommended we go to "Le Cirque d'Hiver" I didn't miss a beat and reserved seats - front row and center - even though we weren't planning on kidnapping a little kid off the street to bring along! On the appointed day, there we were amidst a zillion kids (it's holiday week here), parents and sundry other folk.

This is the winter home of the European travelling circus. It's an opulent permanent "tent" complete with a full orchestra, clever announcers and showgirls who entertained the audience as the runners prepared for the next act. It's a one ring circus a little like our own "Big Apple Circus" in NYC.

We had a lot of fun watching the snowy tigers perform not more then 3 feet from our seats! There were the usual 'jongleurs', 'trapezistes, 'chevaux' (dancing horses) and of course, the clowns. We enjoyed everything. Chris was thrilled to be able to understand some of the jokes. We especially enjoyed a 'ventriloque' who made you think a live dog was talking and the juggler who worked with 6 white balls that he bounced on the floor so fast it looked like they were attached to strings. There were also two amazing Chinese 'equilabristes' who twisted their bodies into unbelievable shapes while they balanced on each other and twirled parasols and cloth disks from every part of their bodies. At one point one girl was bent over backwards on the floor on one foot and hand while spinning disks from the others. The other girl was standing on her hand on her hip while twirling disks from her other three extremeties. It was remarkable!

At right is a Toulouse-Lautrec painting of the Cirque from the 1880's.

The whole experience was magic--when the lights dimmed every kid had twirling light-wands that made the room sparkle (Paul wouldn't let me get one).

Le Cirque d'Hiver
110 rue Amelot
Paris 11

Toulouse-Lautrec Painting of Cirque d'hiver