Barrelli's Circus

So..... Did I say we weren't going to go to another circus for a while?? What I meant was that we weren't going to go to another Dog & Pony type circus (minus the dogs) for a while. Ahem. Right. So. A sweet friend told me that "the biggest circus in Europe" was in town and having a family day with discounted tickets. She made it so easy for me (buying advance tickets, holding a place in line to assure ringside seats) that I couldn't say no! Even with Nathaniel unable to join us, it was too tempting to pass up. I can't deny it. I love a circus!

As usual, my favorite were the acrobat women up in the air on a trapeze or these awesome long straps of fabric. This woman twisted and flipped up and down them. It was amazing. Even though this was my favorite-- a close second were the fire dancers:

He even ran the torches up and down his arms and feet and extinguished the torches in his mouth! Yikes.
Has anyone else read InkHeart? As soon as I saw this guy I immediately thought of Dustfinger.

Limbo with fire anyone? They went all the way down to the bottom level.

Do you see how close those people are to the ring?? That's I could have reached out and touched any number of animals. I even had to close my eyes as the horses galloped around because of the dust they kicked up. A little bit terrifying and a lot amazing. This would never fly in the States... too much liability. That's why I love it here! Another difference from home: not a single heckler or PITA audience member either. Lovely!

When this trainer walked in the ring one tiger went right up to him and pinned him next to the wall rubbing against his legs...The tigers were like kittens with this guy.

Super weird position to see a horse in!

This circus was night and day different from the other one. There was a live band, a little sub-plot going on to distract from transitions between acts, many grown professionals, and only one child performer- a little girl (the owners 5 year old granddaughter). It all was very wity and entertaining (even though I didn't understand a spoken word, still funny!). More pictures for the intrigued are here.