Paris Round 2, Day 2

Our second day in Paris was fun, but cold.  We met with some good friends we have made here for coffee to start the day.  They have a five-year-old son and even though there is an age difference between the two, he and Kellan are buddies.  After coffee, we walked about a mile over to Paris' Museum of Natural History.  Though it isn't quite as big or grand as the natural history museums you find in New York City or Washington, D.C., make no bones about it, it's pretty impressive.  Hehehe.
This is what you see when you enter:

 An ox, I believe?

 More horned, four-legged folks...

 A couple of sea turtles.

 Gators and the like.

 An elephant.  The trunk is all muscle, apparently!

 A whale from the tail (don't ask me why I'm into lame puns and rhymes today - maybe it's the delirium that has set in from taking care of a very cranky Mr. K.  I think his two-year molars are coming in!)

 View from the second floor.  These are mostly fish and water creatures.

 T-Rex!

 Brontonsaurus and view of other dinos from third floor.  Pretty cool place that I recommend if you are in the area!  There were many very cool displays throughout - preserved organs of every type, among other things.  Very interesting.

Right around the corner from the Natural History Museum was a decent Doner (kind of like a gyro) shop.  We popped in there for a quick bit and then headed over to the park to let the boys run around.  Unfortunately, it was pretty cold and very windy.

That didn't stop up from taking a carousel ride!

 After fighting the winds while walking all throughout this large, pretty park, we discovered that both of the playgrounds were closed.  We parted ways with our friends and left to go switch hotels (something we had to do because of Matt's schedule and to save money).

K fell asleep on the long walk back to the hotel and we took that opportunity to sit in the hotel restaurant and have a beer.  After schlepping all of our stuff to our new hotel, the Concorde LaFayette, we discussed at length - ad nauseum - where we would go to dinner.  We were afraid to go somewhere too nice and make a scene with the little guy, but also after our Hippopotamus experience the previous night we were afraid to go somewhere too "kid-friendly."

We got lucky and found a great pizza bar, which I highly recommend if you are ever staying at the Concorde LaFayette.  (Though let me say that I was not a big fan of the Concorde LaFayette - both the Pullman Bercy and Pullman Montparnasse are much better).  The pizza place is called Bellagio.  Here is a pic from their website:

They had a very small covered, heated patio, where we sat, able to privately deal with the many issues that arise while dining with an almost-two-year old..  The pizza was delicious, as was our appetizer, the antipasta platter.  The bottle of wine we devoured wasn't bad either.  Pleasantly full, we returned to our hotel to prep for the busy morning we had planned the next day.