Europe's Oldest Science Museum... Just Too Old?

I recently visited the Arts et Metiers (Arts and Trades) museum in the 3rd arrondissement. As Europe's oldest science museum, it had quite an appeal! Having now been, I have to admit that it was certainly old, although I think this was more of a fault than an advantage. I think around 3,000 objects are on display, ranging from scientific instruments and construction to energy and transportation. Don't get me wrong, the objects themselves as individuals were for the most part rather interesting, but to force them together in an organised jumble in large rooms killed any inspiration they may have given. Have you ever been to the Natural History Museum in London, or the Science Museum? There you can interact with fascinating objects, and come face to face with dinosaurs (call me shallow but the dinosaurs were definitely missing here). I wish we could have interacted with something in this museum, apparently it was renovated in the year 2000 but they must have missed the memo!

As you can see however, the stop is interesting and demands attention when passing through on the metro. Luckily, the museum was once again free for those aged under 26 (there's no point staying in Paris once you've reach the ripened old age of 26 I'm afraid, everything will cost you a fortune). Upon first entering, we appeared to be the only ones there which I suppose was due to it being a weekday and the time of day. Not much later, we were bombarded by huge groups of school children and decided to scarper, so maybe I missed something - like the interesting parts? I fear my evaluation of the Arts et Metiers may be overly harsh, so I will tell you that you can find a scale model of the Statue of Liberty and many curious objects such as early models of typewriters, carriages and planes.

I suppose there's no harm in taking a look around if you're in the area, just be aware that you'll be hard pressed to make a day of it! I'll be heading to the Dali museum in the near future and will hopefully be able to give an altogether more rose-tinted account of that.

A bientot xxx