PARIS a December visit | martiniaktravel

PARIS - A December Visit

After our late Fall Rhine River Cruise, we flew to Paris for a brief visit. The City of Lights is marvelous any time of year.

Louis Vuitton Foundation Art Museum

We started our visit at this recently-completed museum, housed in a mind-boggling amazing building designed by Frank Gehry. Old Frank outdid himself on this one.

Once you get over the building, the art museum within is terrific. We saw a special exhibition of Courbusier art and design, including this two-floor self-contained living module. And other art strewn about like this layer cake log consisting of natural stone, wood, soil and plants, imbedded with indestructible debris like discarded shoes and toys.

Atelier des Lumieres

At the Atelier des Lumieres we experienced a most remarkable Van Gogh exhibition. The art was not merely on display - you are submerged in it, completely surrounded by floor-to-ceiling (20 foott high) images of Van Gogh’s art constantly moving, merging, evolving and changing in a dream like fantasy, accompanied by wonderful music.

A December Walk in Paris

Phew! After that amazing experience we took a nine-mile walk through this wonderful city, on a pretty day. We started on the Ile de la Cite, at Notre Dame. This was shortly after the Notre Dame fire, but the front still looked fabulous. We continued through the Left Bank and St. Germain des Pres.

We had to visit some very nice boutique hotels including the hot new Le Saint in St. Germain des Pres, and the grand Le Meurice in the First Arrondissement.

We wound up at the Ritz on Place Vendome, where we indulged in extremely overpriced, but very good, Champagne cocktails (to be fair they are served with olives and other snacks). This continues a tradition started many years ago. The incredibly lush and cozy cocktail lounge is worth every penny of the drink price to enjoy.

Le Pavillon de las Reine

We stayed at a lovely hotel in the Marais - Le Pavillon de la Reine. This is in the heart of Paris on the quietly beautiful Place des Vosges. All the prettier with seasonal decoration.

The hotel is surrounded by cool art galleries, opera singers, sidewalk cafés and cute bistros.

That’s our report on our December visit to Paris. We'd love to arrange a visit to Paris for you.