Galeries de Paléontologie et d'Anatomie

That was the primary reason for my detour via Paris on the way to Nannie Brigitte's 80th birthday party: I wanted to take Luca to the Museum of Natural History in the Jardin des Plantes.
It's a cool place. First of all, you are greeted by a pair of hyenas (I don't think that two make a pack), there are hundreds of weird things floating in jars of yellowish phormol (spelling?) in the ancient cabinets and Luca finally got to see the famous T-Rex for real.
Memories that should last him a lifetime...
Or not. I was discussing this trip with my Mum and was a bit sheepish when I was reminded that my brother and I were taken to that very same gallery when I was about 8... Of that trip to Paris I could remember the couscous royal in Pigalle (already obsessed by food!) and my Dad - a man whose calm was legendary - about to punch a guy who had just groped my Mum in the Goblet d'Argent, a pub at the top of the infamous Rue St Denis.
When I put Luca to bed last night and asked him what his favourite part of the trip was, he answered without hesitation: "the swimming pool with the big orange slide" and I have no doubt that in 30 years time he will also recall the kebab and chips he had before going to the natural history museum, blanking out completely what is undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive collections of bones of all sizes and shapes, cautiously assembled to form hordes of skeletons...

Before leaving Paris, we got to observe a weird looking aerial in the tall grass and he got to fulfil his dream and leave the capital on board of the TGV His description of the experience is spot on: "the TGV is a train that is very very fast on the outside but slow on the inside"