No. of Recommendations: 11
DW and I have just returned from 3 weeks in Italy and France, including a week in Paris. Although we've been to Paris many times, we've never visited the Paris Museum of Modern Art, located one metro stop before Trocadero. Apparently, it attracts few tourists despite its wonderful permanent collection, which spans from the early 1900s to the present. The art is arranged chronologically, with informative signage in English as well as French. Plus, entrance to the museum entirely free (although there is a fee to visit the temporary exhibitions).
If that weren't enough, the museum has a very nice restaurant downstairs, where we enjoyed the "formule" lunch, and a large outdoor terrace with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower, just across the Seine. Highly, highly recommended.
We also attended a performance of the Paris Opera Ballet at Palais Garnier. It was a brilliant performance in the utterly magnificent theater. We bought tickets online well in advance, because performances there almost always sell out.
We were a bit hesitant about what to wear, because (as always) we were traveling with what fits in one roll-aboard each. Our trepidations were misplaced, however. Although some attenders dressed to the nines (particularly the young women getting their Instagram photos), most folks dressed tastefully yet relatively casually. If attending a performance at the Opera Garnier sounds the least bit interesting to you, I urge you to plan ahead and do it.
On our last full day, we visited the Batignolles neighborhood in the 17th Arr. An enormous former railway yard has been transformed into an architecturally unique residential area anchored by the ecologically sophisticated Parc Martin Luther King. Nearby is the pedestrian street, Cité des Fleurs, created in 1847, with distinctive houses and gardens on either side. The Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley lived on this street, and actress Catherine Deneuve was born here. A plaque marks the house at which the Gestapo raided a Resistance quarters in 1944, with most members killed on the spot or later in prison.
Batignolles is lightly visited by tourists. It has many very good places to eat at all price points, and it's entirely calm and safe.
