John and I had a moment a few days before we left, where we both said, "I'm so glad you are my honey." We'd been talking about museums and how several guidebooks and friends had warned us not to overdo it. We bought the six day museum pass (the museum pass, by the way, not only got us into all these museums on one price, but it also jumped us to the front of the lines) and were planning on two museums a day. Our friends tried to dissuade us, but, as we said to each other, "What else could we possibly want to do?" That's a bit of a joke, as you can see by the amount of cafes we luxuriated in, the window-shopping, and the dancing, but it does speak to what brings us both spiritual and intellectual pleasure.

Jewish Museum of Art and History

The security was tight at all the museums, but it was tightest here. No surprise. I had not been to this museum when I lived in Paris because I think it was only a year old at the time. We did go with Rose on the "baby ambassador to Europe" trip we took when she was 9 months old. I remember wandering through the exhibits with her in the front pack. Basically, this museum does not rock my world. It has lots of Judaica--look a Purim puppet, look a megilla--but not a lot of French Jewish history. There was one small exhibit about the deportation of Jews during WWII and one small section on the Dreyfus affair. My favorite exhibit was a series of photos of living Parisian Jews along with comments from them about their lives. One woman talked about how the influx of North African Jews, and their pride in their identity, had changed how she saw herself. I hadn't known about that and in general found the whole struggle between French and Jewish identity fascinating.

Picasso Museum

John and I both loved this museum. It gave me chills. We rented the audio guide (We ended up doing so at most of the museums, and they were very helpful) and took our time learning about this genius. Can you believe how many mediums he could work in? In one room we saw his drawings of a sculpture and then the actual sculpture in metal work. In another room we saw dozens of drawings of a woman's head and then the final decision in clay. I loved how this museum showed us his process. I've never been as fond of Picasso as the Impressionists, but this museum helped me understand better what he was doing intellectually, and I just liked it, like this guitar with nails coming out https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CMEzPXmWoAA1JaP.jpg Not pretty but challenging.

Rodin Museum

Those who know me know I've loved Rodin my whole life. This museum visit wasn't eye opening like Picasso, but it was fulfilling. We took a leisurely walk through the gardens as well as the house. I like what his art has to say about what it means to be human. What does it mean that the Thinker is on the Gates of Hell? Why are two hands a cathedral? This time I was most moved by Camille Claudel's work. The craft of sculpting onyx marble amazes me.

L'Orangerie

Can you believe I've never been to the L'Orangerie? With our fast pass tickets, we could show up late, jump to the front of the line, and see the Monets in their circular rooms. It's two entire rooms of water lilies from dawn to dusk. Even with all the tourists and people posing in front of the paintings, their magic comes through. I just sat for awhile and went underwater with Monet. My student had just written a paper on Monet's gardens and his craft, so I could appreciate the process as well as the beauty. This man changed how we see the world. I love seeing it this way. At one point on our walks, the sky was hazy, the streets disappeared around corners, and John and I both felt like we were walking through a Monet painting.

The Louvre

The Louvre was a slog. It's just so massive--massive buildings, massive crowds, massive paintings. And I'm going to say something really stupid here, but I don't like the art in the Louvre. I know how stupid that sounds given the massive breadth of work the Louvre offers. Maybe a more accurate statement would be I don't have the background to appreciate most of this art. I couldn't just look at Michelangelo's "Slaves" and get as much as I wanted from them. What was happening in sculpture before them? What made Michelangelo groundbreaking? What is the religious/historical/political context for this art? Where did art go because of this work? I wanted so much more.

The audio guides had this cool feature that they knew where you were in the museum, so whenever you walked into a new section, they would start talking and give you an overview. I did see the Mona Lisa and despite the obnoxious crowds all trying to get a selfie with her, she was powerful and intriguing. I did see Venus de Milos, which is good, since I wrote a poem about her recently. Mostly, we wandered around. A friend had recommended the Islamic art section, so we went there. Again, fine, but not enough background knowledge to dig in. We did recognize one piece that we have in our home.

My favorite part ended up being the large French art. That is what that section of the gallery is called "Large Format French Paintings." Many were done in the early 1800's, so right before the periods I do know about. I enjoyed listening to the mini art history lectures on them.

We spent four hours in the Louvre, though that did include lunch. I think we saw one wing of one gallery, or at least that's how it felt.

the Archeological Crypt of the Parvis of Notre-Dame

This place was so cool. I think it's new since the last time I was in Paris. It's under the Louvre, and it shows the early history of Paris through stones and coins. Over dinner, I was telling Samuel about what my dad does, understand the culture, economics, and politics of an ancient civilization through looking at its coins, and then here I was in this exhibit the next day where they did exactly that. It was like numismatics 101 with gold coins telling the history of the Parisii. Gold doesn't tarnish, so the coins looked pristine. I was more moved by the actual stones from the 3rd century. They were massive. I highly recommend this little museum.

Mémorial des Martyrs de la Deportation

At the train station in Sevres our first day, we got chatting with some random American. When he heard we were going to the Jewish Museum of Art and History, he asked if we were Jewish, told us he was the one non-Jewish member of his family, and recommended this site. I remembered it from our Rose trip, but it is vastly improved. It's a very powerful memorial. One of the questions on Samuel's baccalaureate exam is "How has France's perception of WWII changed from then until now?" At first, France wanted to pretend there were no collaborators and no Vichy compliance. I think he said that started to change after DeGaulle died. I appreciated how the memorial gave honor to the resistance fighters as well as all the Jews who were murdered. Various quotes are carved into white bricks with red ink. It looks like they are written in blood.

Musee d'Orsey

Impressionism is my favorite style of painting, and this is my favorite museum.
Per Allison's advice, we started at the top, backwards historically but where all my favorites are. It was lovely, moving, fascinating. . .yeah, I like this style. We spent four hours here as well.

Musee Nassim de Camondo

Several people recommended this museum, but I did not like it. It's a very rich man's home, full of his furniture. If you like Downton Abbey, you might enjoy. I certainly found the social issues, like the how a table was set and cleared, interesting. John has taught me to enjoy decorative arts, so I'm not against appreciating a table or chair, but it annoyed me that this man was obsessed with the mid 18th century, so all the furniture was of that era. It just felt phony to me. Also, the museum failed to tell the Jewish story. Camondo was Jewish, very rich, and moved in high society. How did he get rich? How does that fit with the larger picture of Jews in Europe? How was it possible for a Jewish man to integrate into high society? And, the death dates for the grandchildren are 1943. What was their Holocaust story? The museum is across the street from the Parc Monceau, so it gave us an excuse to explore another part of the city.

Versailles

We made a last minute decision to go to Versailles, caught the fast train and planned to hang out in the gardens for a couple hours. But, since the castle was still open, we went there first. Amazingly, there is no security line when you show up 45 minutes before closing. We did this museum on rollerblades. Well, not literally, but we did not buy the audio guide, did not stop and think about why the king wanted to be displayed as. . .actually I don't know because I wasn't paying attention. We just enjoyed the opulence and majesty of it all. It dazzled us.

Our garden plan was thwarted though because they were charging an extra fee for a musical and firework display several hours later. Interestingly, this only happened to us a couple times. We didn't enter Notre Dame because of a long line, didn't get to eat at recommended café because it didn't open on our schedule, and we had to go back to Nancy's favorite patisserie because it was closed Wednesday. Travel is vastly like this, but it didn't really happen much. Frankly, I credit the museum pass and all the line jumping for such a smooth visit.

The Cluny

We were pretty museumed out by this point, but since it was free, we could just pop in and spend time with the tapestries of the lady and the unicorn. I was surprisingly awed and moved by them.

What we didn't see: Notre Dame, Giverny, Chartres, Rouen, Marmaton, . . .oh, there were lots. But we saw enough that I feel full of art.