Petit Palais
We reached Petit Palais and saw a huge line. We saw some uniformed docents and approached them with a swagger, with our magic wand of museum pass in hand….
Alas… The bubble had to burst some time… they said it was free museum night and people had been queuing up. So at 6.30 they would be let in. The museum pass will not let us skip the line.
We were pretty surprised. Research had told me Petit Palais is free always and is never crowded. Why people decided to line up on a free night for a museum which is free during the day too is beyond me…
Two fountains are on the theme of rivers and seas, because of their proximity to the Ministry of Navy, and to theSeine .
Their form and arrangement on a north-south axis aligned with the Obelisk of Luxor were influenced by the fountains ofRome , particularly Piazza Navona and the Piazza San Pietro, both of which have obelisks aligned with fountains.
The obelisk, a yellow granite column, rises 23 m (75 ft) high, including the base, and weighs over 250 tons.
We were pretty surprised. Research had told me Petit Palais is free always and is never crowded. Why people decided to line up on a free night for a museum which is free during the day too is beyond me…
Grand Palais
Anyways, we rolled with the punch, took some pics of the façade and marched on to the Grand Palais. There was some contemporary exhibition Monumenta 2014 going on, we tried to admire the huge glass dome…
Entered the huge halls where there was some mumbo jumbo about meditation… it was all emperor’s clothes for us!!
Art and beauty are so subjective… what we saw here was not our cup of tea! Apologies to others who may like it! Decided to scoot after using their facilities, had a lackadaisical something at their café (can’t even remember what) and got out…
The night was still young… and we had plans to cover one more museum… the lovely house of the ill fated Jewish banker family, Musée Nissim de Camondo. We walked to place de la concorde.
Entered the huge halls where there was some mumbo jumbo about meditation… it was all emperor’s clothes for us!!
Art and beauty are so subjective… what we saw here was not our cup of tea! Apologies to others who may like it! Decided to scoot after using their facilities, had a lackadaisical something at their café (can’t even remember what) and got out…
The night was still young… and we had plans to cover one more museum… the lovely house of the ill fated Jewish banker family, Musée Nissim de Camondo. We walked to place de la concorde.
Place de la Concorde
Two fountains are on the theme of rivers and seas, because of their proximity to the Ministry of Navy, and to the
Their form and arrangement on a north-south axis aligned with the Obelisk of Luxor were influenced by the fountains of
3300 year old Luxor
The obelisk, a yellow granite column, rises 23 m (75 ft) high, including the base, and weighs over 250 tons.
Transporting it was no easy feat — on the pedestal are drawn diagrams
explaining the machinery that was used for the transportation.
The obelisk is flanked on both sides by fountains constructed at the time of its erection on the Place.
Missing its original cap, believed stolen in the 6th century BC, the government of
We had to take bus 84 or 94 from Place de la concorde and
get down at Courcelles. We floundered around, before spotting the correct
direction to take our bus. We did manage though and landed at the Musée Nissim de Camondo by 7.50 pm ...
Musée Nissim de Camondo
Musée Nissim de Camondo is an elegant house museum
of French
The mansion was built in 1911 by the Comte Moïse de Camondo, a banker, to set off his collection of eighteenth-century French furniture and art objects.
Its design was patterned upon the Petit Trianon atVersailles , though with modern conveniences.
This dining room includes a beautifully carved green marble fountain in the shape of a shell with a dolphin spigot for the ritual washing of hands before eating a meal.
Moise Camondo built the mansion with the intention of leaving it to his son Nissim.
Sadly, Nissim was killed in an air battle in 1917 during World War I.
Moise Camondo continued to live in the house till his death in 1934, when the building and all its contents were bequeathed to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs inParis .
Further tragedy struck the family in World War II.
As the Nazi war machine threatened, she believed that her family’s wealth and position would protect them.
All four were deported to theDrancy concentration camp and eventually murdered at Auschwitz .
They were the last descendents of Moise de Camondo; the family no longer exists.
The mansion was built in 1911 by the Comte Moïse de Camondo, a banker, to set off his collection of eighteenth-century French furniture and art objects.
Its design was patterned upon the Petit Trianon at
This dining room includes a beautifully carved green marble fountain in the shape of a shell with a dolphin spigot for the ritual washing of hands before eating a meal.
Moise Camondo built the mansion with the intention of leaving it to his son Nissim.
Sadly, Nissim was killed in an air battle in 1917 during World War I.
Moise Camondo continued to live in the house till his death in 1934, when the building and all its contents were bequeathed to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in
Further tragedy struck the family in World War II.
Camondo’s daughter Béatrice, an accomplished horsewoman, lived with her husband Léon Reinach and their children, Fanny and Bertrand, in Neuilly , a suburb of Paris .
As the Nazi war machine threatened, she believed that her family’s wealth and position would protect them.
All four were deported to the
They were the last descendents of Moise de Camondo; the family no longer exists.
There is almost no mention of Moise’s wife, the mother of
Nissim and Béatrice...
The wife was Irène Cahen d’Anvers, daughter of another fabulously wealthy Jewish family.
She was a good bit younger than Moise, she only stuck around five years or so before running off with the family stable manager, Italian count Charles Sampieri. She converted to Catholicism. She escaped Nazi persecution because of her Italian surname
The wife was Irène Cahen d’Anvers, daughter of another fabulously wealthy Jewish family.
She was a good bit younger than Moise, she only stuck around five years or so before running off with the family stable manager, Italian count Charles Sampieri. She converted to Catholicism. She escaped Nazi persecution because of her Italian surname
After the death of Béatrice and her children, the Camondo
family’s wealth was inherited by Irène, who, the story goes, squandered it all
in the casinos in the south of France .
Three floors are open to visitors: the lower ground floor (kitchens), upper ground floor (formal rooms), first floor (private apartments), and gardens.
It’s a huge lovely home waiting in somber dignity for its lost loved ones to return….
Three floors are open to visitors: the lower ground floor (kitchens), upper ground floor (formal rooms), first floor (private apartments), and gardens.
It’s a huge lovely home waiting in somber dignity for its lost loved ones to return….
We could even see the lower floors, kitchen etc and the interiors were very tastefully done. There was a tour group who joined us, by letting them ahead or behind we managed to get exclusive glimpses of the house. It was a fitting finale to a great day!
Now we just had to catch our bus no 30 back to our apt…
trouble was we could not spot any bus. We asked a waiter who was serving an
outdoor seated customer.... he told us buses stop plying by 8.30. His English
was much better than our broken French and he hailed us a cab from the street, told
the cabbie our address and instructed him to drop us… we gladly jumped in and
reached our familiar street in no time for just €11.
What a day it had been!
is the video which contains our Paris
The next day was going to be hectic as well—it was Versailles
day! And that meant an early start… no probs… we are on adrenaline when we
travel and we slept off …
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/04/paris-trip-report-day-3-versailles-and.html
covers our day at Versailles and Eiffel tower
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/04/paris-trip-report-day-3-versailles-and.html
covers our day at Versailles and Eiffel tower
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