A Trio of Lessor Known Museums

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I slept very well last night, and longer than planned. The alarm was set for 6 am, but for some reason did not go off, or so I thought. What I did not know was that it did not go off and I did not hear it, and sneaky Jerry changed it to 7, so when I did hear it, I thought it was 6 but it was really 7. In any event we got a bit more sleep, much needed of course and a later start then planed. It all worked out in the end because as it turned out are day was not that jammed packed.

Fresh Strawberries

Now any one that knows me, also knows that I am the pickiest person on earth when it comes to strawberries. I am from the land of the best strawberries in the world, Oregon. Those of you, and you know who you are, that live there are shaking your head in agreement as you read this, I know you are. However, French strawberries are a pretty close second. Yesterday, Jerry stopped at the fruit stand on Rue Cler and bought some fresh local strawberries. Today we had half of them with our morning breakfast. They were so very delicious. The other half is saved for tomorrow at breakfast. We were the last ones at breakfast this morning and they did not have enough croissants, a sin, but one of the maids/servers ran to the local boulangerie and bought just one more for us, so we each had an entire croissant.

When we finally left for the day it was a little after 10. It was another gorgeous day in Paris, not a cloud in the sky, no humidity, a light breeze and in the mid 70’s. Today the schedule contained three off the beaten path museums, starting with the Musee de Cluny (Musee National du Moyen-Age), the National Museum of the Middle Ages.

Musee de Cluny

The Hotel de Cluny, which was built on top of the ruins of Roman baths, was originally built for the abbot of Cluny. This abbot was the leader of the mightiest monastery in France. It was built in the 15^th century, today much of it is in ruins, but the interior has been converted to a small museum dedicated to the middle ages. It has been a museum since 1844. The main reason to go t this museum is to see Dame a la Licorne (Lady of the Unicorn) tapestries. This is a serious of six tapestries is dedicated to the 5 human senses, touch, taste, smell, hearing and site. The six no one is sure what it truly represents, some say intelligence or the renouncement of the other five. My own interpretation is that it is a representation of intuition, or the sense of what is to come.

The museum it self is located on the edge of the Latin Quarter and near the Sorbonne. It takes all of 45 minutes to go through the entire museum and if you have the Paris Pass, then the tapestries are along worth the trip.

Musee Gustav Moreau

From the Latin Quarter in the 6^th, we headed to the 9^th near Pigalle to the former town house, now museum of Gustav Moreau. Before this trip I had no idea who he was or what genre of art was his forte. Now I know that he is known as the high priest of the Symbolist movement. He lived in from 1828 to 1898 or most of the 19^th century. His town house is dedicated to his art and that of his friends. To be honest, most of the art was very dark and not really my taste. What I did like about the museum was a chance to see how one might live during that time period. The first floor contains his apartments and the art he loved to surround himself with. It would appear he may have been an early hoarder, as there was hardly an empty space on the walls or any flat service. The top two floors were his studios. There was a great spiral stair case leading from the second to third floor. Again, this is included on the Paris Pass (Museum Pass) and it is a good chance to see how people actually lived and the inside of structures you normally only get to see on the outside. I probably would not go again, but it was a new experience and in a part of Paris we have never been.

Speaking of the neighborhood, it was pretty upscale, with several high-priced lawyer’s in the area. It also is the start of the assent up the hill towards Montmartre. If you continue to much further, you will run in to the full on Pigalle neighborhood which is where the seedier side of Parisians life begins.

By this time, it was around 2 and time for lunch. We walked a few blocks further to Place Sainte George and had lunch at an infamous side walk café. We ate inside as it was pretty crowded outside. We were seated at a great window table looking out at the outside seating. A great opportunity for people watching. The table directly outside of us was an American mother and her two daughters. Could not hear anything they were saying, but the daughters looked over their smoking mother, and the mother was having a great time with her cigarettes and white wine.

Lunch was simple but very French. Jerry had a classic Niçoise Salad (a few two many anchovies) and I had a Sainte George Salad, arugula, avocado, lox, tomatoes (not as good as Italy) and a poached egg over the top. There was also a very nice crème fraiche chive sauce for the lox. We also shared a French version of deviled eggs, here it was a boiled egg with mayo on top, and no Jerry did not eat any of it. Finally, it was Friday, which means it is Sancerre Friday, so we had a carafe of Sancerre with our lunch.

We had a leisurely lunch and enjoyed the wine and watching the people going buy. Most of the patrons were locals. It is always a good sign when you choose a place that the locals actually eat at, lets you know that it is fairly decent and reasonably priced.

Lunch now over, it was time to head to our final Museum of the day. We hopped on the metro and were off to the Monceau area in the 8^th. This is a very upscale section of Paris with a nice park in the center of the district. The Metro stop was at the entrance of the park and we needed to walk through the part to get to our next museum. It was a great day to be in the park, as evidence by the Parisians basking in the sun everywhere. Jerry has been on mission since we arrived to find the perfect chestnut tree in bloom, (“April in Paris”) he has taken a couple of shots and did so again today, but has still not found the perfect bloom.

It was a nice stroll through the park and a short walk from there to Musee Nissim de Camondo. This is a Mansion that is on the edge of the Park. The house has a tragic story behind it. Moise de Camondo, who was born in Istanbul to a successful banking family had the mansion built in 1911 in the style of the Petit Trianon at Versailles (and it did resemble it very much, but not quite as grand). The life of Moise was not happy, his wife left him after 5 years of marriage, his only son died in WWI. Moise died in 1935 and left the mansion and the contents to the state as a museum and named after his son. After his death, his only daughter and grandchildren were murdered at Auschwitz. This ended the Camondo line and the name but certainly not his legacy or mansion died out.

The house continues to be furnished with the original furnishings. The highlight for me was the kitchen on the ground floor. It is rare that a Mansion or old house has the kitchen still intact. This look to be a fully functional kitchen, compete with chef’s office and staff dinning room. I wanted to snatch the copper pots hanging from the wall to take home, but how would I not be noticed?

Our trio of lessor known museums complete we headed for home, the metro would take us across the Seine and offer us a first real look at the Eifel Tower. It was a nice quite day of vesting off the beaten track museums. We started the day in the middle ages, then to the 19^th century and ending in the 20^th century, quite a bit of time travel for a day in Paris.

When we walking back to the hotel, it dawned on me that I had forgotten to pack a tie and tonight’s dinner required a suit and tie. We stopped at the store to buy a bottle of chilled Sancerre and then walked to the end of Rue Cler were we were lucky to find a men’s shop. The shop keeper wanted to sell me everything in the store, but I held firm and just purchased the tie I needed for tonight.

Back in the room, we relaxed with our Sancerre and I began this post. Typically, I would not post this until after dinner. But for the first time in my blogging history dinner will be getting its one separate blog entry.

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Photos

Musee Cluny
Middle Ages Museum

Comments

[Shari]

I was thinking if you took those copper pots, you’d get a look inside a Pariasian jail. That would ALSO be a new experience, right? Glad you resisted. All of those museums sound excellent...and I want that STUDY! And some strawberries. Still have to wait about 6 more weeks for those.

[Connie Craddock]

Strawberries
Good to know that some place has fresh strawberries nearly as good as Oregon! I'm sure that you were missing the days of picking them yourself! The weather sounds lovely! So happy to hear you are having an enjoyable time! You must be doing well with all of the walking.