I have been traveling to Paris with some frequency as of late and I have compiled a %26quot;Top Ten%26quot; list of some of the more obscure sights to see. Well, actually I have only listed 6 here. I am hoping some of you can fill up the rest of the list.
1. Musee Marmottan: Tired of the madness and crowds of the Orsay? Try this gem if you love Monet in a serene quiet setting. Not on the Museum Pass.
2. Cite des Sciences et l%26#39;Industrie: This 3/4 billion dollar science museum is probably the world%26#39;s best. I thought I would spend an hour here. A day is probably not long enough.
3. Musee Arts et Metiers: Machines, machines and more amazing machines. The French infer that it was them who invented TV, the automobile, the PC, the plane. These and some other very amazing machines are on display here including Edison%26#39;s phonographs and a Cray Supercomputer.
4. Rue des Martryrs: Need a break from the touristy Marais? Stroll down this street on a Sunday morning for a feel of what Paris is really like.
5. Musee Cluny: Not really a lesser known sight but they have some beautiful tapestries and objects from the middle ages. You can see some of the stained glass from some of France%26#39;s most favorite cathedrals up close.
6. Musee l%26#39;Armee: Right behind Napoleon%26#39;s tomb. Just a wonderful display, especially the one on WW II. Find out how de Gaulle won the war.
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Hey, that%26#39;s not 10 ! but I agree wholeheartedly about Arts et Metiers (we didn%26#39;t finish, have to go back) and Musee de l%26#39;Armee, very interesting. Both very suitable as %26#39;antidote%26#39; to too many paintings and statues.
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-Mus��e de Bible. 21 Rue d���Assas. 6��me. It%26#39;s free on Saturdays.
-Rue de Rome by Gare St Lazare has some of the most tremendous selections of fine stringed instruments that I%26#39;ve seen anywhere in the world. Bernard Sabatier%26#39;s shop is particularly interesting with his ergonomic violas.
-I normally check in with L%26#39;Officiel des Spectacles and see what nice music concerts I can catch. Paris has one of the most active performance communities that I%26#39;ve seen anywhere in the world. It%26#39;s a shame that hardly anybody on this forum heads to Paris to catch great performances.
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OK, here%26#39;s a couple more, now you have %26quot;10%26quot;...
%26lt;%26gt;Tour Montparnasse - terrance on 59th floor for great Paris panorama. (about 8Euro)
www.tourmontparnasse56.com
%26lt;%26gt;Sounds naughty but this is a legitimate museum and fun for adult evenings:
Musee d%26#39;Erotisme, 72, boulevard de Clichy 75018, Subway : Blanche
www.musee-erotisme.com
parisinfo.com/…detail
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Here%26#39;s something else that might be kind of fun for an American--go to a movie theater in France and watch an American movie flick. It%26#39;s especially interesting when it%26#39;s all dubbed in French. However, you can do this easily at home now with DVDs... Nothing beats watching Dances with Wolves on an IMAX in Brussels though. When the Indians start speaking, you get two sets of subtitles--French %26amp; Flemish.
Some European movie theaters are a completely different experience than American movie theaters. You get carpet on the floor instead of sticky soda pop residue and other garbage. Your drinks come in crystal. You get an intermission. There%26#39;s a bar and cafe just outside in the hallway. Waiters and waitresses in tuxedos come to deliver drinks to you. You have to dress-up too!
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Darth-
How cool is that!!!! We need more of that over here!!!!
How much is a ticket to the movies in Paris?
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To DarthAnounimys:
You probably missed my question I posted some 3 days ago of performances, musicals, circus in Paris. I hoped to go to a ballet, and there is nothing (!) during those 2 weeks I %26#39;m going to stay. There is a great opera %26quot;Boris Godunov%26quot;, don%26#39;t want to go on that one. Can you advise any websites-classic concerts or something? Good musicals?
Thank you!
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Darth -
When I was a photographer in Washington, DC 1961-63
I would go to the Circle Theater on 23rd and Pennsylvania.
It was 90 cents for two foreign flicks with expresso coffee at intermission.
The first two movies I saw there were %26quot;The Red Balloon%26quot;
and %26quot;Don%26#39;t Shoot the Piano Player%26quot;.
A group in front of me would laugh about 3 seconds
before the rest of us. I realized they weren%26#39;t reading
the subtitles; they were from the French Embassy.
That was cool.
Total agreement with pixfield about Marmatton and Cluny.
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I don%26#39;t know anything about ballets...go to Moscow?
For other live performance venues, I confess to now only knowing how to pick-up a copy of L%26#39;Officiel des Spectacles from a Paris newstand when I get to town. It%26#39;s a weekly guide of sorts.
There used to be an outstanding website pariscope.fr but it hasn%26#39;t functioned in a couple years. I wish it would return. I%26#39;d sure like to have forecasts like that again!
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I think your top 6 out of ten are all great picks. The Marmottan and the Cluny are probably my favorite places in Paris - so relaxed compared to the %26quot;Big Two.%26quot;
I%26#39;ll add a few here maybe taking you past your ten, but hey this is my list and I can start anew regardless of the fact that at least four of your six would certainly make my top ten:
1. Musee Nissim de Camondo: beautiful mansion filled with superb 18th century furniture and tapestries.
2. Musee Jacquemart-Andre: another grand Parisian mansion housing a superb collection of Renaissance and 17th and 18th century art, including Uccello%26#39;s magnificent St. George and the Dragon.
3. The Shoa Memorial: along with the Memorial de la Deportation, the most moving places I have been in Paris.
4. Musee des Arts Decoratifs: a wonderfully evocative panorama of French taste and form - including a reconstruction of Jeanne Lanvin%26#39;s apartment.
5. Musee Cognacq-Jay: more 18th century art, furniture and objets d%26#39;art in a fine Marais mansion.
6. Musee Picasso: Not really a %26quot;lesser known sight%26quot; but then neither is the Musee de l%26#39;Armee. :%26lt;) (And I loved the de Gaulle remark! Have you seen Churchill%26#39;s War Rooms in London?)
That%26#39;s enough. With four of your six that makes ten. I could have added more. Le Musee de l%26#39;Assistance Publique, for example. (OK, so I%26#39;m kidding about that one - but it does exist, as does the Musee des Lunettes (Spectacle Museum)...)
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Here%26#39;s some more...
Museum of Music...........Cite de la Musique....ave. Jean Jauris, Parc de la Villette, on the south side of the park shared by cite de la Science. An outstanding collection of instruments displayed in a fantastic manner. Much music inside the instrument display and around its section of the park. And the park between the two Cites is great too.
And a stop to see the the ancient Roman ampitheatre on rue Monge....Arenes de Lutece....is worth it....still in use.
Musee de la Romantique in the 18th south of the Moulin Rouge area. Much of George Sand%26#39;s life there plus much art...2 buildings, interesting old residence.
Institute de Monde Arab on the Seine west of gare d%26#39; Austerlitz..Nice view from top floor.
Jardin des plantes has several interesting buildings to tour. Near Institute de Monde and gare Austerlitz. Nice park and zoo too.
Palais de la Decouverte on the Seine and blvd Roosevelt...right bank. Great old building with hands on museum mostly for children.
Chateau de Vincennes. Outside the city a bit on the eastern edge of the Bois de Vincennes. Almost a city and in the process of continuous restoration.
St. Denis Cathederal...Due north, just outside the city. Almost all the kings and queens of France buried there from Clovis on. Tour behind the altar extremely interesting.
And in September (forgotten the name of the day), Paris opens many buildings not usually opened to the public....many all over the city.
