Days
| Middle Age Museum Sainte Chapelle Musée d'Orsay Musée Rodin Musée Picasso Montmartre Musée du Louvre Rue de Seine Saint Sulpice Rue Bonaparte    |
Morning
1- Middle Age Museum
Métro : "Cluny-La Sorbonne" line R.E.R. B. Built on the ruins of Roman baths this mansion of the late XV th century exhibits, among other treasures, the famous "Lady with the unicorn" tapestry. Strolling down the Boulevard St Michel you get to the Pont au Change taking you to the Ile de la Cité in the middle of the Seine, the craddle of Paris.
2- Sainte Chapelle
10 mn. walk, on the Ile de la Cité this masterpiece of "light" Gothic style displays some Jesus-Christ relics under the red and blue light of its famous stain-glasses. Built by St Louis between 1241 and 1248, it is a "Palatine"chapel with two levels: the lower chapel for the public and the higher one for the king.
3- Musée d'Orsay
Métro: "Orsay" from "St Michel" R.E.R. line C Direction "Montigny Beauchamp/Argenteuil/Versailles R.G./St Quentin en Yvelines".
This former railway-station is now dedicated to the late XIX th and early XX th century art. This very prolific period is illustrated through the exhibition of painting, sculpture, graphic and decorative art as well as architecture, urbanization and the birth of movie-film.
Don't miss the restaurant, you feel like attending an opening, a glass of wine in your hand.
Afternoon
4- Musée Rodin
A digestive walk through rue de Bellechasse will take you rue de Varenne to the Hotel de Biron, a nice sample of "Rococo" architecture divided into several artist workshops when the sculptor settled down in 1908 on the advice of his secretary Rainer Maria Rilke. Old age coming, Rodin offered most of his work to the Hotel de Biron, then split into several artist studios. Then the City of Paris took over and turned it into this charming museum.
5- Musée Picasso
Métro: "St Paul" from "Varenne" line 13 Direction "Asnières-Gennevilliers/St Denis Basilique" change at "Champs Elysées-Clemenceau" to line 1 Direction "Chateau de Vincennes".
Located in the Hotel Salé built in 1659 by a tax collector it has been described as a "New rich house" considering the luxury of its adornments.
Picasso used to describe himself as "The greatest collector of Picasso's on earth". It explains why his heirs having to pay a fortune of inheritance taxes decided to trade with the Tax Departement a selection of Picasso's work which happens to be the display of typical pieces of every period of this major master of contemporary art.
Take advantage of your visit to the museum to walk around the beautiful Marais district typical of the Middle-Age urbanization.
6- Montmartre
Métro: "Pigalle", line 1 Direction "Grande Arche de la Défense" change at "Concorde" take line 12 Direction "Porte de la Chapelle" then walk up to the funicular station.
From the stairs of the Basilique du Sacré Coeur you can enjoy the best sight of Paris at one glance. The artists glance is also what made Montmartre famous. It is the birthplace of modern art in France and around. Great impressionnists painters such as Corot, Renoir and Degas were joined later by the Fauvists, Cubists then Futurists.
Before 1914 one could come across Van Dongen, Juan Gris, Vlaminck, Braque, Cézanne or Picasso who painted there "The Demoiselles d'Avignon" in 1907.
The Place du Tertre and its many portrait painters perpetuate this "Esprit de Bohème", in a much more commercial way, one must admit!...