The auction rooms at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris date to 1852. They’ve been modernized since then, but the general atmosphere probably hasn’t changed much. On any day of the week, a throng of characters straight out of a Maupassant novel can be found bidding for dusty treasures straight out of the proverbial Old Curiosity Shop. Annually, about 800,000 lots pass through the 16 rooms, over the course of more than 3,000 auctions.

On a typical day, half the rooms are set up for viewing, and half are given over to sales. Regular offerings include jewelry, contemporary and classical paintings, antiquities and furniture of every description.

Located in the warren of narrow streets and covered passageways north of the Grands Boulevards and south of Montmartre, the Hôtel Drouot is a hub of lively galleries, restaurants and bistros, where dealers and collectors wheel and deal over glasses of wine.

The schedule of sales can be viewed online (drouot.com) or in La Gazette Drouot, a weekly magazine. One event to note: on June 9, selected works from the estate of Jacques Prévert, the French songwriter, screenwriter, author and poet, will be on auction.

Hôtel Drouot (6, rue Drouot; Ninth Arrondissement; 33-1-48-00-20-20) is open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

As reported in NYT,

PARIS | Nearly all of France’s main museums and monuments were open to the public on Wednesday, including the Louvre, after a museum workers’ strike had shut their doors. The Musée d’Orsay was also open, with protesters blocking access to ticket booths. At Versailles, the royal apartments and temporary exhibitions were open at full price, though some rooms, like the Dauphin apartments, were closed. The Pompidou Center, the Arc de Triomphe and the Château de Compiègne remain closed.

[From Most Paris Museums Reopen After Strike - Globespotters Blog - NYTimes.com]

I hope the strike at gave some tourists motivation to see some of the “second tier” museums in Paris, many of which we would build a temple around if they were in the U.S.

Inevitable during “strike season.”

PARIS — On a gray, drizzly day just made for a Paris museum visit, workers at the city’s premier art institutions went on strike Wednesday, leaving tourists out in the cold and some residents worried about the image that France projects.

The Pompidou Center modern art museum and the Musee d’Orsay, with its famed paintings by the Impressionists, were closed Wednesday after workers angry over a government cost-cutting measure voted to strike.

Workers at the Louvre, the crown jewel of Paris museums, also voted to strike, but by midmorning parts of the sprawling complex had been opened to visitors. The museum reduced its euro9 ($13.50) to euro6 ($9.00) for the day.

[From The Associated Press: Many Paris museums closed due to strike]

There are two amazing facts in this story reported all over the blogosphere, and also in the New York Post.

The first is that the Louvre, in a situation they can’t control, will have to co-exist with the odeurs of a MacDo in its midst. Seems the Louvre can’t control the actual tenants in the big mall under the Carrousel, which is managed by a private company. I guess that’s why there is already a Starbucks there.

Second, though, is the fact that never ceases to amaze: France is the second most important market in the world for McDonald’s after the United States. A spokesman for McDonald’s says it’s because McDonald’s is perceived as a French company. I find that very hard to believe, but it sure is a great trick if have pulled it off.

PARIS — French culture and American convenience will come together in December — thanks to plans by the McDonald’s restaurant chain to hang its shingle in the shadow of the Louvre.

McDonald’s is delighted at the prospect of feeding hungry culture vultures. But not everyone is happy about mixing high art and fast food.

The McDonald’s will be installed in the food court of the underground mall adjoining the museum, known as the Carrousel du Louvre, as the fast food chain fetes its 30th anniversary in France, McDonald’s France said.

The pairing could serve the interests of both. The Louvre is the world’s most visited museum; France is McDonald’s top market outside the United States.

[From McDonald's restaurant to be placed inside food court at Carrousel du Louvre]

The food is already about as bad as it can be in the Louvre food court. Visitors are strongly advised to eat after or before they enter the Louvre maze.

LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY

COLORS AND LIGHT

September 16, 2009 – January 17, 2010

The Luxembourg Museum presents the first monographic exhibition of the famous American creator Louis Comfort Tiffany in Europe

(1848-1933).

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of the famous house Tiffany & Co. in New York, is undeniably one of the most talented creators. His look as a painter in terms of color and composition, his passion for exoticism and his innovations in the glass field make him, from1900, becoming a leader of the American design whose reputation goes until the great European capitals: he will compete with the great European glass makers of the end of the 19th century.

The splendid ornamentation, the careful work, the spectacular effects and original in their lights and colors which are the main characteristics of his glass production (blown glass vases, stained glass windows, lamps and items) put him in the heart of numerous artistic movements of his time, from the Arts & Crafts and the American Aesthetic Movement to New Art and Symbolism. The exhibition will gather about 160 works (stained-glass windows, vases, lamps, items, jewels and mosaics, drawings, watercolors and photos of the time) which reveal the noteworthy contribution of this creator to the glass industry such as the whole of the decorative arts.

Visitors will admire an exceptional whole of stained-glass windows of Tiffany which has been dismantled, studied, restored and carried on the occasion of this exhibition. The presentation of these stained-glass windows in Paris is a true technical and logistical feat.

[From MUseeDuLuxembourg.com]

Our friend Patrick Mikla always surprises us with ‘inside’ discoveries of Paris and France. From the time we met him some 15 year ago, I can remember each and every one of our adventures. The latest is France Miniature.

He took the day off and took us Élancourt, a town about an hour drive outside of Paris, where this miniature park attraction featuring scale models of major French landmarks and monuments is located in an outdoor park. It’s absolutely delightful, for both adults and children. For architecture and history buffs like my husband and me, the park has about 160 scale models of major French monuments and landmarks. Many of the models are animated and all of the country’s best known landmarks are represented (Lourdes, Eiffel Tower, Dungeons, etc). We reminisced about many of our trips to certain regions of France as well as discussed monuments and churches that we had never heard of.

For our daughter and and our son, the system of model trains that runs through the park kept them consistently delighted, and the animated boats and planes over the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean were very amusing. Half way through the park, there is even an old fashion amusement park/respite and a restaurant, where the kids and parents can go on slides and the parents can take in a nice tea.

Finally visited the Hameau de Reine. Expected a small garden and of course, it’s fit for a Queen. It even has a little farm and a zoo. Lovely for kids to visit and the houses on the property are actually for normal people.

One of the many luxuries of spending lots of time in Paris every year is freedom from the tyranny of “must-do” lists. Some days we don’t leave the apartment at all, bathing in the Buddhistic calm that comes with knowing that it’s all outside the door if were just to open that door.

At the same time, we also like to visit small Paris museums since they are as varied and plentiful as snowflakes, and usually provide a new perspective on French culture and art. Here are five museums (including one X-rated) that we haven’t been to, but will add to our “maybe today” list when we inevitably have to leave the apartment for coffee and orange juice at some point. And they often give us added incentive to get out of our neighborhood to see something different. Only one of these little attractions is in the 6th, just down the way on the rue Monsieur le Prince.

1. Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine.

Address : 12 rue de l’école de Médecine, 75005
Opening Times : 14:00 – 17:30 Monday to Saturday.
Price: € 3.50
Website: http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/musee/
2. Musée des Arts Forains

Fairground equipment from the 19th century. It’s used mostly as a backdrop to corporate events, but if you can organize 15 people, you can make a group visit.

Address : 53 Avenue des Terroirs de France, 75012
Opening Times : On appointment
Price: On appointment
Website: http://www.pavillons-de-bercy.com/EN/museum-fairground-art.html

3. Musée de la Préfecture de Police

Famous crimes and criminals in this hard-to-find museum inside a police station. You may have to ask a flat foot how to find it.

Address : 4, rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève 75005
Opening Times : 09:00 – 17:00 Monday to Friday, Saturday: 10:00 – 17:00; Closed on Sundays
Price: Free
Website: http://www.prefecture-police-paris.interieur.gouv.fr/connaitre/musee/musee.htm

4. Musée de l’Erotisme

Tasteful and informative, this museum is limited to adults over 18.

Address : 72 Boulevard de Clichy 75017
Opening Times : 7 days a week, 10am to 2am!
Price: 8 Euros (3 Euro reduction from website)
Website: http://www.musee-erotisme.com/fichiers/home.php?lang=en

5. Maison d’Auguste Comte

Apartment of the founder of Positivism and modern Sociology. Good view on how middle class lived in the 19th century and good counterpoint to the Jacquemart-André house/museum.

Address : 10, rue Monsieur le Prince 7500
Opening Times : Wednesday 2pm – 5pm
Price: Free
Website: http://www.augustecomte.org/site/index.php?id=34

For more description, see 5 Unusual Museums in Paris

Two ladies in Camelot.…. Who knew… Just read in the Vanity Fair article of how the 1963 American exhibition of the Mona Lisa in New York City and Washington, D.C., was America’s first blockbuster art show. The writer Davids recounts in numbing detail the negotiations, preparations, flummoxes and successes of the exhibit. The exhibition was masterminded by the diplomatically savvy Mrs. Kennedy, whose personal relationships with French cultural minister André Malraux and National Gallery director John Walker overcame negative French press and concerns over subjecting a fragile artwork to a transatlantic journey. Heavily guarded and packed in a custom strong box, the Mona Lisa traveled in a first-class cabin on the USS France. Imagine…

Still the best spot for Bastille Day is a picnic on the Champs de Mars, in the shadow of the Tour.

It’s still the beacon of Paris – 120 years later. When built as a temporary exhibit for the 1889 “universal” fair in Paris, the Eiffel Tower was the planet’s highest structure. Today it’s one of the most emblematic – a symbol of the launch of modernity, an artist’s icon, a destination for lovers who propose marriage at 1,000 feet.

For the 120th there’s an exhibit on Gustave Eiffel – who also worked on the Statue of Liberty – the “iron magician” behind the revolutionary design. So revered is the Eiffel that it’s a shock at 120 to find out how close it came to being torn down.

[From France: Happy 120th, La Tour Eiffel | csmonitor.com]

It’s still a ritual visit for all first-timers to Paris, and worth wait to climb up the sides for the view, but no longer because it’s ” the only place in Paris where you don’t have to look at it,” as Tower critic and Belle Époque humorist Tristan Bernard famously quipped.