welltraveledbrit

This week we've had snow which is now gone and I've been visiting more museums including L'Orangerie which I get into with my D'Orsay pass, The Nissam Camodo, The Victor Hugo Museum on the Place du Voges (a free museum run by the city of Paris) and the Shoah Memorial here in the Marais.

http://www.memorialdelashoah.org/index.php/en/
http://www.museevictorhugo.fr/
http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/engl...e-camondo-742/

The Victor Hugo Museum is worth visiting if you're a fan, or if you just want to get a chance to get into one of the houses and to see the Place du Voges from the apartment. The interior is reconstructed with pictures and furniture collected after Hugo's death but it feels a little lifeless.

The Memorial of the Shoah was fascinating. It's right around the corner from where we're staying. I hadn't realized that the museum downstairs was quite so extensive. Upstairs is a wall with the names of those deported from France and downstairs the museum describe what happened to the jewish community including the place of Jews in France and the diversity of the Jewish population ( highly assimilated families and newly arrived Yiddish speaking immigrants who settled in the Marais). There's good signage in English though I wished I could have understood some of the audio visuals including personal testimonials. Highly recommended.

I found the Shoah Memorial particularly poignant after visiting the wonderful Nissim Camondo Museum near the park Monceau and run by the Arts Decoratif. This museum was donated to the state by the collector in memory of his son who died in the First World War. It's a great place if you like house museums and has a wonderful collection of 18th century French decorative arts. Following this amazing donation to the state and after his subsequent death his daughter ,her husband and their two children were all deported and died at Auschwitz. Like so many they believed they would be protected as French citizens and didn't flee despite having the means to make this possible.

We're off to the national Immigration Museum this afternoon out in Porte Doree.

On the blog I've posted on the Batobus and the Marmotten-Monet museum with up coming posts on our day in St. Denis.
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...-on-seine.html
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...et-museum.html

yestravel

You have been busy - I envy you. The story behind the Nissim Camondo family was quite touching.

Another very good memorial to the Holocaust is at Pere Lachaise cemetery. From of Highlights report - "the monuments to those murdered in Nazi camps during the Second World War – they’re on the outer perimeter near the east side – are truly moving."

will need to check out your blog again.
Keep exploring and writing about it -- love reading it.

latedaytraveler

Hi again Welltraveledbrit,

Really enjoying your blog and pics, especially your coverage of the Musee Jaquemart Andre which I missed on my visit to Paris last summer. I agree, “I always enjoy private collections, particularly when they are preserved in period interiors.”

Reading about your visit to the Camondo, Marottan-Monet, and Victor Hugo museums brought back great memories.

Please continue to share. Your talent for describing these many museums, along with the photos, is unique.

welltraveledbrit

Thanks for the encouragement.

This weekend we enjoyed Museum of Immigration out in Porte Doreeas, as much for the building as for the sense of the diversity of the French experience in the modern period. Currently they have an interesting exhibit on Algerian immigrant between the 50's and 60's though there's no signage in English. very enlightening about the conditions immigrants found here. The building is an Art Deco masterpiece built for a colonial exhibition and now housing the aquarium and the National Museum of Immigration. There are some lovely murals (propaganda extolling the virtues of France to the colonies) and the facade is incredible. There's a lovely walk back into the center of of town via the Promenade des Plantees made for an nice day out. The walkway is reminiscent of the High-line in Manhattan, a renovation of old train tracks.

I have my mother and two aunts visiting ( all between their mid 70s and mid 80s) so I have my hands full right now!

welltraveledbrit

I've been a little preoccupied with visitors but Just to say I've posted some pictures on the day out in St Denis. There's a post on the Cathedral and a walk along the canal.

http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...cathedral.html
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...-st-denis.html

welltraveledbrit

I've been keeping myself busy here in Paris.

My mother and aunts had a successful visit and I thought it might be worth noting Paris can be very doable for those with reduced mobility though it means lots of taxis and visits to smaller museums which are less overwhelmed with people. They enjoyed the Jaquemart Andre and the Marmottan- Monet as well as braving the crowds at the Pompidou - luckily I could use my pass to skip the lines! At the Pomipidou we headed to the new Eileen Gray exhibit (Irish interior designer) which I enjoyed. Thankfully it's not a blockbuster exhibit, at the Dali one (running concurrently but now over) there were lines of and hour and a half, crazy. Dali himself would have loved it!

They stayed around the corner at the Hotel Bretonniere where they were very well treated. The hotel has a Junior Suite which is the size of a small apartment and was perfect. I like this place, it has an old fashioned style with exposed beams and damask curtains and they loved it.

I took a walk with Paris Walks this week, focused on the Latin Quarter. The guide was entertaining and it's amazing how having someone else point things out makes you see things on streets that you've ignored several times while walking past. The group wasn't too big but they''ll probably keep growing as we go into the spring. Personally I'd prefer a little more historical depth but the walks are interesting and they're fairly inexpensive at 12 euro. I was particularly interested to learn about the Bouquinistes who sell their wares from the distinctive green wooden cases along the Seine. Apparently these pitches were originally given to war veterans and there are requirements as to how often they open (at least four times a week) and what they can sell. Astonishingly they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the pitches cost less than 200 euro per year!

I've finally posted my first post on the Palais de la Porte Dorée, it's the wonderful Art Deco building I mentioned above, so if you're interested in seeing some pictures have a look here...

http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...ree-paris.html

I also posted something on Rubens' history cycle painted for Catherine de Medici and now hanging in the Louvre which I mentioned above. This topic is part of the lecture series I've been following.
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...in-louvre.html

chutney

Thanks for posting the links to your trip blog. I really enjoyed the Ruben-Midici post.
I'm enjoying following your adventures in Paris.

welltraveledbrit

Thanks Chutney,
I greatly appreciate the encouragement and I'm glad you enjoyed the Medici post, I though it might be a bit dry but I've been fascinated by the things I've learnt and wanted to share them.

I'm thinking I'll have time to do some more of these art posts with pictures when I get home in June. I really want to do one on the newly opened Islamic Gallery at the Louvre and I should have done one on the Gulbenkian Museum which was fascinating at the beginning of our trip in Lisbon.

Cathinjoetown

This is a wonderful report, have just skimmed the surface so signing on to catch up.

yestravel

Continuing to live vicariously thru your reports here and your blog. Happy your visit with your Mother and Aunt went well. We stayed at that hotel for a couple of early trips to Paris way back when -- nice place with surprisingly large rooms.

yestravel

Continuing to live vicariously thru your reports here and your blog. Nice that your visit with your Mother and Aunt went well. We stayed at Hotel de la Bretonniere during a couple of early trips to Paris way back when -- nice place with surprisingly large rooms.

welltraveledbrit

Once again I've been busy with visitor and another one arrives today! But I just wanted to post

I was in the 19th and 20th Arrondissements yesterday on another walk (Buttes Chaument, canal, Belleville)with a wonderful woman I met through the Paris Greeters organization. I highly recommend you contact them if you have time to spend a morning or an afternoon with one of their volunteers. It's an amazing thing meeting someone who will happily show you there town just for the fun of it, yes for free. Make sure to contact them a few weeks before you arrive.
http://www.parisgreeters.fr/?lang=en

I also wanted to let you know about a post I've finally got around to putting up on my blog about La Fourchette which several people have of course mentioned on Fodors. It's a great resource, not just for making online restaurant reservations in Paris, but also for restaurant discounts which can be considerable.

I've listed seven restaurants we've enjoyed with reductions of up to forty percent which is great!
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...ourchette.html

I've also posted on the Promenade des Plantees and the Immigration Museum
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...-plantees.html
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...stoire-de.html

I'm a little behind but I'll have some upcoming posts on Chantilly and possibly St Germain de Laye and the Maurice Denis Museum which we visited this week. I'm hoping to make it to the Haute Couture show at the Hotel du Ville sometime soon and like everyone in Paris I'm waiting for the warmer weather to come soon.

TDudette

Wonderful pictures and TR. Hope you make it to the Haute Couture show--for the sake of all of us who will be virtually going with you!

lowcountrycarol

How lucky you are to be on such an extended vacation. Those of us without an EU passport envy the time you can stay. Your report is enjoyable reading.

TPAYT

I am so enjoying your adventures in Paris.
More please!

welltraveledbrit

Thanks for the encouragement! I'll let you know about the Couture show if I make it this week. I'm off on a Paris Walks tour on Chanel on Tuesday so it would give me a theme for the week! Perhaps it's time to go to the fashion show at the Arts Decoratif too before it ends April 15th "Fashioning Fashion: Two Centuries of European Fashion 1700–1915".

So back to things we have actually done...Though I haven't yet blogged on what we've been up to in the last week i thought I would give a quick report here.

We finally made it to the Museum of the Art and History of Judaism which has a great photographic show on the Spanish Civil War with pictures by Capa, Taro and Chim. It's a wonderful exhibit running through the end of May. The negatives had been lost for decades and were found in Mexico City, hence the name of the show, "La Valise Mexicaine". I'm looking forward to seeing the permanent collection before we leave.
http://www.mahj.org/fr/index.php

We took the RER out to St. Gemain-en-Laye a town to the west of Paris and now a wealthy suburb, this aint what they mean when they say Banlieue! French Mystique Tours suggested it above (thank you!) and we followed a walking tour from one of our books. Unfortunately it was a dull grey day and the garden by Le Note would have been better in sunny weather. I intend to go back when it's a little warmer. We did visit the Archeology Museum which is piled high with stuff but were more interested in the Musee Departemental Maurice Denis
http://www.musee-mauricedenis.fr/

We'd seen an art show on the Nabis a few years ago and were interested to see more of Denis' work along with paintings by Vuillard, Bonnard and others. The website gives you a comprehensive view of the collection.
http://www.musee-mauricedenis.fr/

It's the Paris Marathon today and the sun has obligingly come out though it looks like it will be dull and possibly wet for the rest of the week. I'd better get going and enjoy the sunshine while it's here, no I'm not leaping up to join the marathon!

welltraveledbrit

I've finally posted some pictures of the amazing murals in the Palais de la Porte Dorée on the blog... but now I must get out in the sunshine while it lasts!

http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr/2...-la-porte.html

skatterfly

Just discovered your posts here and your blog. So jealous of your time there, and getting lots of good info and ideas from your blog.

welltraveledbrit

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm so glad that the posts and blog are useful. It's my only way to "pay back" everyone who has helped us have so many great experiences fueled by their anonymous advice.

welltraveledbrit

So it has ben another week waiting for spring here in Paris though I must admit the magnolias are blooming in the Palais Royale garden which is encouraging. I've been doing lots of walks and have been running my own mini fashion week with a visit to the Haute Couture show at the Hotel du Ville and a Chanel Walk with Paris Walks earlier in the week. I recommend both, the show at the Hotel du Ville is free and they have LOTS of gowns on show, everything from Worth to contemporary pieces. It is busy on Saturdays but the line was about 20 minutes on a midweek afternoon.

http://www.paris.fr/english/english/...006_port_19237

The Chanel Walk was very informative and the group is smaller than their usual walks as you have to sign up in advance and it's 20 euro instead of the usual 12, though very much worth it IMHO.
Yesterday we went to Notre Dame for a concert of Gregorian chants which was a great way to see the cathedral at night.

If you'd like to take a stroll with me around Les Halles you can check out my latest blog post with pictures, I do love this area.
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.fr