The Pompidou Centre

We had originally planned to return to the Musée d'Orsay, but when the Louvre was more crowded than expected, we changed the plan and visited the Pompidou Centre for the first time instead. The modern art collection – it is the largest modern art museum in Europe – as well as the special exhibitions made it an attractive destination. 

We first visited the “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Paris!” exhibition, which is dedicated to the famous artist couple’s time in Paris between 1958 and 1964, before they moved to New York, and their project to wrap the Pont-Neuf bridge. Honestly, the early pieces were mostly forgettable. But the behind the scenes history of their effort to wrap the bridge was fascinating. The project took 10 years to come to fruition, while the bridge was only wrapped for a very brief period (from 22 September to 6 October 1985). Most interesting were the photos and detailed drawings of the endeavor, along with a model:

The amount of work, preparation, and gear that went into such a short-lived piece was astounding. We learned that since 1962 Christo had also wanted to wrap the Arc de Triomphe, and that despite his recent death, the Arc will be wrapped in 2021. I see another trip to Paris in our future.

We also enjoyed a special exhibit titled “Global(e) Resistance,” which included works about political protest and injustice primarily by artists from the global south. It was really interesting to see an artistic perspective that is often not displayed in the European museums we usually visit.

The modern art collection was robust and spanned a number of well-known artists like Kandinsky and Chagall, but my favorite was a comical piece called “A Time Coloured Space” by Philippe Parreno, which consisted of “My Room is Another Fish Bowl,” fish-shaped balloons moving through the room; and “Orange Bay,” orange filters; together with the amplified sound of the fish moving through the room. Check it out:

A Fish With a View

It is always fun when you get to be part of the art. Note that you can see the famous Sacre Coeur Church from the exhibit. But the best part was that this room had a docent whose job was to ensure none of the fish balloons escaped!

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff

A Quiet Louve, But Not Entirely

Since going to a quiet Louvre was the original impetus for our trip to Paris, we thought we would do a quick post on our experience there. While it was certainly much quieter than normal during the height of tourist season, we have seen it nearly as quiet when visiting Paris during less busy times of year. 

To begin, there were no hordes in front of the Louvre, which was likely due to the fact that you had to buy tickets with a timed entry in advance:

I spent a good amount of time evaluating when we should go to the Louvre and determined, based on the advanced-reservation ticket sales system, that late afternoon would likely be best as those time slots were not selling out like the early morning time slots. So, we reserved Monday at 3:30 p.m. Normally I don’t take pictures of art in museums – the art is there to be enjoyed and experienced. After all, you can look at a better photo of the art anytime you want. But for the sake of sharing our experience with our readers I took a few shots.

As you may know, there are 3 supposed “can’t miss” pieces in the Louvre. It was easy to enjoy Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo practically alone, which we have not experienced even at quieter times of year:

But the famous portrait of that Italian lady is still – even with the museum at 30% capacity – just too darned popular:

We did not get in line to see the Mona Lisa; just quickly snapped this photo and got out of Dodge. The main halls displaying the various French masterpieces by Delacroix and David were also congested but manageable. To get away from these more crowded areas, we went and visited the museum’s antiquities area, where we particularly enjoyed the pieces from ancient Persia.

After two visits to the Louvre and two to the Prado in the past two-and-a-half years, we’ve decided that the Prado is a better museum for paintings. The collection is broader and easier to visit, but the Louvre as a historical building is more interesting overall, and its antiquities collection is splendid. 

In the end, visiting the Louvre again was a great excuse to visit Paris to test drive traveling during the COVID era, it was hardly our favorite experience of the trip. Stay tuned for more details on the rest of our Paris activities.

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff 

A Visit to Paris During the Pandemic

At the end of July, we took the train to visit Paris for five days. Our trip was inspired by reading in mid-June that the Louvre would be reopening July 6 with limited capacity, creating the opportunity to visit the museum without the normal massive crowds. We thought it was a great chance to finally travel again, still going somewhere relatively close, while Europe was experiencing some stability with respect to the level of COVID-19 cases.

We quickly made a hotel reservation, getting a great rate in the center of the city, knowing the reservation could be easily cancelled without penalty. We hesitated on reserving train tickets to see how the case numbers evolved. As the date of the trip got closer, having investigated the train safety protocols, and despite somewhat higher case numbers, we decided to bite the bullet and buy tickets. And then we watched to see what happened as our departure date approached.

Unfortunately, the COVID situation continued to deteriorate in Spain during July, albeit mostly in Catalunya and other areas not very close to where we live, which resulted in some European governments issuing travel advisories. France also had some outbreaks, but nothing alarming in Paris at least. We began to wonder if travel restrictions would impact our trip, but ultimately none did, and we left the morning of July 26..

We knew we were taking a risk by travelling, but we figured it was a calculated one with the overall benefits outweighing the risks. The biggest risk would be the train ride. While obligatory face masks and high-tech air filters might lessen the risk of contagion, it is still a five-hour ride in close quarters with lots of people. And watching people put their masks below their noses, and hearing people sneeze and cough was nerve wracking. With everyone getting off the train at the same time and exiting into a crowded Montparnasse station, the experience was not the typical relaxing one we enjoy. We arrived in Paris a bit stressed out and with a headache likely caused by wearing masks for such an extended period (nearly 6.5 hours door-to-door). Thankfully, the train rides were the only negative part of the trip.

Paris, in the middle of the pandemic, was a dream. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, there weren’t many tourists, and there weren’t a lot of crowds. It was like Los Angeles on a holiday weekend when everyone leaves town and you get to enjoy the city in a way you normally cannot. Paris has added a lot of bike lanes (designed primarily to get people off the Metro), which were filled with bikers and people on scooters. It was easy to get around and it felt laid back and effortless. We also got lucky with the weather with most days in the high-70s or low-80s. We even found we could socially distance on the metro.

Lots more details to come about our adventure in a quiet Paris, but we will leave you with a photo of the jazz band we sat and enjoyed after a visit to Shakespeare and Company, Jeff's favorite bookstore in Paris, which is right across from Notre Dame:

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff