Giverny Update

As part of my research for a spring trip to Paris with gardeners, I recently checked the Giverny website to see what was new. Monet’s home, studio and gardens are closed now, but the website changes often, as does the practical information, such as opening and closing dates.

The site had indeed been updated since my last visit. Navigation has been streamlined—you can plan a visit, buy tickets on line, and find photographs and videos of the gardens more quickly than before.

And speaking of photos, scroll down to the bottom of the home page for glorious new images—photos and videos—of the house and gardens, as well as interesting information about artist residencies that take place at Giverny, and discussion of specific flowers (the latter in French only).

Another improvement to the site is the detail that the secondary navigation makes possible. Click on the “Giverny” tab at the top of the page, and you find beautiful photos of the estate, nicely complemented by text. One page recalls Monet’s planting plans, another discusses his love of Japanese prints.

Select “Monet” and you can read quotations from Monet’s letters to other artists, and a delightful description of the artists and benefactors who have spent time at Giverny (in French).

I’ll send my group to the site before we leave for Paris; with more details under their collective ceintures, they’ll better appreciate being there, and get infinitely more from their time.

Now Playing at Studio 28

Look up from the bottom of rue Tholozé, in Montmartre, and you’ll see the Moulin de la Galette, one of 2 remaining windmills in the 18th. Renoir’s painting of the same name hangs in the Musée D’Orsay.

At nº10, rue Tholozé, is Studio 28—another delightful, if less well known, surprise. The movie theater is named for the year it opened as an experimental theater. Truffaut and Cocteau presented work here, and Cocteau designed the lamps inside.

All films are played in VO, Version Originale, i.e. their original language. Non-French films are never dubbed; all other language films are subtitled in French.

Don’t speak French? English language films offer a great opportunity to experience the theater (and, if you want, to improve your French by reading the subtitles.) Playing this week, in English, is Lincoln; coming soon are Hitchcock, Les Miserables, and The Life of Pi.

Check the schedule, and if you can’t make a film, their lovely cafe/bar opens in the afternoon.

Hôtel des Jardins du Luxembourg

Where do you rest your head in Paris when you’re a student of psychoanalysis? Hôtel des Jardins du Luxembourg in the 6th, where Sigmund Freud slept in the winter of 1885-86.

Merci beaucoup to Howard Book, a psychiatrist in Toronto, for this recommendation. In Howard’s words, the three-star, hôtel de charme is clean, quiet, reasonably priced, and centrally located. And the Freud connection for him is a natural.

But there’s more. Lovers of design will embrace the Art Deco chairs in the salon, and the original beams, trompe-l’oeil lizards, and claw foot tubs in some of the rooms.

Gardeners will love the proximity of the Luxembourg Gardens. Practical types will appreciate the AC and double glazed windows.

And anyone who has walked all day in Paris will be happy to breathe deeply and rest tired legs in the hotel sauna. From 171€.

What’s New in Bruges – City Card

What’s the best way to see Bruges? On foot, by bike, and by boat – all of which is made possible with a City Card. For 35 euros, you get two days of free access to museums, windmills, and canal boats, discounted concert tickets and bike rentals – and more.

The museums are amazing: the Groeninge Museum and St John’s Hospital contain exquisite work by the Flemish Primitives. The Church of Our Lady is home to Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child. At the Lace Museum, local women design and make lace by hand.

For the youngsters there are Belgian fry and chocolate museums, and 366 steps leading to the clock tower, known as the Belfry. Resident swans add to the fun of a canal boat cruise. (Bruges is called the Venice of the North, after all).

Step back in time at the Beguinage, with its whitewashed housefronts and tranquil convent garden; the museum was founded in 1245. The free tour at Brewery De Halve Maan brings you squarely into the present with a tasting of award winning beer.

Depending on your pace, you might not be able do everything this small city (pop 20,000) has to offer – but there is definitely something for everyone!

Have you visited Bruges?

Lewis Hine at Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson

Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of my favorite small Paris museums, brings us another moving retrospective, this time of American photographer Lewis Hine (1874 – 1940).

One hundred fifty black and white photographs illustrate Hine’s role as a foot soldier for social justice and a pioneer of photo journalism. A teacher at the Ethical Culture School in NYC from 1904-1909, he documented the arrival of immigrants to the US at Ellis Island.

Hine also photographed child workers in factories during the Industrial Revolution in order to end the practice, and revealed the precarious positions of iron workers during construction of the Empire State Building (during which he took many of the same risks to get the shots).

Until Dec 18.

Hôtel Bel-Ami

Lovers of literary Paris can add a new hotel to their itineraries. Four star hotel Hôtel Bel-Ami is located in a former imprimerie (printing house), just around the corner from Café de Flore.

The hotel has quiet, light-filled rooms, contemporary decor, and, especially charming, updated garrets tucked under Mansard roofs. Ahhh, the writer’s life.

You can contemplate characters for your new novel in the lounge, clear your head in the spa, and commune with the neighborhood’s rich heritage of writers and publishers on nearby St Germain des Près.

7-11, Rue Saint-Benoît, 6th
Metro: St Germain des Près

Paris in the Time of the Impressionists at Hôtel de Ville

If you like history, you’ll love Paris au Temps des Impressionistes (Paris in the time of the Impressionists) at Hôtel de Ville – an eyewitness account of the changes taking place in Paris between 1850 and 1914.

Works by Caillebotte, Cezanne, Fantin-Latour and Gaugin, among others, show the transformation of Paris streets under Haussmann. We see the city’s early boulevards, public gardens, grands magasins, and apartment buildings, as well as studies, maps, photographs, and architectural drawings and maquettes from the time.

While there is plenty of beauty on show (my favorite is Caillebotte’s view of Paris rooftops in snow), the show doesn’t shy away from the political difficulties of the period. Particularly moving, and in stark contrast to the depiction of the gas-lit ginguettes and opulence of the then-new Opéra Garnier, are works depicting the Commune of 1871.

See a video of the show with French commentary.

The show is free, and on display until July 23, 2011; closed Sundays and holidays.

New Museum of National Resistance

The French Resistance is the subject of a new national museum in Champigny-sur-Marne, just outside Paris. The Museum of National Resistance uses archives, photographs, works of art, and objects used by Resistance fighters to depict the history of the complex organization that helped defeat the Germans in WWII.

More than 2000 items trace the Resistance movement from its roots in the 1930s through its rise and eventual role in determining the liberation of France in 1944. They confront the two factions within the movement – one supporting DeGaulle and the other oriented toward Communism – and look at the role the Resistance played in defining postwar France.

In addition to the museum displays are more than 500,000 archived objects and documents at the nearby Conservation Centre. All displays are in French.

Moulin Rouge Celebrates its 120th Anniversary

The famed Moulin Rouge puts on 2 shows a night, 365 days per year – during which 600,000 spectators enjoy 240,000 bottles of champagne.

Now lovers of nightlife have even more reason to celebrate:  the world-famous cabaret just marked its 120th anniversary.

The Moulin Rouge, with the famous red windmill on its roof, was opened in Paris on October 6, 1889, by Catalan-born showman Joseph Oller. The cabaret has become known as the birthplace of the French cancan, which is still performed there.

Stage productions are lavish, with extravagant costumes, dramatic lighting, and moveable stages.

The cabaret’s current revue, Feerie, has been performed on the Moulin Rouge stage for 10 years.  The show includes dancers, acrobats, magicians and clowns.  While some 150 performers audition at a time, only 3-5 are chosen.

A new revue is expected to be staged by 2012.

2 boulevard de Clichy, 75018 M: Blanche

New Water Shows and Ticketing at Versailles

I love Versailles – but hate waiting in line and bucking the crowds.

Here are a few tips to help you spend more time visiting the palace, less time in crowd control mode.

Best time to get there is early (by 9am).

If possible, arrive with tickets in hand. You’ll still have to wait in a security line, but you’ll avoid the additional wait (of half an hour or more) to buy tickets. And if you do need to buy a ticket on site, the process has been streamlined.

For those in the ticket line who don’t need to be, a friendly, multi-lingual guard circulates, reminding them that Museum Pass holders, children under 18, and older students studying in the EU can proceed directly to the security line.

But don’t get in the security line without everything you need. High school students should bring a school ID or copy of their passport to show their age. College students are only admitted free if they live in or are studying in the EU – and must have verification.

Ticket vending machines save time – but these are only for payment with a credit card.

Finally, one more detail: If you plan to visit the gardens, you may need an additional ticket. Sat, Sun (through Oct 25) and Tues (through Sept 29), the museum holds special fountain shows during the day (11-4 on the weekends, 9-5:30 on T).

Museum pass holders can buy a ticket to the gardens separately, at the entrance to the gardens. (If you’re already buying a for entry on site, choose the Chateau entry plus “Jardins Musiceaux.”)  Cost is 8 euros for everyone over the age of 10.

Sun nights through Aug 22, Les Grandes Eaux combine dancing fountains, music and fireworks. You can buy these tickets at the chateau or on the website – separately or in combination with a full day’s entrance.

What’s your strategy for getting the most from Versailles?

If you go…
From Paris, Versailles is reached by RER C-5, Versailles Rive Gauche
Open T-Sun 9-6:30 in summer, 9-5:30 in winter