Check list to see and do
Destinations
Tours, Guides, Walks & Wheels
Museums
Sightseeing
Famous Graves
sightseeing destinations in Paris, around Paris, outside France, within France
Have you walked around Paris and passed right by a water fountain from 1872 without taking a drink? Did you spend two Euros on a bottle of water instead? The non-profit Society of the Wallace Fountains is working hard to preserve…
In May 2019, the Eiffel Tower turned 130; however, why not celebrate the birthday all year long.
To celebrate this event, an interactive Fall Event is underway at the Eiffel Tower until the end of November on the esplanade, under a dome covering about 300 m2, is free and open to everyone. Visitors walk over screens on the ground that reproduce the image of the girders …. which feels likes walking over nothing, experience the monument’s wind resistance and become painters of the Eiffel Tower
Frank Gehry had just left the auditorium in a conversation with Jean-Louis Cohen at the Fondation Louis-Vuitton. After listening to his architectural journey as it relates to the “free and independent” architect Charlotte Perriand, I walked up to him. I thanked him for sharing his thoughts and for his unique design of this Fondation Louis Vuitton museum shaped like a boat, which is the symbol of Paris. He touched my arm and asked if I had seen the Charlotte Perriand exhibit, which had opened the day before.
Musée du Quai Branly is free to visitors until October 11 in memory of Jacques Chirac. A timely exhibition of the acquisitions over the past 20 years opened September 24, two days before former President Chirac passed away. In 1990…
Walking along the narrow rue Galand the sound of a muffled bell ringing reverberated against the walls. Sitting at the café, looking at my watch, it was around 11:20 on a Monday morning. My friend guessed it was a church nearby; I guessed Notre-Dame. Couldn’t be…. perhaps the towers were damaged. The constant soft ringing was not signalling the quarter, half or full hour. Earlier I had heard on French television the time for the funeral ceremony that would pass from Hôtel des Invalides to Saint-Sulpice. We walked toward Notre-Dame from where the mystery sound originated. Emmanuel, the 300 year old was ringing. The ringing was manually orchestrated. The first time since the end of the Second World War.
Take a guided visit until October 13, of residential apartments in the Hôtel de Marle in the Marais (l’Institute Suédois). The tours are usually given in French. If you wish another language, like English, show up an hour before. Tours are Wednesday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4pm. Go to reception at 3 pm and request an English tour. The Swedish Institute will arrange a guide for the exhibition “Hem fois 6” (Feel at home in 6 different apartments).
I came across an anniversary for all who enjoy the peace and quiet and sculptures of Paris cemeteries. One of the out of the ordinary is the Cemetery for the Dogs (Cimetière des chiens) on my list of Paris cemeteries and maps from an older Colleen’s Paris post. The city of Asnières-sur-Seine is celebrating the 120th anniversary the third weekend in September, which is also the annual Journées européennes du patrimoine (Heritage Days in Europe).
The upside down paddles on the sidewalks around Paris are history markers of the city. The Philippe Starck-designed paddles are in French. When walking and not speaking French you can read them. Shocking? No. Simply install the Google Translate application…
Was there a single event that led to Romanticism? Where did it begin? You could say the era Enlightenment and war brought on Romanticism. It started in Germany. The Petit Palais’s latest exhibition, Paris Romantique (1815-1848) until September 15, is one of a two-part exhibition. The second part takes place at the Musée de la Vie Romantique. Initially, I went to the exhibition out of curiosity; drawn to this period of emotional art. I found Romantic stylings of the Gothic, Middle Ages and Renaissance decor, women artists, writers, composers, sculptors, elements of the medieval and the erotic, theatre and fashion. I left Googling the whole story, its influences, philosophical connections and realised that between wars, there is always a period experimentation (think 1920s and 1930s).
