In Nantes, there are two several-week-long fun fairs a year: one in the spring, and one in the fall. When I was a kid, we waited for both fairs impatiently—going there would keep us busy for several Wednesdays (in France, kids don’t go to school on Wednesday!).
As kids, we used to beg our parents to take us to the windy and dusty boulevard where the fun fair was set up. As tweens, we could usually hang out there without our parents, and it made us feel like grown-ups. We played the “dare game” and tried the fastest, highest and scariest attractions (hint: always eat cotton candy afterwards).
When I came to Ottawa, I was very surprised to see that the concept of the annual SuperEX was very different. First, ground admission isn’t free like in France—it’s actually rather pricey ($12 for adult admission and $40 for all-you-can-ride!). You don’t get much for the admission price, and I found the SuperEX to be a money-grab.
Rides aren’t cheap either in France (between €2-5 this year), but at least admission is free and you can have a good time people-watching!
All your great pictures make me regret I missed the CNE this year.
And no school on Wednesdays? Wow – wish I’d had that as a kid.
I was shocked when I came to Canada, I thought kids had Wednesday off as well! I had never realized it was a French tradition. That said, kids start the day earlier and finish much later.
The ferris wheel at the Tuileries in Paris is 6 or 8€! I still do it once a year though
Ouch, that’s expensive! Paris prices I guess.
I used to love the fair, and amusement parks as well. Although now that I am older, I have to say that their allure doesn’t get me anymore.
I think it was in Japan during my teenage years that I had my biggest amusement park fix. I enjoyed visiting Expoland, which was an amusement park on the site of the former Expo in Osaka (I believe the amusement park already closed), and I also remember visiting the Onokoro Island Park in Awaji, Japan. This amusement park featured miniature replicas of famous buildings around the world.
More recently, I think the last visit to an amusement park I did was in 2005, when I was in Vienna, and that was to ride the Wiener Riesenrad, the famous ferris wheel in Prater. We only rode that one ride, and nothing else. And in 2008, I was in Copenhagen, and the Tivoli was one block away from my hostel, and yet I didn’t even think of entering it.
I don’t know, somehow, the inner child in me doesn’t feel like going to amusement parks. 😛
I went to a couple of amusement parks (once in Eurodisney when I was a teen–disappointing–and once at Six Flags–pretty nice). I love water parks but I’m not that big on the biggest attractions. These days, I enjoy going to the fair because it’s a good photo-op 😉
Now I want cotton candy and slurpees 😛
Sorry, that’s a bit hard to send! 😆
Barbapapa toys!!!
That’s the name! I drew a blank on that one.
We went to a fair in Brussels this summer, and while it seems smaller than what you show here, it also allowed free admission. As it should be!
Agreed! I don’t understand why admission isn’t free here in Canada. It’s weird!
I love to walk around fairs like this one but never end up going on the rides. This looked like a fun day in Nantes!
Yep, it’s a fun even, much awaited by kids and grown-ups alike!