Viewing the Boneyard 12-20-15

Over the week we've made a few mid-course adjustments due to any number of factors, which shall remain un-revisited.  Today we got to the boneyard, also known as the Museum of Natural History located in the Jardin de Plantes.

But first because it was a pretty day we went down to the brocante market at Porte de Vanves, for a couple hours.  It was really hopping today with loads of people selling and even more out looking for the next treasure.  I mentioned in an earlier post about the freelance sellers who set up to sell things just outside the market boundaries without paying the required fees, and how when the police show up they rapidly gather up all their stuff and try to look like just another shopper with a bag full of stuff.  Today the charade was playing out again with the police car just sitting there idling, and all the freelancers were "just hanging around" hoping that the cop car would decide to leave, but alas today they just sat there, very regrettable right before christmas.
After our visit we took the tram east to the Porte d'Italie and got off to walk up to where we get a bus or Metro stop which would take us to the Jardin des Plantes.  But the day was so nice that we ended up walking all the way up to Place d'Italie before we caught the bus and we only did that to make sure that we had time to see the museum.  So it was a 3-4 stop ride.
The sky was beginning to cloud up by the time we went into the museum so it was kind of dark inside but since we were looking at bones, which are basically white, no problem.   This hall is really overwhelming, it so crowded with skeletons that it's difficult to single out any one to look at, they seem to have specimens as varied as Noah's Ark, seriously.  It's just case after case of groups of things like skulls for a specific animal like foxes, cats, dogs, or bears.  Or humans.  They also have amphibians, fish, snakes, birds, you name it they likely have it.  We spent over an hour looking at all the bones and then went up to the second floor to look at the fossils,
They have a very good selection of dinosaur bones too.  What I was particularly taken with was the display of a cast of the skeleton of "Lucy" representing about 40% of a 3.5 million year old hominid.  At the time she was our oldest ancestor but she has since been overtaken by even older members of the family.  After seeing two floors we decided to head back to the apartment.
Our friends Georgia and Woody Garnsey have come over for a Christmas holiday with their children and grandchildren and we're planning to get together with them a couple of times while they're visiting.