www.cite-sciences.fr Cité des Sciences, Parc de la Villette, 30 av Corentin-Cariou, 19e (M° Porte-de-la-Villette).The Cité des Enfants (90min sessions; Tues, Thurs & Fri 9.45am, 11.30am, 1.30pm & 3.30pm; Wed, Sat, Sun & public hols 10.30am, 12.30pm, 2.30pm & 4.30pm; €5; advance reservations at the Cité des Sciences ticket office on 08.92.69.70.72 are advised to avoid disappointment), the Cité's special section for children, divided between 3–5s and 6–12s, is totally engaging. The kids can touch and smell and feel inside things, play about with water, construct buildings on a miniature construction site (complete with cranes, hard hats and barrows), experiment with sound and light, manipulate robots, race their own shadows, and superimpose their image on a landscape. They can listen to different languages by inserting telephones into the appropriate country on a globe, and put together their own television news. Everything, including the butterfly park, is on an appropriate scale, and the whole area is beautifully organized and managed. If you haven't got a child, it's worth borrowing one to get in here. The rest of the museum is also pretty good for kids, particularly the planetarium, the various film shows, the Argonaute submarine, children's médiathèque (noon–8pm; free) and the frequent temporary exhibitions designed for the young. In the Parc de la Villette, there's lots of wide open green space, the dragon slide and seven themed gardens featuring mirrors, trampolines, water jets and spooky music.
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