Cité des Enfants

Paris doesn't have a full size children's museum, but in the Cité des Sciences (Science Museum, or science city) they have a special part called the Cité des Enfants, or Children's city. It is out at the Parc la Villette, which was a really big deal in architectural circles in the late 1980s, and Ben's parents went to visit in back in 1990. Ben thought the Cité des Enfants was the most fun ever, and ran around so much he exhausted his parents and grandparents, even when they were just watching him. There was an area with water, and mirrors, and a maze to run through, and handprints and footprints, and a thing to drop marbles in, and a construction site just for really little kids. We were all working so hard to keep up with him that we didn't take a whole lot of pictures (plus his parents had trouble with their flash). Luckily, rather than the unstructured nature of American children's museums, this French one lets you in for only an hour and a quarter, and then moves everybody out and lets in the next group, so while we were exhausted, we still had enough energy to take the subway home.