Well we are back in one of our favorite cities in the world - Paris! We're actually here for a cruise to Normandy, but we arrived a day early so Kevin found us a great hotel within walking distance of the Palais Garnier Opera House. We aren't alone this time around; Kevin's mom Delaine has joined us for this cruise adventure.
None of us seemed to be too jetlagged after checking in, so we decided to walk over to the Galeries Lafayette shopping mall to see the beautiful glass-domed ceiling.
Despite having seven floors of luxury shops and boutiques, we weren't very tempted to purchase anything at the Galeries Lafayette. Instead we headed to the roof to check out the views of Paris. From there we could see the back side of the Opera just across the street.
Around dinnertime, we took a taxi to the Musée Jacquemart-André just down the street from our hotel. Built in the 1860s, this private mansion was home to Édouard André and his wife Nélie Jacquemart, both very serious art collectors. It's a beautiful space inside with many different rooms showcasing their collection. When Nélie died in 1913, her will left the house and its collection to the Institut de France so that the artworks could be seen by the most people possible.
We weren't just there for the culture, we were also pretty hungry. There is a restaurant on-site but because we were there during the museum's Friday evening "Soiree", we were able to sit outside in the courtyard and listen to some live music while indulging in a generous charcuterie board
On Saturday morning, we walked over to the Opera Garnier and braved the very convoluted queue with our timed tickets in hand for a 10:30 am tour. It was a bit stressful to navigate the huge crowd of tourists waiting at the gate but once we got inside we immediately felt the stately calm wash over us. The immense grand staircase made it seem like there was no crowd at all even with all the people everywhere. It's really something else!
Our tour took us into the opulent auditorium, where we were able to sit back in the red velvet seats and gaze up at the beautiful ceiling painted by Marc Chagall in 1964. It is actually installed on a removable frame so that the original 1870s painted ceiling can be restored (there is still a minor ongoing controversy about the Chagall ceiling being out-of-place).
The final stop on the Opera tour was the Grand Foyer, an almost overwhelmingly large space with gilding on every surface that isn't painted. The ceiling is so crowded with art that it was hard to know where to look.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped in again at Galeries Lafayette for a nice lunch before heading over to the cruise port to drop off our bags. Official cruise check-in wasn't until 3pm so our rooms weren't ready and we had a few hours to kill. Just on the other side of the river is the delightful Musée Marmottan Monet. This museum is a bit off the beaten path so it doesn't usually have big crowds. The last owner, Paul Marmottan, willed the house and its original contents to the Académie des Beaux-Arts for it to be turned into a museum in 1932. Later, in 1966 the youngest son of painter Claude Monet died and left his father's entire personal art collection to the Marmottan.
Over a hundred of Monet's Impressionist works were given to the Museum, and based on that initial gift other benefactors also left their valuable Impressionist collections to the Marmottan. It is now also home to at least 25 paintings by Berthe Morisot and various works by other Impressionists such as Corot, Degas, and Manet. But one of the most-loved paintings here is still a Monet -- his "Impression, Sunrise" which outraged the 1870s art establishment at the time and gave the Impressionist movement its name.
After that jam-packed couple of days, we were all ready to check in for our cruise and let someone else do all the planning, driving/sailing, and tour booking for us!
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