After fun, but hectic, days at the Angouleme festival, the first few days in Paris were time to relax.
My first stop was a walk out to my favorite Paris location, the Jardin des Plantes. Here's the Cuvier Fountain near one of the main gates..
The Jardin des Plantes is a garden walk mall of museums. You can feel swallowed up by the tree-lined, super wide walkways, until you remember they were designed for the horse-and-carriage days.
The grounds are home to several Natural history collections. Two of my favorite museums ever are here. The Grand Gallery of Evolution...
and the Hall of Paleontology/Comparative Anatomy...
There are two enormous greenhouses at the JdP. These are a great escape from winter temps if you're visiting during the coldest months.
I like to use this side entrance to the JdP. Every time I visit, it's a chance to see my favorite spots there, and learn new things...
It takes me past two of my favorite spots. This "Tree of Buffon" was planted by him in 1785!
It stands near this building..
The lower floor is now the home offices for the "Societe des Amis du Museum Natural d'Historie Naturelle et du Jardin des Plantes" (friends of the Museums Membership office -- the blue door).
The upper floor of this building was the laboratory of Henri Becquerel. Here's a side view of the building, where a special window can be seen.
Becquerel came from a distinguished family of scientists, but his greatest discovery came from a nearly abandoned accident. He produced photographic evidence of rays from uranium samples -- the unexpected outcome of a forgotten experiment that started in the window sill of this building. He named his discovery "Becquerel rays" but pronounced it a dead end. Marie Curie was a young researcher who saw more potential in these rays. She and her husband Pierre weren't famous yet, but Marie's experiments on the rays required unique talents they each possessed. In the end, the Curies and Becquerel shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radiation. Three titans of science became legends... and it all started here...
This area is also near an entrance to the labyrinth. A winding trail up a hill..
There are these lions at one entrance.
You'll see monuments to past directors of the Jardin des Plantes throughout, along with a number of impressive trees. Here's the Cedar of Jussieau, planted by him in 1734 (he was one of the directors of the Jardin des Plantes museums)
Near the top of the path, you'll find this monument to director Daubenton, who served from 1793-94 and 1796-97. The monuments are a pole, that lists his passing as 1800....
...and this marker, that lists 1799.
Both are correct because he actually died in the middle of the night, straddling both centuries! I had never gone on this path before, but learned about it (and this fun Daubenton trivia) when I met the Secretary of the Amis du Museums. He happened to be in his office on a day when it's usually closed, but I happened to be peering at a sign on the door, trying to read it. He opened the door, we started chatting, and quickly realized we had a shared geekdom for all things JdP. He knew some amazing stories about the grounds. He inspired me to make my first-ever hike through the Labyrinth. I became a member of the Friends of the Museum. It was a win-win encounter.
I did make it all the way to the top the path, where you'll find the oldest metal monument in Paris. The view from there is mostly treetops.
This trip to Paris was my first using a translation app. What a modern miracle. So many mysteries unlocked!
While I have only seen the Jardin grounds in February.... the last few trips have had such mild weather (global warming, I think), that I have seen hints of spring time in spite of the calendar dates.
The Jardin des Plantes also includes a famous Menagerie, a small, well-tended zoo that dates back to the 1700s. Its enclosures are modern now. If these walls could talk! This zoo saw the arrival of Zarafa.. the giraffe that started a craze in Paris with her arrival in 1827... as well as animals from the Palace of Versailles who were evacuated during the French Revolution. I didn't visit this zoo this year, but you can see images from this post. https://stuartngbooks.blogspot.com/2017/02/paris-menagerie-at-jardin-des-plantes.html
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