The Most Beautiful Library

In the past, I've complained about the way the Bibliothèque nationale de France has spread out its music-related holdings, and I think my complaint is justified. They keep recordings and tons of books at the main branch (Tolbiac), scores, archival documents, periodicals, and more books at the Département de la Musique (2 rue Louvois), medieval manuscripts and the theater collection at the original BN complex (Rue Richelieu), and certain books (for the life of my I don't know why) at the Pavilion de l'Arsenal, which isn't technically even a BN affiliate. This is lame. They should change this.

Out of the many library branches over which the BN's music(ology) collection is distributed, there is only one I truly do not mind visiting: the Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra at the Palais Garnier.

By night, the Palais Garnier (aka Opéra Garnier aka Paris Opera) is home to performances of ballet and older opera repertoire. But by day, it's [trumpet fanfare] full of tourists checking out the unbelievable neo-Baroque ornamentation that covers every square inch of the place! Also there's the library, open 9-5. I get a lot of pleasure out of striding by big tourists groups on my way to the members-only library, and I try to pretend like I'm not impressed by the building. But inside, I'm way impressed.

When my mom and Cathy were in town, I took a day (or 8) off from research and we spent some time sauntering around the Palais Garnier as tourists. I get in for free with my BN ID, otherwise it's 9 euros (ouch!) to check out highlights of the building, such as the hall's Marc Chagall ceiling that depicts many of the canonical operas and ballets performed there (Firebird, Daphnis et Chloe, Pelleas et Melisande, Fidelio...).

Here's what the rest of the hall looks like:

Just in time for my research on Interwar France, there's an exhibit in the "musée" (museum) part of the building dedicated to the Ballets Russes (1909-1929), a ballet company headed by impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who along with composers like Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Auric, and Milhaud created lots of now-famous works. Below you can see some of the original costumes for the proto-Surrealist ballet Parade (1917) with music by Satie, choreography by Massine, and costumes/scenery by Picasso.

In addition to this exhibit, when you visit the "Bibliothèque-Musée" part of the building you get to see some of the library's book storage, as well as lots of models of sets and backdrops. The library's reading room is at the end of this hallway/book storage area, on the left. You have to get buzzed in.

Unfortunately I haven't managed to sneak any pictures in the library itself, but believe me when I say that it's every bit as ornate as the rest of the building, with lots more natural light and (unfortunately) street noise. Still, you can't listen to music there, so I guess I have a complaint about the BN's Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra after all.

To finish up this blog-mediated tour of the Palais Garnier, here's a hazy glimpse of the building from the back. Tourist tip: the front of the Palais Garnier is visible from the entire length of the Avenue de l'Opéra, but to get this bird's-eye-view of the back, you have to go to Galeries Lafayette and take an interminable series of escalators up to the roof, where you'll have an unusual vantage point on the whole city. It's pretty neat up there.

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

We are now beginning our 7th month here in Paris, and let's just say we're beginning to think about stretching every euro so that we make it home with at least a few centimes in our pockets. One easy solution: visit FREE museums! That's right, there are some free things in Paris (not many, though). The museums in Paris that are free are those run by the city of Paris. A few weeks ago, we visited the Musée Bourdelle, and this past weekend, along with our friend Damien, we checked out the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Albert Gleizes, Les Baigneuses, 1912

The collection runs the gamut of post-impressionist 20th-century artists, styles, and media. If you're looking for big names and famous works, you should probably check out the Centre Pompidou, Musée de l'Orangerie, or the Musée Picasso, which are all "national" museums. But the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris has received its fair share of donations over the years, and there's lots of interesting stuff to be found.

Jacques Lipchitz, Personne assis jouant de la clarinette II, 1920

Modigliani, Brauner, and Cueco

Along with its sister-museum across the way (the Palais de Tokyo), the museum is a hot spot for temporary exhibitions and contemporary installations. When you go, be sure to check out the Salle noire (black room) and its installations by Christian Boltanski. In one, you can browse hundreds of phone books from all over the world. Damien discovered long lost family members in Italy!

Another highlight of the museum is the big, colorful reinstallation of a massive painting executed by Raoul Dufy for the 1937 Exposition Internationale. It's a celebration of the history of electricity - thanks, Ben Franklin!

Thanks, City of Paris, for running wonderful, free museums like this one! Can't wait to visit another one next weekend!

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
11, avenue du Président Wilson
75116 Paris
Tues - Sun 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Musée Bourdelle

As promised, I'm here to tell you about our recent visit to the Musée Bourdelle, a museum dedicated to the life and work of artist Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929).

Assistant to Rodin, teacher of Giacometti (and others), Bourdelle was a well-regarded sculptor in his own right. The museum includes his house, studio, and gardens and can be found at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle in the 15th arrondissement.

The museum is free for all except when there is a temporary exposition, and during our visit, the exposition featured the genre-changing dancer and choreographer, Isadora Duncan.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the exposition so we won't be able to capture the beauty of it in this post. However, Louis somehow managed to snap this one of the Princesse de Polignac, one of the very, very rich (artist-supporting) ladies he's studying while we're here in Paris. I suppose if he had been sent to jail for taking this we could just chalk up his bail as a work-related expense, right? 

La Princesse Edmond de Polignac, 1913 by Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861-1942)

The exposition featured photos and videos of Duncan and her students, "the Isadorables," as well as many, many works of art she inspired, including several drawings by monsieur Bourdelle himself (see one here).

The Isadora Duncan exposition is only up through March 14, so if you're able, we highly recommend a visit! And if you can only make it after the 14th, the permanent collection is still a delight to behold (and it's free!).


Musée Bourdelle (site in French)
18, rue Antoine Bourdelle
75015 Paris
Tues - Sun 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Our Favorite Museum in Paris

The Musée Rodin: it's got everything. Art inside and outside; paintings and sculpture; a fascinating old mansion and a neo-gothic addition; views of the Hôtel des Invalides; greenspace; temporary exhibitions; everything!

And best of all, it inspired my mom to imitate the pose of a sculpture:

Pretty good, right? But seriously, we're big fans. Rodin's lifespan (1840-1917) covers large chunks of our favorite period of art history, and his sculptures - considered too realistic at the time - never fail to move us. We're also impressed by the transparency of the relationship between his creative and artisanal processes. Because bronze sculptures don't just come into existence, fully formed. There's a long, complicated series of steps you have to go through to get to the finished product. But I won't get into that.

The building housing most of the collection, the Hôtel Biron, is as gorgeous as the grounds, even in winter. (Sorry about that butt in the foreground.) Tourist tip: you can get into the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée Rodin on a same-day ticket and save two euros. Hey, it's something.


The ground floor and outside are devoted to the larger individual pieces. Upstairs, you get a lot of the models and drafts of characters who were to find their way into Rodin's monumental work, never finished, called La Porte d'enfer (The Gates of Hell), which is another one of the highlights of the museum's grounds.

Two final highlights of my last visit to the Musée Rodin: another instance of "life imitating art," and a piece of quasi-spontaneous expression I found outside the museum, in which, through the medium of photography, the stickers granting free admission to an art museum become art themselves.

Guest Post: Matt

Matt and I bet on Panda's poop schedule, and Matt lost. As punishment, he had to write a guest post.

Mugshot's Eiffel Tower Tips (re: Eiffel Tower Tips)

After reading Louis's cynical post about the Eiffel Tower experience, and as their last houseguest for a while (I hear they're not hosting anyone for some time — maybe even a week), I just had to offer a rebuttal based on first-hand experience. Get ready to take out your Paris scorecard and put about 50 checks in the "resident" box.

1. Steal a map from the apartment. If you stay with Louis and Maggie, note that they have several beautiful maps of Paris. Make sure it's rainy outside. Find the key to the living room cabinets, which is hidden in a Grand Theft Auto computer game box under their bed. Open the cabinet and take the most expensive-looking map you can find there. Down the half-bottle of Bordeaux they were saving for a special occasion. In your excitement, forget to lock their apartment door, and start your adventure toward the Eiffel Tower. (You will also need a bullhorn and around 10 Euros.)

2. Walk four hours in the rain in the general direction of the Eiffel Tower. I love walking, and there's nothing I like better than walking when my socks are extremely wet because of rain and puddles. If you pass all the sites marked on the map below, you will clearly be following the best route to the Eiffel Tower, which is important during bad weather. If you get lost, that's OK. Since it's very cloudy, you won't be able to see the Eiffel Tower and just go toward it. But you can consult your stolen map and watch as it disintegrates in the pouring rain, and then you can try to stumble toward the next waypoint on the map below.

3. Tell as many tourists as you can that the Eiffel Tower is closed. There won't be many out there since it's raining. But as Louis pointed out, people at tourists sites are to be avoided if you want a good experience. Therefore, in your best English, yell at anyone you encounter on your walk that they can't go up the Eiffel Tower during inclement weather, so they should really leave the area. (This includes people who you think might not be tourists — you never know.)

4. Spend some of your Euros on a ticket to go up the Eiffel Tower. This is a crucial step, as Louis also pointed out, because without a ticket to something like the Eiffel Tower, it is difficult if not impossible to go up it. The best way to get a ticket is to say to the ticket person, "Je aller Eiffel Tower," and then point up. This is an example of very good French, so he or she will know what you mean. You should definitely walk up, because nothing feels better than ascending 600 steps to the second floor after you've already walked 20 miles. When you get to the first floor, make a beeline for the gift shop and spend the rest of your Euros on a jambon crudité — you will need it in a minute.

5. Create a diversion. Most of the members of the Eiffel Tower staff are focusing on the elevators. I don't know why this is. But anyway, when you get to the second floor, you'll see that there are lots of barriers blocking access to the third-floor sairwell, as well as signs saying things like "accés interdit" (I don't know what this means!). But if you create a diversion by throwing that jambon crudité down the elevator shaft, you can easily go up the remaining steps to the third floor. When you reach the third floor, take out the bullhorn and declare to all of Paris that you fooled the city and that you can go up the Eiffel Tower in inclement weather. Then, enjoy the crystal clear view of the stunning iron latticework and of your hands. And oh, yeah, sure, that is definitely the Sacre-Coeur whose outline you're seeing in the distance.

In conclusion, I hope you enjoyed reading these Eiffel Tower Tips. I am confident that if you follow these simple steps, you will certainly make a trip to the Eiffel Tower. And probably to the Eiffel Tower Jail.

Eiffel Tower Tips

There are many things I love about Paris, but the Eiffel Tower (ET) is not one of them. Don't get me wrong - it's great to look at from far away and from up close, during the day and at night. I'm a big fan of the symbolism of it, its history, its architectural characteristics. But I don't like big crowds, I don't like waiting in line, and I don't like tourist traps. (ET: check, check, and check.) So even though we've been to the ET four times since September, until last week I hadn't actually been up the tower since 1999.

Last week, of course, was a special occasion: the first time my mom has ever visited me in Europe (she waited until my fifth stay of 2+ months to take the plunge). Once I had committed to "going up," I did everything in my power to eliminate the obstacles that normally keep me earth-bound. And I succeeded. If you, too, are interest in avoiding crowds, shortening your wait, and generally enjoying your experience of the ET, I have the following advice to offer:

1. Go on a weekday, preferably early in the week. Three of the four times we've been to the ET this year, it was Saturday and the place was mobbed. My mom, Cathy, and I went on a Tuesday and were shocked at how few people were around.
2. Arrive early. The tower opens at 9 and most people - especially jet-lagged people - aren't capable of getting there that early. We got there at 10:30 and walked right in (in part thanks to #3 below). By the time we left at 11, the line had already tripled in size. Cousins Ethan, Sandi, and Jacob arrived at the ET around 11 on a Saturday in October and waited around 45 minutes to take the stairs. 
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3. Buy tickets in advance. Most tourists don't know you can buy and print tickets online. Everyone waits in line for an hour or more just to buy tickets, then another lengthy period of time to enter the tower. Who wants to spend a trip to Paris waiting in line? Not this guy. Look, there's even a special entrance, just for you! 
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4. Take the stairs. The southwest pillar is the only one that allows you to climb to the first and second floors. The line there is usually shorter. Climbing is not only good exercise but gives you more time to appreciate your surroundings without the crowding you'll surely experience at each landing. And if you like counting things, you'll love counting the 600+ steps you'll take. Notice how the sign for the stairs includes an unfortunately-designed stick-figure (photo and Nazi-stick-figure-identification courtesy of JP): 
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5. Go up only as far as the second floor. I know this sounds lame, but due to construction (continuing Jan. 4 through Feb. 5) we were forced to stop at the second floor, and it couldn't have mattered less. The view from the second floor is ridiculous - you can see all of Paris quite clearly, as well as many of the suburbs. The higher you go, the better the chance you'll be in the clouds (literally) or that the ground will be too hazy to make out much of anything. Moreover, after you get up to the second floor, you have to wait in a new line to take the single elevator up to the summit. So now you're waiting in line for another significant chunk of time, which (again) is not my idea of funtimes. Consider that the first floor is 187 ft. (57 m) above ground level, the second floor is 377 ft. (115 m) high, while nearly every other building in Paris (with the exception of the Tour Montparnasse) rises no higher than 121 ft. (37 m). This is all to say, there's nothing you can see from the summit that you can't see from the second floor.

This advice serves mainly to ensure a speedy, efficient, and relatively un-crowded visit. It does not ensure ideal visibility, which depends heavily on the weather and season (going earlier in the summer is better than going earlier in the winter, since the sun is higher, which diminishes glare from too much light or haze from too much pollution). Here are two examples of the view from the second floor.

Tour Montparnasse, as barely seen through the early-morning glare and haze during our visit last week.

The difference is clear in a photo from Maggie and Alyssa's visit on December 26.

Lest you think me a rabid, unrepentant anti-towerist, I offer a slideshow of gratuitous beauty presenting views of and from the Eiffel Tower over the course of our stay thus far. Enjoy!

Paris To Do List

Every once in a while, I'll hear about an event through a blog or see an ad for a temporary exhibition while riding the métro, and write it down in the hopes of checking it out. Here are a few of the things I've written down recently:

• Ever since a day trip to Nancy (Lorraine) two years ago, I've been an art nouveau nut. I hope to satisfy my craving for art nouveau glass work by checking out the Tiffany exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg, just next to the Sénat and the Jardins du Luxembourg. The exhibition showcases the vitraux (stained glass windows) of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), son of the guy who started Tiffany & Co. Runs through January 10. 

• Graffiti - social expression, art, visual pollution, whatever you think about it, that's what you think. (True.) If you're interested in seeing a graffiti retrospective, head by the Cartier Foundation, 261 Boulevard Raspail in the 14th. It runs through November 29. If you don't feel like paying to get in, at least stop by to see the graffiti outside the building. 

The building itself is also really cool - one of those inside/outside sort of things. Also, don't miss the slickness of the exhibition website (here and here), which makes me want to go even more than the graffiti I've already seen there, and the recommendation from Invisible Paris.

•  "Islamic Arts: Masterworks of the Khalili Collection" is the title of an exhibition open through November 22 at the Institut du Monde Arabe, which is one of those awesome landmarks/tourist opportunities that very few people know about. (The building, at one end of Boulevard St. Germain in the 5th, has an incredible view of the city center.) The collection includes manuscripts, curtains and tapestries, ceramics and glass, metals and goldwork, jewelry and enamels, panels and stonework, but that's not what made me want to go. Rather, it was the poster that's all over the metro: 

So cool.

•  Last (for now) but definitely not least, there's a ton of great music happening at Opéra Bastille: Puccini's La Bohème (with Natalie Dessay!), Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (with Anna Netrebko! (Tom, eat your heart out)), Korngold's Die Töte Stadt, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and a concert of Korngold's chamber works (who knew??), and that's just this week! I'm hoping to pick up a "passe jeune" which allows youngsters/students to pick up rush tickets for super cheap.

The Lurrrrrvre

As I've mentioned before, various museums have special deals if you go at certain times. Last night, Robert and I took advantage of one such deal - and got into the Louvre for free! (This was possible because we're under 26; for everyone else, the price of admission is a paltry 6 euros, so it's a deal either way.)

Below, you can see what we saw. I admit that I took more pictures of the building than of the art, but that's because the Louvre doesn't have very much good art. (...)

Hot Tip for Visitors

Whether you're coming to see us specifically or just coming to enjoy the city (not that the two are mutually exclusive), you'll probably want to check out a museum or two. This can quickly become expensive, but with the right planning you can actually experience much of the city's cultural offerings for free. Crucial to this endeavor is the following website, which lists a bunch of free permanent collections, free entries, and free days each month for Paris museums:

http://www.parisinfo.com/paris-guide/argent/gratuite-et-bons-plans/

(If your French is a little rusty, here's a quick rundown of the page:

"Gratuits tous les jours, toute l'année" = Free every day, all year

"Gratuits le 1er dimanche de chaque mois, toute l'année" = Free the first Sunday of every month

The next few are "Free the first Sunday of every month from [date] to [date]."

Then, Free Wednesday nights, then an un-free (but possibly worthwhile) museum pass, and finally something that doesn't apply to most people who are likely to come visit.)

The website also serves to point you to museums you would never hear about otherwise (I've heard that the Museum of the History of Paris is awesome). What the page doesn't tell you is that the Louvre is free Friday nights if you're under 26, which is huge. (Normal price: 9€). I'll probably find out about more deals like this in the coming months. Stay tuned, and enjoy!