Lovers of medieval art and history will rejoice in the Muséc de Cluny, full of tapestries (including The Lady and the Unicorn series), illuminated manuscripts, jewelry, paintings, and sculptures. Possibly the most serene museum in Paris, it’s housed in a 15th-century Gothic mansion built in the Latin Quarter on the ruins of a 3rd-century Roman bathhouse, the remains of which are visible in the basement. Out in Passy, the Musëe Guimet houses a major collection of art from Asia, including China, Japan, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Tibet, Thailand, Laos, and Indonesia. There is also an annex, with a collection of Japanese Buddhas and a Japanese garden. The Musee des Arts Décoratifs, near the Jardin des Tuileries, traces the history of the decorative arts from the Middle Ages on; the Art Deco and Art Nouveau displays are the real winners. Favorite nooks here include the bedroom of Hector Guimard, the Art Nouveau designer who created the emblematic Metro entrances. (One of the best remaining examples can be seen at Metro Abbesses.) In the same wing of the Louvre is the Musée de la Mode Ct du Textile, with a permanent exhibition covering the history of fashion (which changes every 6 months) and occasional temporary exhibitions. The collection at the Muséc d’Art Moderne de la Vile de Paris is housed along the Seine to the west, in a building constructed for the Universal Exhibition of 1937. Since the works of the Impressionists were moved across the river to the Musee d’Orsay, their former home, Jeu de Paume in the Jardin des Tuileries, has been revamped and turned into a gallery for exhibitions of contemporary art. But here’s the good news: The huge windows have been uncovered, letting light into the once gloomy space.
Views for free... Paris is mostly flat, and most of its buildings are the same height, so you need to scout out a really tall building or one of the few hills to get a panorama of the city The fun is in picking out landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the golden dome of Invalides, the Pantheon, the skyscraping Tour Montparnasse, and Notre-Dame Cathedral. You don’t have to visit the boring interior of the Sacre-Cocur to enjoy the view of Paris from the Montmartre hill on which it sits. The Samaritaine department store is right in the heart of the city and from the top floor of Magasin 2 you get a close-up view of the Seine and the Left Bank, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The top floor of the Institut du Monde Arabe on the Left Bank offers great views of the Seine and the flying buttresses of Notre-Dame. The Parc de Bdlleville, a small neighborhood park in the out-of-the-way 20th arrondissement, offers views of Paris from an unusual angle, with the Eiffel Tower far in the distance.
Secret gardens... You go through a tunnel to reach the Jardin Alpin, a miniparadise hidden in a little valley in the Janlin des Plantes, along the Seine east of the Latin Quarter. In the alpine garden’s moist microclimate, some 2,000 species of mountain plants and flowers from all over the world thrive, and a little stream runs through its artificial miniature mountains to form a pool in the center. Tucked away in a corner of the Jardin du Luxembourg is the rarely visited Verger du Luxembourg, or National Conservatory of Apples and Pears, founded by Napoleon in 1809, with its bewildering variety of apple and pear trees—come in spring for profusions of blossoms. Out west in the 15th arrondissement, the Parc André Citroen has a whole range of hidden miniature gardens, from rock gardens to fields of wildflowers. At the Parc de Bagatelle, a magical English garden within the Bois de Boulogne, peacocks strut across the wide lawns while summertime visitors inhale the perfume of the extravagant rose garden and enjoy gazing at the irises and water lilies. Many tourists “discover” the lovely English garden of the Musée Rodin, where his famous statue, The Thinker, sits surrounded by roses; if only they’d known ahead of time that they could visit the garden for a token fee and skip the rest of the museum completely.