Could a little wine hurt?

I woke up Wednesday morning to find the leg hadn't improved any (this has a happy ending by the way - to remove any sense of suspense). I decided it was a good idea to go to the doctor rather than risk it becoming a problem. The hotel directed me to a very old and formal looking doctor's office across the road. Unfortunately I couldn't be seen until 5:30pm so we decided to head out for some sight-seeing.

Statue of a guy whose name I should have written down.

We started the morning at the Jardin des Plantes (garden of plants?) - the botanical gardens of Paris. It wasn't very exciting however the nearby buildings and statues were all wonderful. We made a fairly short pass through the gardens and ended up at part of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. We hadn't planned on visiting however a quick look through the door at the sheer number of skeletons changed out minds.

Museum of Natural History.

It turned out that we had stumbled on the Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy which houses an incredible collection of skeletons of almost anything you can imagine. Even cooler were the old glass and wooden cabinets and hand written plaques for each. We wandered through the rather eirie floors (including a collection of 'monstres' - siamese twins of various animals) and revelled in the mad scientist nature of it all.

Garden of Plants.

We spent the afternoon at the Eiffel Tower, which is a remarkably beautiful piece of iron-work engineering, and across the road at the Trocadero fountain. Coincidentally they were showing off the new EA Sports video-games, but even I passed them by in the interest of not being a total nerd.

Gorilla Bones.

Back at Gobelins I arrived for my doctors appointment and was amused to see the process differed from home. The doctors all appeared cheery, greating each patient in the waiting room and seeing them out with a handshake and an 'au-revoir'. The 'keep you waiting' bit appears to be the same though. I got in to see the doctor and went through the usual language charades before he advised me that he spoke a little English. I explained the situation and suggested a course of antibiotics as per my normal doctor. He agreed, wrote me out a perscription and with a handshake I was on my way. A cold and souless thought crossed my mind as we were parting company - "can I drink alcohol while I'm on these anti-biotics?"

Of course you can drink, this is France!

He smiled and bid me au revoir.

Elated with my victory (and pumped full of anti-biotics) we headed out to the Cafe le Relax for a few drinks and a yarn with the very likeable bartender (with a delighful 'ello 'hello like demenour) and a saucy middle aged barfly who might have been his wife, sister or just a regular.

Eiffel Tower.

And to celebrate my new found sense of wellbeing - a cyclops cat from the 'Monstres Simples' section...

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