Grevin’s Wax Museum and a Strange Shoppe

One day when Linda and Hugh were visiting we chanced upon Madame Grevin's Wax Museum. Grevin was the original master who taught Madame Tussaud - a relative who some say stole the technique and escaped with it to London.  Inside there are numerous sculptures, eerily lifelike.  Each of us took a photo with someone famous. Stumbling out of the dark museum we came into a long covered shopping passage, one of the more ancient in Paris. There were many unique shops here. After a few minutes of gazing we discovered one that instantly brought Harry Potter to mind. The doorknob was a wooden pole with an iron ball, the inside was intricately decorated in an 1800s style.  Overhead hung a gigantic moose skull, adorned by ominous poles.  It stared down at us. The sign read "Objets de Curiosite - Cannes Anciennes de Collection". The shop was closed tight. Peering through the glass we saw what appeared to be the real-life equivalent of Ollivander's! There were strange devices and elaborate sculptures of odd materials, large vases filled with the strangest figures, and fading ornate tapestries on the walls. We could even make out dusty boxes lining a back room. But it was not Ollivander's from the story. It was the M. G. W. Segas Cane Shop and it was real. We ached to go in and see if one of the canes would kick to life in our hands. Perhaps one day we will return, and discover if there is a cane of holly and phoenix feather in our future.