Ménagerie, le Zoo du Jardin des Plantes (not to be confused with Parc Zoologique de Paris) is the second-oldest zoo in the world! The only still-open zoo that is older is Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna (- the reason I have to go to Austria on my next trip to Europe). On a Monday, Nathaniel and I scooted from our apartment back to Jardin des Plantes. Maybe it was just the strike, but folks use Lime in Paris more than in any other city I’ve been to! They also prefer to use them two people per scooter, which I feel like would not fly in the US. We did try it at one point, but going up a slight hill without full battery proved to be ill-advised. The zoo wasn’t very big, so we did almost two full loops on our visit. I loved seeing the historic buildings and enclosures. The Grande Volière (aviary), which I’ve seen in many photos, was very cool. My favorite was the nursery, where I delighted in seeing not just a mama Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo (who knew such an animal existed?!) with baby in her pouch, but mice running all over the floor and up with walls and onto the ceiling/roof!

After the zoo, we started scooting toward the Panthéon, in search of lunch on the way. We stopped in Place de la Contrescarpe, a spot I loved more than anywhere else in all of my time in Paris. We had fish and chips in the little back room of a restaurant – I think it was La Petite? – and then walked the rest of the way to the Panthéon, which we impulsively decided to pay to go in. Mostly, I knew we could see the crypts and thought that would kind of make up for missing the catacombs. It was really amazing! One of the neatest things I saw in Paris that I wasn’t even really planning for. From there, we walked to Luxembourg Gardens, which our neighbors, who have spent a lot of time in Paris, told us was their favorite place in the world. It was lovely! There’s nothing really like it in the US. But I can definitely see that it would be much nicer in the spring and summer.

The next day in Paris was our last, and it was spent at Disneyland! We took an Uber all the way there – a 45-minute drive. On that day I was feeling the most sick, so it wasn’t an excellent time. It was fun to see Phantom Manor (The Haunted Mansion), but almost all the other big rides had 360 loops – which I will not do! We skipped Big Thunder Mountain in the morning when the wait was short since I was pretty sure I would barf, and the rest of the day the wait was way too long. The park closed and I was bummed to leave without doing it, but on the way out Nat asked the person at the entrance if we could just get on it and they said yes! So we were the very last four people to get on the ride, and as we were zipping around corners outside, we got to see flashes of fireworks in the foggy night sky. Super cool! Anyway, I didn’t bring my camera, but I took some photos on my phone. At the end of all these Europe posts will be one with just photos taken on my phone. I’m nearly 2/3 of the way done!