En Garde
The last French theme park I visited was 25 years ago (when the kids were little), called Festeland, or Foostyland as we always refer to it. We were the only ones there, the attractions were rubbish and I nearly killed my son and me by getting on a ride that was for under fives only. We both sat in a cut out dustbin and hurtled down a Cresta Run type toboggan course, ever increasing in speed until we hit the buffers at the bottom and both flew out of the lethal contraption. I was lucky not to decapitate either of us. The only pleasure derived from the experience was for Anna, my wife, who said it was the funniest thing she'd seen. So imagine my concern when, 25 years on, she announced she had purchased tickets for Puy du Fou, a French (historical) theme park. Even though we have lived in the Deux-Sèvres for 10 years and Puy du Fou (beech tree hill) is only an hour's drive away, we had never been...but our daughter was visiting from the UK, so we carpe diemed. As we stepped thro...