Got to see this Museum if you like Picasso and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

The Musee Picasso located in the Le Marais area. You can get there either by the Metro station Chemin vert or St-Sebastien Froissart.

It is a must see if you like the artwork for Picasso. The museum contains several thousand works of Pablo Picasso. What is interesting to me is that it contains a lot of pictures of Pablo Picasso while he was working taken by his mistress Dora Maar.

Dora Maar also photographs Picasso work in progress which is amazing. You can actually see the master initial draft and how he changes his design and paint over some of his work.

The museum also contains some work from Cézanne and Matisse.

Remember the museum closed on Tuesday.

Here are their opening hours:
1 April - 30 September : 9 h 30 to 18 h 00
1 October - 31 March : 9 h 30 to17 h 30

Don't try to get it to the museum 15 mins before the closing time. Normally the register closed 15 mins - 30 mins before the actual closing time.

There is a cafe at the garden area of the Picasso Museum. It is actually quite relaxing having a cup of coffee after seeing some art work of Picasso.

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Address: Hotel Sale; 5 rue de Thorigny
Directions: Metro #8 St. Sebastian-Froissart.
Website: http://www.musee-picasso.fr/

It is pretty amazing to finally see the Arc de Triomphe. It is hard to image all the traffic coming from 5 or 6 directions coming into the circle around Arc de Triomphe.

It is easiest to use the tunnel from Champs Elysées to Arc de Triomphe.

The museum pass that I purchased also let me go into the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Remember there are 284 steps of stair that seems to take forever to go to the top but the view at the top is worth it.

At the top, you can have a panoramic view of the whole paris. You can see Eiffel tower, Sacre Coeur,Place de la Concorde,, the Tuileries Gardens, and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and of course Champs Elysées. Definitely I will bring a binocular if you have one. Or, you can pay to use the binocular at the top.

I went there near sunset around 9 p.m. and watch the Eiffel tower's light show. It was pretty nice from the top of Arc de Triomphe.

If you go to Arc de Triomphe during day time, you definitely have to visit it again during night time. It looks mignificant when light up at night.

Arc de Triomphe was originally commissioned by Napolean in 1806. The construction was finally finished around 1836.

Beneath the Arch is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and eternal flame commemorating the dead of the two world wars. One of my friend told me that one night someone actually was drunk and pee on the flame. The flame was out for one night. I don't know whether it is true or not.

4-16-06

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Address: Place Charles-de-Gaulle Etoile
Directions: Metro Line 1, 2, RER A : Charles-de-Gaulle Etoile

Eiffel tower (tour Eiffel) is a must do in Paris.

We kept putting off to go to the top of Effiel tower until the last day. We thought we would wait until there are less people. There are always a long queue no matter when. Probably more crowded during the weekend than weekdays.

There are three different levels in the Eiffel tower. The first level, second level and the top level. It costs €4.2 , €7.7, and €11 to go to the first, second and the top level respectively by elevator. You can also try to take the stairs to first and second level for only €3.8. You can then purchase the ticket to the top at the second floor. I don't remember exactly how much it cost to purchase the ticket from second floor to the top. I think it is around €4.I would recommend taking the stairs if you want to skip the long queue. The line for the stairs is always less than the line to the elevator. Remember, there are 350 steps to go to the first level. Another 350 steps to go to the second level. The entrance to the stair is at the south tower.

The best time to go up to the top is an hour before sunset. You can see the panoramic view of the whole city.

After sunset, at every hour until 1 a.m. , the whole tower will put on a light show. All the lights on the tower twinkle and there is a light beam circling around the top. See the picture and you will see what I meant. I watched it from the top of Arc de Triomphe and it was quite a magnificant light show. Oh. Don't forget there is a post office on the first level. They have a special stamp for the Eiffel tower. It is perfect to mail your postcard to your friends and family there.

Don't forget to check out the offical page for the Eiffel tower. It is a lot of information about the tower and I also highly recommend the 'take a tour' page. You can have a general idea of most of the monuments and musuem's location relative to the Eiffel tower.

4-23-06

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Address: Trocadero
Directions: Metro: Bir Hakeim
RER: Champ de Mars
Website: http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/

What can I say about the Musee du Louvre? It is one of the most famous and largest museum in the world. The museum is in a 12th century palace for the King Louis XIV. Remember the museum is huge. You need to have a game plan before you go in there, otherwise you will be overwhelmed with so much to see and probably exhaused from walking around the museum.

The museum open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Tuesday. On Wednesday and Friday, the museum open late until 9:45 p.m. Oh.. and it is free on the first Sunday of each month but I would probably rather pay the entrance fee than the free entrance.

I purchased the museum pass so that I don't have to rush through the museum and just see couple items each night.

I went to the museum on a wednesday night after 6 p.m. and there wasn't too many people. I suspected that most people thought the museum already closed and there wasn't a line at the entrance which was quite suprising.

The museum is divided into three wings: Richelieu, Sully, and Denon. If you are running out of time, there are three must-see pieces. The Mona-Lisa in Denon 1st Floor Room 6.
The winged Victory of Samothrace in the 1st floor of Sully near the entrance. The Venus de Milo in the ground floor of Sully.

4-19-06

I visited the museum again on 9-20-06. This time I visited the museum during day time and definitely I prefered the after hours visited much better. Although it is the end of the tourist season. There are still a lot more people and tourist group in the museum. There are so many people in front of the protraits of Mona Lisa that we could hardly see her.

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Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
Website: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/pratique/alaune.jsp?bmLocale=en

It is one of the most beautiful church. The Sacre Coeur Basilica sits on top of the Butte Montmartre with a panoramic view of the whole Paris. On a clear day, you can see the white dome of the Basilica from most of the places in Paris. It is even more amazing when you getting close to it.

The construction of the church began from 1875 and completed in 1914. The Sacré-Cœur is dedicated to the Sacred Heart after the Franco-Prussian War.

The inside of the church is beautiful and I like to go there around sunset on a sunny day when all the stain glass are illuminated. Because the dom let more lights into the church. The church is much brighter than Notre Dame. I personally like the inside of this church better than Notre Dame.

Near the church, there are a square full of artists that are selling their paintings or can paint self-protraits for you.

If you are coming up from the Anvers, watch out for the street vendors who tried to tie a string on your finger. Read my tips and tricks page for more details.

-- April, 2006

I went there again in September and they happened to have a evening mass and it was wonderful. Although I am not catholic, it is a spiritual experience when the nuns were singing the beautiful hymns in the church. Some of my friends are catholic and they received their communion during the mass as well. Check out their website for the schedule of their mass.

-- Sep, 2006

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Address: http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/us/index.htm
Directions: Metro: Abbesses or Anvers. If you take Anvers, then you can simply walk up a block and take another tram all the way to the top. I prefer the Abbesses metro. You can walk up the hill gradually and also have a lot of cute shops and pubs along the way.
Website: http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/

It is one of the less visited museum containing early middle ages artifacts. The museum is located inside the hotel de cluny. It also has a back garden growing plants that are used during the medieval times.

The museum opens everyday except Tuesday.

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Address: Boulevard St-Michel
Directions: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain... couldn't be easier. Metro Cluny-Sorbonne (closer) or Saint-Michel (not far at all).
Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/index.html