Ils sont fous, ces Americains!

With all of the historical mumbo jumbo that we’ve been doing, we wanted to do something for the kids. We were debating between Euro Disney and a more French-based theme park called Parc Asterix. Because we cut out a couple of other things that we thought about doing (due to kid interest and fatigue) we decided that we might try to do a day at each. We decided to start with Parc Asterix as it would be a totally new experience for the kids.

For anyone unfamiliar with the popular French comic books of Asterix and Obelix, they are the two heroes of the last village in all of ancient Gaulle that hasn’t been conquered by the Romans. The local druid has concocted a magic potion that gives the villagers super-human strength, and he dishes it out to the local Gaulois every time that the Romans attack. Their catch phrase is: “Ils sont fous, ces Romains!” (They’re crazy, these Romans) – or some variation thereof. Asterix is the clever little one, and Obelix is the good-natured oafish one who fell into a cauldron of magic potion when he was a baby and has been left permanently stronger than an average mortal. The books are written on multiple levels so they appeal to both children and adults.

Anyway, the park was pretty cool, and the kids enjoyed it. Alex was a little disappointed because there were fairly long lines for the big roller coasters, but the kids’ rides had short waits because the French schools don’t get out until the end of June. The theme and atmosphere of the park is very cool, and the rides were so-so. Zac, of course, now loves Asterix and Obelix, and he is the proud owner of an action figure of each of these heroic characters (yes, Grandma Kit did give the kids money to spend however they want on the trip – Thanks, Grandma). It was fun, but again, not a place that I feel like I would need to go back to again.

The park closed at six since it was a weekday, and we didn’t want to fight traffic back into Paris. Becky wanted to visit the city of Chauny where her mom, dad and sisters had lived when her dad was in the Air Force. Her older sister Dee was even born there (something that I give her a hard time about every time that her “countrymen” do something that annoys us regular American folk). Of course, you have to realize that Dee is a blue-blooded American and has never been to France since she’s been old enough to change her own underwear. She loves it though when I give her a hard time so I do it for her benefit.

I have to admit that I was a little annoyed at first because I was tired from ten days of travel and Becky had underestimated how far away the city was from where we started out. But by the time we got there I agreed that it was a good decision. The kids were excited to see where Grandma Kit had lived before Mommy was born, and we were even able to call Kit from the little town. It turned out to be a good side-trip, and we got back to our hotel about time for everyone to go to bed.