Yesterday, Babydog proposed an impromptu outing to escape from La Courneuve for the day. Given the way I generally feel about my neighborhood , I was all in favor! We initially planned to take the train to Beauvais to see the cathedral, but then decided to make a less expensive excursion to Versailles.
I was pleasantly surprised by what we found. But before we get to the photos, a little background β¦. Today, eleven different gardens are home to thousands of plant species. A 14,square-foot greenhouse complex, constructed in stages between and , features four different climates: rainforest, desert, Australian, and paleobotanical. As part of the National Museum of Natural History, the grounds also house four museums: on evolution, mineralogy, paleontology , and entomology.
In , the royal menagerie at Versailles was transported to the gardens, making it the second oldest zoological park in the world. Nevertheless, it still houses over 1, animals, including an orangutan whose expressiveness in front our cameras pretty much summed up my conflictual feelings about keeping animals behind glass walls.
You can see him in the gallery below. Of course, we added a visit to the greenhouses at the very end of our stay. And now, the gallery of photos from the menagerie, the Botany School garden, and the greenhouses photos by Babydog and me. To open the gallery, simply click on one of the photos below or on a white space if nothing appears. You will then be able then scroll through all of the photos in a larger format.
You can access the website here for more information in French. And now, the gallery of photos from the menagerie, the Botany School garden, and the greenhouses photos by Babydog and me To open the gallery, simply click on one of the photos below or on a white space if nothing appears. An 18th-century toolshed for the botanists.
