This 130-acre ultramodern park that was once an abattoir is the perfect place to entertain sightseeing-weary kids for the day, with futuristic gardens, an excellent science museum, a music complex, and a cinema.

The park itself was designed in the 1980s by postmodern architecture star Bernard Tschumi, who successfully incorporated industrial elements, children's games (don't miss the dragon slide), lots of green space, and dreamlike light sculptures along the canal into one vast yet unified playground. A great place for a picnic, the lawns of La Villette attract rehearsing samba bands and pick-up soccer games. In summer there's a free outdoor cinema festival -- people gather at dusk to picnic and watch movies on a huge inflatable screen. In cold weather, visit the museums, the submarine, the circus tent (which features superb contemporary acrobatic theater performances) and La Géode. This looks like a huge silver golf ball but is actually an Omnimax cinema made of polished steel, with an enormous hemispherical screen.

The ambitious Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (30 av. Corentin-Cariou, La Villette. 01-40-05-80-00. www.cite-sciences.fr. Porte de la Villette, Porte de Pantin) tries to do for science and industry what the Pompidou does for modern art. The brave attempt to render technology fun and easy involves 60 interactive contraptions. The multilingual children's workshops are perfect spots to while away rainy afternoons. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday 10-6; standard admission costs EUR 7.50, the planetarium EUR 3, and children's workshops are EUR 5. The postmodern Cité de la Musique is a music academy designed by geometry-obsessed Christian de Portzamparc. It has a state-of-the-art concert hall and the spectacular Musée de la Musique (221 av. Jean-Jaurès, La Villette. 01-44-84-44-84. www.cite-musique.fr). The music museum contains a mind-tingling array of 900 instruments; their sounds and story are evoked with wireless headphones (ask for English commentary). It's open Tuesday through Saturday noon-6, Sunday 10-6 and costs EUR 7.

All that remains of the slaughterhouse is La Grande Halle (Great Hall), a magnificent iron-and-glass building now used for concerts and trade shows.