In which Cherry begins her research in fluid dynamics

When we were in Paris two years ago, one of the best museums that we visited was the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie in the Parc de la Villette. It's built in an old slaughterhouse, and contains an enormous science museum, the best children's museum I've ever seen, a submarine, IMAX theatre, a planetarium, and a science library, as well as various gift shops and restaurants. It's also quite expensive. For our family to visit the science museum and the children's museums (there are 2, more on that later) costs somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 euros.

So, Blaise did a little bit of investigating, and discovered that an annual family pass, which includes free admission to the science museum, children's museums, submarine, and planetarium (and a discount to the IMAX) costs 65 euros. Naturally, when we went yesterday, we bought an annual pass. If I take the kids back one more time it will have more than paid for itself, and since we saw only about 20% of the science museum yesterday, and the kids only saw about half of the kids' museums, that shouldn't be a problem.

We took the train to the Parc de la Villette yesterday morning, arriving just before lunch. Being a naturally organized person (you can stop laughing now. I am, sometimes at least.), I had remembered to buy packable food for lunches at the grocery on Saturday, so we headed outside for a picnic lunch first. Once we got back in, the lines at the ticket windows had decreased significantly, so I stood in line to buy our pass while Blaise took the kids off to the side. After I had filled in the forms, the ticket agent asked what we wanted to do that day. I was a bit worried that we might not be able to get into the children's museums, because they cap the number of people admitted, but we we able to get in without difficulty. I also asked for tickets to the main science museum.

Since our reservation for the children's museums wasn't until 2:30 and it was a bit before 1:00, we headed up the escalator to the science museum. We started in the technology section, where we got to use an ultrasound wand (3D no less) to identify a tomato and a goldfish. Then we headed over to the optical illusions section and to the genetics area. We have a picture of Cherry going ga-ga over a plastic case filled with dolls from a couple of years ago. She was less interested this time. We had a bit more time before we needed to head downstairs, so we went to the Mathematics area. Sapphire and Ezio got to learn some algebraic topology (a doughnut is fundamentally different than a sphere; an egg is not) and a bit of differential geometry (soap bubble minimal surfaces). Since it was 2:15, we headed downstairs to the children's museums.

Blaise waited on one side of the entry to take Sapphire and Ezio into the Cite des Enfants for 5 to 12 year olds and I waited with Cherry on the side for 2 to 7 year olds. Cherry and I headed immediately for the back of the museum, which was where the water play things were. She then proceeded to spend 45 minutes filling buckets at various faucets (all with different water sprays and handles) and pouring them into the various basins (of assorted shapes and colors), and filling up a large clear tub and watching it tip over when it got full. We spent the remaining 45 minutes of our time exploring the rest of the museum. Cherry tried the maze, but got worried because she couldn't see me and came back out the entrance. She liked all the mirrors, several of which she could bend or move, and thereby change the way she looked. She also really liked the little huts she could climb inside that were made entirely of mirrors, so she was duplicated many times. Evidently, there were always three of her. Perhaps we need to learn some larger numbers.

Since I wasn't in the museum for older kids, I'm less certain about what they did. Evidently there was also a water play area on that side, and Sapphire and Ezio spent quite a bit of time it in. I believe that it was more focused on using water to accomplish things, and less on filling and pouring. There was evidently also a studio, where Sapphire got to "do Meteo" (give a weather report) that was broadcast on television moniters throughout the museum.

We briefly discussed going back upstairs after our slot at the children's museums, but decided that since we had paid for a membership, it made more sense to leave while everyone was still in a good mood, instead of pushing things until the kids were getting cranky.