Need a break between two mad sessions of Paris Xmas shopping? Why not plonk your little darling on one Paris’ free merry-go-rounds – for free! – and watch them whirl by as your feet recover.

Here are all the details and a map so you can find them easily…

Music, lights, wooden horses… we all have memories of these traditional merry-go-rounds from our youth. Now it’s time to carry on the tradition with your own children, and for free. What more could you ask for!

You just have to wait until 19th December 2009 before it all gets underway, but you then have two weeks (until 3rd January 2010) to make the most of it. Here’s the list of the 20 free merry-go-rounds for Xmas 2009 in Paris:

Click on the addresses to see where the merry-go-rounds are on the map.

3rd arrondissement – Square du Temple
4th arrondissement – Place de l’Hôtel de Ville (2 merry-go-rounds, one at each end of the square)
5th arrondissement – square Saint Médard
6th arrondissement – Place de l’Odéon
7th arrondissement – Place Joffre
8th arrondissement – Place de la Madeleine (behind the church) et Place de la Concorde
9th arrondissement – Place Lino Ventura
10th arrondissement – Square Alban Satragne
11th arrondissement – Place Léon Blum
12th arrondissement – Avenue Daumesnil
13th arrondissement – Place d’Italie
14th arrondissement – Rue d’Alésia
15th arrondissement – Montparnasse
16th arrondissement – Place du Trocadéro
17th arrondissement – Place Docteur Félix Lobligeois
18th arrondissement – Square Louise Michel
19th arrondissement – Place Armand-Carrel
20th arrondissement – Rue Belgrand

The Xmas 2009 merry-go-rounds in Paris are free from 19th December 2009 – 3rd January 2010, and open every day from 10am – 7pm.

More info (in French): www.paris.fr