'Round and 'round we go

Last night Grace had her first experience riding a carousel at the mall. It was a great thing to do on a cold, snowy evening. She did pretty well considering it was her first time on any kind of ride like this. We went there with the intention of eating dinner, riding the merry-go-round, and doing a little shopping. Grace watched the merry-go-round and listened to its music while we ate, pointing at it several times. When we got on , though, at it started to move, she wasn't so sure if she liked it. We did get some hesitant smiles from her, but she looked nervous and when it stopped, she was ready to get off!

I found out on Wikepedia that although we use the terms carousel and merry-go-round interchangeably, "carousel" is the name most often used in North America, while in Europe the term "merry-go-round" is more common. I always used merry-go-round when growing up.

They say that modern carousels in America are mainly populated with horses. I wondered why the one we were riding had dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, deer, a tiger, a swan, and a panda. I found out that carousels made in Europe generally had a whole variety of animals. I suppose this one must have been modeled on the European version. It was really colorful and pretty, but, personally, I prefer the horses. That is why I put Grace on a big white one in a row that had three horses side-by-side.

And, if you are interested.... Here is a little more carousel history:

Early carousels had no platforms: the animals would hang on poles or chains and fly out from the centrifugal force of the spinning mechanism; these are called "flying horses" carousels. They were often powered by animals walking in a circle or people pulling a rope or cranking. By the mid-1800s the platform carousel was developed where the animals and chariots would travel around in a circle sitting on a suspended circular floor which was hanging from the center pole; these machines were then steam-powered. Eventually, with the technological advances of the industrial revolution, gears and cranks were installed on these platform carousels, thus giving the animals their well-known up and down motion as they traveled around the center pole.