Last month I took Lila to La Grande Galerie de L’Evolution, which has its building on the grounds of Jardins des Plantes. I was dreading it because our visit to the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle a couple of years ago had failed to impress. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Grande Galerie, although still old and lo-fi, was a huge upgrade from the Natural History building. The dim lights and the musty-looking furniture worked well with the parade of taxidermy animals in the middle of the sprawling second floor. Remember how your elementary school’s playground seemed so huge when you were young, and years later you’d be surprised at how small it actually was? Well, I can imagine how this place could seem as infinite as the Universe to the children visiting it, with the animals and all. The kid was practically salivating with joy.

After the museum, we took a stroll around Jardin des Plantes, and then took a tour of the mini-zoo, and got duped into buying Lila 3 tickets to the carousel, which is the trippiest carousel I’ve seen (hoo-boy I’ve seen a lot), and therefore my favourite. It’s the right amount of kitsch.

Mosquee de Paris is just across the street. It has an inviting salon du thé, a restaurant, a little souk and a hammam. All of which I didn’t get to try because it was high noon and all I wanted to do was to get back home.

Currently listening to:
Beach House
Teen Dream