Let's Explore
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
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Humorous wall and door signs at BHV
Are you looking for that very Made in France gift or souvenir with a touch of humor? Have you thought about a French door sign? Yes or no, visit a quincaillerie (hardware store) or BHV (Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville). The department store, BHV has a hardware department with many humorous wall and door sign choices such as house numbers, door signs, occupation, WhatsApp neighbourhood watch, etc. I have known about these signs for a long time, but it was a question that spurred me to share this information. Paul, a Colleen’s Paris readers, asked recently if BHV, was still selling the blue and red Jour/Nuit (day/night) no parking signs.…
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Rosa Bonheur Looking Into The Souls of Animals
Rosa Bonheur married art—”It is my husband, my world, the air that I breathe. I do not feel anything else. I cannot think of anything else.” For Rosa Bonheur, animals were that art and the eyes of animals were the windows to their souls. The Musée d’Orsay presents this retrospective on her “marriage” for you until January 15, 2023. A friend mentioned wanting to see Rosa Bonheur. A browser search of the name suggested three drinking spots in the Parisian suburbs (guinguettes) named Rosa Bonheur. With more digging, I found out she was a French animal portraitist, sculptor, illustrator, photographer, independent female, admired icon of Buffalo Bill Cody, and first…
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The Salon du Chocolat 2022 Offered Fashion and a Chocolate Bugatti
What do you do with 400 kilos (881 pounds) of chocolate? You build a Bugatti Grand Prix type 35, of course! The Bugatti was one of the numerous creative chocolate sculptures at the Salon du Chocolat’s 27th edition in Paris at Porte de Versailles. The event is always scheduled for the last weekend in October. When I arrived, I headed past the chocolate sculptures, the chocolate tastings, the bean-to-bar stands and straight to the fashion parade of fifteen chocolate-covered dresses and costumes. The announcer was loud and clear, so the event had begun. With two afternoon start times, I would still see everything. At the world’s largest event dedicated to cocoa, I…
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Full Moon Traveling Over the Louvre Pyramid
Were the children at the Louvre on the night of the full moon aware of the Moon Knight? The Egyptian god of light in the night is Khonsu. The name Khonsu means traveler. Khonsu is depicted as a falcon with a moon above its head or as a child in the human form. In the Marvel comics series, the spelling is changed to Khonshu. The avatar for Khonshu is Moon Knight. A few nights ago, a colleague texted me that he was with friends near Saint-Michel. I sent him back a message to watch for the full moon. He wrote they went to Notre Dame and took selfies with the…
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Shocking! Surrealist Schiaparelli at MAD – Paris
When is a fashion house a walking art gallery? When your audacious mentor is fashion designer, Paul Poiret, and two of your contemporary artist friends are surrealists, Man Ray and Salvador Dali. When you walk up the stairs of the Musée des Arts décoratifs (MAD) toward the rays of sunshine, prepare yourself to be transported into a world of design in the shocking surrealist Schiaparelli show at MAD. The pink jacket with those sun rays greets you as you open the exhibition’s door. Welcome to the Elsa Schiaparelli retrospective, the first in 20 years. Shocking! The surreal world of Elsa Schiaparelli (Shocking! Les mondes surréalistes d’Elsa Schiaparelli ) continues until January 22, 2023. Admiring the multitude of form-fitting jackets…
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How to Visit Châtelet’s Tour Saint-Jacques in Paris
If you want to begin your pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, begin at Châtelet and the Tour Saint-Jacques in Paris. Or skip the pilgrimage and let MagmaCultura help you discover the fabulous history of the tower and its uses through the centuries. A specialized guide leads you to one of the most beautiful, panoramic views of Paris! Along the journey up 300 steps, you will also visit a room with tower decoration fragments and a meteorology room that was in use until 2000.
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Life in Paris: Tassin Leather Continues an Upholstery Tradition
Paris neighbourhoods have gone through gentrification significantly in the 2000s. Along Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine n the Bastille is no exception. The furniture manufactures and sales offices have given way to clothing and sports stores. There is hope, however, because La Maison Tassin Cuir (leather) continues an upholstery tradition. Their story includes drama. In 2015, a fire destroyed the company’s artisan workshops. Livelihood, unfinished orders from distant lands and their leather went up in flames. Like a phoenix, however, the Tassin company mobilised and moved into adjoining buildings. The former display room became the workshop. The business offices moved to another neighbourhood. Soon, by relative time standards, the salvaged tools…
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Marcel Proust on His Mother’s Side
The “Marcel Proust-Du côté de la mère” exhibition has it all: Fake news, social, art and theatrical history, fashion and moral transformations and politics. A more in-depth look at Marcel Proust’s writings is illustrated by the use of the period's contemporary painters and photographers throughout the exhibition. Their scenes illustrate Proust’s words. There is so much to this exhibit, I recommend you visit to absorb the family history, Proust's observational history and the intensity of a time machine between the Belle Époque and the modern life of society and the rich contributions of modern Jewish families.
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Exploring the Musée de l’Art moderne and YSL
What happens when your tour guide does not show up at the art museum? You become the beholder of the beauty on your own: Couturier art, painted art, creative food art and chocolate art. When the guide did not show up, a group of us walked into the Musée d’Art moderne (MAM) and found Yves Saint Laurent’s couturier art and explored the MAM on our own to our own delight. After the ad-lib visit, we went downstairs to the Forest restaurant and were surrounded by dancing art on the walls in an imaginary forest. For dessert, two of us went foraging for chocolate and came upon more art: artisan chocolate…
