Saturday 13 March 2010

Roll up, roll up

The circus is making its annual visit to Cologne so I took April along to today's matinee. It was a special treat for the girls of the household.

(Alexander is growing his first molars - a situation which isn't pleasant for him or anyone caring for him. So today I escaped from him left him with his Dad.)

April was extremely excited. But I think I may possibly have been more so. I remember being taken to the circus when I was little by one of those ladies I called 'Auntie', but who wasn't really. I recall that it was very good and that I was entranced by a group of acrobats in sequinned green outfits. (Hang on, maybe that explains a lifelong fixation with sparkles?)

It took some time for everyone to get seated in the 'Big Top'. Before the show started April declared that she'd 'Like to go home now' but I managed to convince her to wait for the performance. A few minutes later, coinciding with the opening drum roll, she declared that she needed a wee. Hmmm.

Anyway, after these niggles we were able to settle down and enjoy ourselves. Television and books have taught April to expect the following acts from a circus: jugglers, acrobats and clowns. Luckily we saw all three today: there was a juggler who managed to keep six balls on the go at once, sometimes even throwing them behind his back; there were lithe acrobats who formed human pyramids and flipped their bodies into all sorts of unfeasible configurations with apparent ease; and there was a clown who turned a member of the audience into a goat* - the symbol for the city's beloved FC Köln.

We left at the interval because a full show - at nearly three hours long - would have been too much for a toddler. As we left I inhaled the glorious smells coming from the popcorn and sausage stalls. Although April is too young to remember this day, I shall think of it with fondness. In  fact, I want to go again already!


*No people or animals were hurt.