Le Cirque Pinder

This past Sunday, for the price of only 1 euro, I attempted to live out all my 1920s-esque fantasies of going to a real circus with real striped tents and circus folk running around juggling real fire. Unfortunately for me, I was way too cheap to attend the actual circus and thus my euro only allowed entrance to the menagerie. I read Water for Elephants and I must say, even at its darkest points, the circus in the book sounded like a magical event. So this was not quite what I expected.

Note: The entrance to the zoo is where that sad little van off to the right is

 The menagerie itself was nothing to write home about. For the weeks before as the circus had been setting up, I would walk by and see camels, llamas, horses- even a tiger. I got excited, imagining that there must be much more, that they wouldn't allow common folk like me to see everything without paying.
There wasn't much more.
There were some lions.
And I'm sure that if I had craned my neck over the hastily put up fencing I could have see them as well.

By far the most interesting part of the circus were the rows upon rows of trailers housing the performers. Very reminiscent of a gypsy encampment, clothing lines strung themselves out between the white RVs, while extension cords wrapped every which way.
What was strange (though nice, in my opinion) was there was no barrier to separate the living quarters from the 'zoo' area. One could walk wherever he or she pleased.

 And as I was there during the mid-afternoon, and peak hours didn't start until night fall, I was lucky enough to witness the circus people going about their daily business.

 Though I wouldn't necessarily want to go back, I don't regret spending my little euro. It was more interesting than anything else.