"100 Year Old Carnival Museum & Then Dinner at the ACF Automobile Club de France! "…read more We had a wonderful evening playing on 100 year old Fair rides and games with wonderful attendants and circus artists, then we were off to a beautiful, elegant evening dinner at L'Automobile Club de France at 6 Place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France. It was a such a long and beautiful day that I barely remember the food, I was told by the person next to me that it was excellent and not just because the entire event was somewhat of an exclusive one. The elegant dinner setting around the beautiful books reminded me of home. It was a very magical day! Highly recommend!

The Chamber is the best, underground private cocktail club in Paris. With many different events and…read morelocations, there are always fun and exciting things happening. The people you meet are very international so I have never gone away from an event without meeting interesting people. The majority of functions happen n the evenings, however, there is an afternoon Tea and Tipples every month on the weekend which is always amazing. I highly recommend that you check out The Chamber !

I am a huge fan of this underground cocktail club. I became a member when it first started, I've…read morebeen to quite a few events and have not been disappointed. I love how the events take place in various locations all over the city, one of my favourite locations was a loft in Montmartre that belonged to Jean Gabin (and his then time lover Marlene Dietrich)! Not too shabby! The cocktails are new and edgy and nothing I've ever tried before. Check out the Tea and Tipples event for an afternoon of naughty cocktail drinking with incredible food.

If you're interested in learning about the city of Paris and the French Revolution, this is the…read moreplace to go. It's in a really great area with tons of shopping and history. It has detailed exhibits about the city, so I wish I could have spent more time there. It's a place that is off the beaten path a little bit when it comes to the great museums of Paris, if you like history and want to immerse yourself a little more in the French Revolution, come here. It's also free.

The oldest Paris history museum having opened in 1880…read more The former mansion is located in the Marais, an easy walk from the hotel I was staying in. I wanted to check it out for both the preserved architecture and the immense number of city artifacts spanning 450 years. The permanent collection is free to the public. Short term exhibits are ticketed. At your own leisure you can stroll room after room. Some are furnished with their original decorations, , others have been recreated with furnishings of a certain period. Rooms from historic residences in Paris from the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries are in the museum. It made a nice introduction to the history of the city as I wandered Paris for the next 5 days. It was a bit confusing in some areas to follow the arrows through rooms that had so many nooks to explore. Allow easily 2-3 hours to start your exploration.

I find visiting the Louvre painful. Way too many crowds to lose yourself in the art. And the sheer…read moresize of the museum and the varied collection can be overwhelming. So the museums that really appealed to me in Paris are those smaller collections with a specific point of view. More passionate and more personal. That is certainly the case of the Musée Nissim de Camondo. The gorgeous estate is dedicated to the glory of 18th century French architecture, art and furnishings. The owner, Moïse de Camondo, was obsessed with 18th century France and had a perfectionist's zeal for designing a masterpiece (although he included many 19th century conveniences) to thrill the artistic and cultural elite during his time in Paris. His dinner parties were legendary and the home was regularly visited by artists and scholars to view the masterpieces and dine at his elegant banquets. But, the commentary was quite stunning and bittersweet. All the money in the world (he was heir to one of the largest banking fortunes of the Ottoman Empire) could neither buy love (his wife left him), nor protect his family from two major forces of sorrow in the early 20th century (World War 1 and the concentration camps of WW2). Mr. de Camondo built the house for his beloved son to enjoy, but his life was cut short when he was killed in action in 1917 serving his country as a fighter pilot in WW1. Life was never the same and Mr. de Camondo all but retreated from public life and his elegant parties were drastically curtailed. He had a daughter, but she didn't share her father's interest and once she married, she moved out of this glorious estate and he was left to wander the halls alone. Her family (including husband and two children), were later killed in a Nazi concentration camp in WW2. Upon his death, his will bequeathed the home and all of its furnishings to the Arts Décoratifs in his son's name for the enjoyment of all. Although the reasons are sad, it is a joy to tour the home and listen to the excellent audio guide that really provides not just bare facts, but really describes life in that vibrant era. Highlights for me were the kitchen, the dining room with a fully set table, in anticipation of an elegant soiree with sample menu, and the oval salon with the collection of paintings describing the courtship of a shepherd and shepherdess. It is interesting to me, that sometimes it is immigrants that most fully embrace the cultural richness and heritage of their adopted homes. That is certainly the case here. Born in Turkey, he became one of the most prominent members of French society and didn't just write a check to fill it house with fine things. It is clear his hand was involved in every decision. One of his passions was reuniting items of a collection that had been scattered to the winds. Too bad he didn't have as much success creating a happy home. ---------------- -- This museum is included in the Paris Museum Pass - http://en.parismuseumpass.com/ (aka the best money I ever spent in France). -- Photography (without flash) is permitted.

Beautiful house. Beautiful furnishings. Beautiful objets d'art…read more Yet the tragic story made this visit a downer for me. Monsieur de Camondo's wife left him for another man. His son was killed in action in WWI. His daughter and her family perished in the Holocaust. Apparently they made the mistake of thinking their wealth and status would shield them from the Nazis. Interesting audio guide. If you have the time, there are lots of details about all the various things that Monsieur de Camondo acquired. (Small correction on Raffi M's review -- Moise de Camondo was the man who had the house built. He named the house after his beloved son Nissim. Also, according to the audioguide, Moise was not much of a banker himself, but rather a collector and aesthete. It was his father who made the family's fortune and Moise who used that money to build the house and acquire the collection that now constitutes this museum.)

A hidden gem! This is my favorite museum in Paris…read moreWell laid out and curated. And it's free! A definite must see.

Loved our visit to the Petit Palais. Free entry, gorgeous architecture, and two full floors of…read moresculptures, paintings, and artifacts that are beautifully displayed. The building--designed by Charles Girault for the 1900 Universal Exhibition--is a masterpiece in itself. The collection spans from antiquity to the early 20th century and is surprisingly extensive. If you're nearby, don't miss it.

I had already seen most the main Paris attractions and wanted to see something "chateau-like"…read morewithout making journey to the Loire so I decided to visit Chateau Malmaison. Here are my tips and highlights: - It seemed very time consuming to get from Central Paris to Chateau Malmaison so I took an Uber for 36 euros around 10 am on a Monday from my hotel in the St. Germain area. Well worth it to ensure that I had enough time to see it before their lunchtime closure (check times). Uber took 40 mins in regular traffic. - The ticket was 6.50 euros. To get an audio guide, they want you to leave a form of ID with them. the Ticket Office Lady was content for me to leave my Navigo card as hostage at the Ticket Booth. - The house was very interesting if you enjoy neoclassicical décor and artwork. I easily saw it all in about 30 minutes. - The return to Paris was cumbersome without a car. Despite the Ticket Office Lady breezily telling me the RER A Station was just a "walk down the street" in one direction, it was not. Thank goodness for Google Maps! I truly didn't mind the 30 minute walk winding through residential areas to get to the station. It just wasn't what I was expecting. From the Rueil Malmaison RER Station, it was about 30 minutes back to Central Paris on the RER Line A. (FYI- This line was a lot more pleasant in terms of scenery and clientete than the RER B line from CDG airport.)

Our final day of our Viking river cruise along the Seine. This was a visit to the home of…read moreJosephine Bonaparte, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, along with the emperor. Napoleon used it as a summer retreat, and also spent time here during his exile after the defeat at Waterloo. Ground floor has Napoleon's office and meeting rooms. Upstairs are the bedrooms. Sort of a miniaturized version of Versailles, and more difficult to get to from Paris using public transportation.

The Palais de Chaillot is located in the Trocadéro area on the 16th arrondissement of Paris,…read moreFrance. For the Exposition Internationale in 1937, the old Palais du Trocadéro was demolished and then replaced by the Palais de Chaillot. It was designed in a classicizing "moderne" style. Like the original palais, the palais de Chaillot features two wings shaped to form a wide arc, these wings are independent buildings and are not connected instead, a wide esplanade leaves an open view from the place du Trocadéro to the Eiffel Tower and beyond. The buildings are decorated with quotations, and sculptors. If you love photography this place has great photo opportunities. The buildings now house a number of museums: the Musée national de la Marine (naval museum) and the Musée de l'Homme (ethnology) in the southern wing, the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, including the Musée national des Monuments Français, in the eastern wing.