Our day at Parc Astérix

Parc Astérix is modeled after the French comic-book character Astérix and his friends. The comic books use a lot of puns and are delightful--and popular. Charlie had leafed through several of my French-language ones, and found some translated into English (they've been translated into at least 30 languages) at the library, and loved them. So when I told him there was an amusement park in France for Astérix, he definitely wanted to visit.

What does your ride take, unleaded, or super? -Hay, that is.

Charlie could not believe the word for "hand stamp."

And he asks me, "Am I an Astérix..."

"...or an Obélix?" (moot question, as the Obélix ones were the only ones available in adult sizes)

It just cracked me up that a fast-food place had a cheese plate, with camembert, no less.

Bad Charlie. Bad, bad Charlie.

About to go on a raft ride--that left us dry, thank God. Lots of spinning and shrieking! Fun.

And then there was LOTS of souvenir shopping. I even got into it, buying two shopping bags and an Obélix apron that says, "À table! À table! À table!" ("Time to eat!")

They were kind enough to replace the Obélix bank that I was holding and dropped, and should have been wrapped up. Charlie got a t-shirt, 5 books, 5 commemorative coins, and a plastic water bottle in the shape of the tribe's "ampoule" that they use for the magic strength potion.

On to Bayeux!