Jardin des Plantes

We all slept in this morning until about 11 am!  We quickly noted that the water in the apartment wasn't working, moods soured a bit but then the water came back on and all was just fine.  There were some men working on the plumbing for the building which is around 400 hundred years old (!).  I took the kids out first while Erica cleaned up the apartment and enjoyed some peace, then a solo walk to meet us a little later.

  Walking along the Seine, we saw the Institut du Monde Arabe, with some pretty stunning modern architecture and plenty of interesting spaces to explore.  We, of course, obliged.

Le Jardin des Plantes really was a special treat.  Originally established in the 17th century, it houses an impressive array of local and exotic plants.  There is a menagerie (of animals) that was originally established by Napoleon but nobody seemed terribly interested in going, so we saved more than a few euros and explored elsewhere.  We did wander upon an old small and really cool carrousel (manege) that proved to be quite popular.  Sully rode in a turtle, FYI.  You paid the fare and each kid got a token that was collected by the young man once they were on the ride.  A real throwback.  While they were riding I was chatting with the guy working there and it turns out he is in nursing school at Univ. of Central Florida even though he is Parisian.  

The labyrinthe (maze) was also a big hit.  Kids of many generations have been enjoying it and it is really easy to see why.  I was a bit nervous about Sully getting lost and me having to crawl through the holes to find the loud, screaming American child but luckily his brother and sister watched after him nicely.  International incident averted, so far. 

Exploring the impressive collection of plants from around the world, we discovered a collection of grenouilles too, some hiding among the water plants.

Madeleine and Henry got out "their" camera for the first time this trip and took pride in getting their own photos.  They will have to make their own blog post here soon.

Les fous Nik and Henry, with the Grande Gallerie de l'Evolution in the Jardin des Plantes, one of the many very French, very lovely buildings in the garden.  

 Thanks to our kids' fondness for geocaching, we discovered this amazing place, the Arenes de Lutece, built in the late first century (!!) as a gladiator arena, with 15,000 seats.  It was destroyed by barbarians (we are familiar with that) in 280, then rediscovered in the late 1800s when they were building a road.  Crazy!  It still looks like a big arena, and it's a great place for kids to run around and also for petanque (a form of boules); Sully is watching a game here.  The geocache was indeed located and retrieved by Henry.

Leaving here, we experienced our first Paris downpour, complete with thunder and lightening, and later a rainbow.  It was quite magical at first, and then just quite wet.  In spite of raincoats and an umbrella, we were drenched when we made it back to our apartment.

Our apartment is on Rue de la Huchette, which is a mainly pedestrian street packed with restaurants, street food and shops, and thus bustling with people.  It's in the Latin Quarter, a block from the Seine and Notre Dame.  When we arrived last night, I was not sure if we'd ever be able to make ourselves cook dinner, as there are so any options for places to eat just outside our door.  Last night we dined in, but tonight we went for French-style Gyros (avec pomme frites).  M and H enjoyed these as well as the Orangina (below).



Walking after dinner tonight, we spotted the Paris Plage (beach) on the right bank.  They truck in sand every August to turn the walkway along a stretch of the Seine into a beach, with beach chairs even.  I suppose for the poor Parisians who can't go to the real beach for the month of August.  We may check this out tomorrow.

Bonne Nuit!

-E&N