Parislog 32
July 31, 2006

I had a second date with Christian. I had met him the first time for a coffee date and things went well enough that I agreed to meet him again. I suggested an exhibition called Machines de Spectacles. So the day arrived and I got there maybe 10 minutes before we were supposed to meet and stood in line thinking that if he showed up soon we would be at the front of the line for tickets. It was one of those 90+º days and the queue was in the sun. I kept craning my neck around thinking any second now. I got to the front of the line right around 2PM, which was when we were supposed to meet and bought my ticket. I stood on the steps at the entrance and waited, a half an hour to be precise. I was sweating and boiling with the sun beating directly down on me and even though I kept my back turned to it as much as possible, I ended up with a little bit of a burn. Well, my patience ran out after a half an hour and I went in.

It was the coolest show. First of all, it was in the Grand Palais, which is a building left over from the Universal Exhibition of Paris of 1900. The building is exquisite with huge ceilings of glass and metal girders. This was just after the Tour d’ Eiffel was built. All the girders are beautifully designed and look like huge metal lacework. Second of all, the show itself was amazing. There were a number of guides/ performers around the space who would wander around to each display and tell you about it. But then, the person would also put it in motion and show you what it did.

The assortment of things was mind-boggling. There were pieces of monster parade machines. One example was a huge cart with the world’s biggest cymbals at the top. After giving the lecture the guide grabbed hold of a rope and jumped off the cart while hanging onto it and it clapped the cymbals together. Ouch. At one time, apparently it was very popular to have these parades of oversized items. One picture showed an articulated figure of a man that was 4 or 5 stories tall and run by many men as it walked down the street. Think mad max.

definitely a crowd favorite though due to the heat. There was a snow maker that created a thick snowstorm that stuck to the heads and shoulders of the crIn the center of the space were some of the most impressive items. There was a water cannon, which would blow a huge amount of water straight up into the air and then fall onto the crowd like a very heavy rainstorm. They got soaked. It wasowd. It was real ice not plastic shavings. And, there was a piano catapult. This was only done one time a day and I was fortunate enough to still be there when it was demonstrated. They always announced the coming of the big events and as soon as I heard this one I headed over to the rope to be in the front to take pictures even though I knew that meant I would have to wait awhile. I wanted the pictures so badly. My biggest concern was whether or not with my old digital and its delay I would be able to catch it. And I only had the one try. The universe was on my side. My first shot, I hit too soon, or so I thought. I quickly shot again, feeling the delay in the camera and thinking that I had lost the in air action and then a shot of the piano smashed on the ground. Fortune smiled on me and each shot got a great piece of the story line. Piano on catapult, axe connecting. Piano in air. Piano on ground in pieces.









It was so hot and humid in the glass roofed building with water spectacles that I became quite light headed after this. I took myself off to buy a bottle of water and chug it. There were a lot of cute rescue workers walking around though. Maybe passing out wouldn’t have been such a bad deal.

There was a machine that made toast and delivered it on a trolley to the customer and a drink mixer that was silly, huge, and banged back and forth on a long bar. They made real whiskey and champagne drinks and called one person out of the crowd to stand there and get served this way. I didn’t get picked. Darn.

There was a machine for making music with a whole bunch of spoons stuck out of the front it. I couldn’t imagine how this was supposed to work. The guy placed a whole bunch of seed into all the spoons. I still had no clue. Then he went behind the machine to a shed that I hadn’t paid any attention to, opened the door, and brought out a chicken. He placed the chicken on a perch and of course the chicken set to eating the seed tapping a song out on the spoons. Well, that wasn’t enough and so he went and brought out another chicken to make it a duet. Then the second chicken got so into it that it jumped onto the spoons and took over the show. She got sent back into the coop.

Another crowd formed around a different spot. That meant someone was going to display that exhibit so I peeked over some shoulders to see what was going on. It was a miniature theatre that said “peep show” and had a coin slot box below it. The guide picked a woman out of the crowd and had her sit down in front of the box. She was asked if she had a 20 centimes piece. She nodded her head and took it out. He indicated for her to put it in the box, which she did and nothing happened. All these machines were really old. He took the coin and put it through another few times and on the fourth attempt it worked. The little curtain slowly raised and inside was a rubber chicken with a skirt that also rose up as the curtain went up. It was hilarious but I had to wonder what use it had. Was this a street amusement for making money?

A real crowd pleaser was Rocket Man. First thing you hear the roaring of an engine being gunned and it is loud. Think Harley Davidson. A crowd forms around a long alley shaped space. More engine gunning. The guide points to the back and there stands rocket man all in silver. He makes a long entrance. He walks down the middle and kneels every so often while the guide guns the engine again. Finally he climbs aboard the rocket and with a few more engine revs he all of a sudden climbs in the sky.

So I finally wore out even though I hadn’t seen everything. I had been there for around three hours and just couldn’t do any more.

I went home and cranked up the computer to see if I had any message from my date and sure enough there was an email. He had been trapped by the road barriers for the Tour de France. I hadn’t really given any thought to it being the final day of the Tour and that the Grand Palais was right on the path. It wasn’t until I came up from the metro and saw all the hoopla that I even remembered. I wrote him back saying no big deal and maybe something else and never heard from him again. Whatever.