Whenever I plan out our daily itineraries for a trip, I usually allow 2-3 hours for a museum visit. Much more than that and it degenerates into an unpleasant experience for all of us. So when we approached the Musee de l'Armee, I assumed we would be out in time to grab a quick lunch and move onto the next activity. Little did I know that not only would we eat lunch at the museum, but we would spend another 2 hours after lunch exploring their extensive collection. This was a love-at-first-sight place for Jack and we had to drag him away. He still talks about it and recommends it to anyone we know who is traveling to Paris.

The collection extends chronologically from medieval armor all the way to the 1960's nuclear arms race and includes Napoleon's stuffed horse, a large arms and armor collection, miniature dioramas of many famous battles, and a huge array of cannons. There is also a kid's audio tour available which Jack really enjoyed.

Afterwards, it is a short walk to a branch of a great chocolate shop, A La Mere de Famille, the oldest sweet shop in Paris. There is a delicious selection of chocolates, hard candies, marshmallows and ice cream available. It's the perfect place to grab a snack or to dangle as a reward to buy you a few more minutes in your museum of choice.