I've been to Musée d'Orsay twice over the years and have left both times feeling awed by what I saw…read moreand rueful of all I'd so obviously missed. You can't even speed run the place in two or three hours, and you probably need days or a lifetime to appreciate it in full. My more recent visit was earlier this month, with my husband and kids and other sundry family members, who spread out and explored the museum on their own. The d'Orsay opens at 9:30 in the morning and we booked tickets in advance for 10:00 entry. Getting in was quick and easy, and the crowd was pretty reasonable for the first hour or so, which we spent on the fifth floor. By the time we got to the special exhibit on the ground level, around noon, every room was thronged. We didn't make it to the second floor at all. The museum is a global treasure, a beautiful place with a staggering collection of French art, including the world's largest trove of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings. The d'Orsay was once the Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. It would be worth visiting for the architecture and use of space and light alone. The art, of course, is genuinely amazing. If you have even a passing familiarity with paintings as a genre, you will walk around the d'Orsay going, "Oh, THAT's here?" I saw multiple paintings I'd encountered in jigsaw puzzles, or on the covers of Debussy piano books. Manet, Cezánne, Gauguin, Degas; a whole room of Van Gogh, including one of his most recognizable self-portraits and his "Bedroom in Arles" (a very enjoyable 2,000-piece puzzle). Monet everywhere--I guess the d'Orsay owns 86 of his paintings. I loved the mini-exhibit of five paintings of the Rouen Cathedral, and even my six-year-old appreciated, if purely for subject matter, "The Saint-Lazare Station." Our kids, it turns out, do not yet appreciate art, and were in ragged form for much of our visit. Our three-year-old demanded to be carried at all times and kept insisting he didn't like "these pictures." (He also objected to his first nude, "The Bathers" by Renoir: "Why aren't they wearing any clothes, even? They can wear pants. They can cover themselves.") We had to take a breather in the underground cafe, with water and snacks, and this gave us enough steam to make it back out to the main floor. We managed to zip through a few of the many rooms lining the main corridor on our way up to the Renoir exhibit at the front of the museum. This part of our visit could not have been more cursory, and yet we stumbled upon Courbet's self-portrait, "The Desperate Man"--a cool painting I'd never seen before--and Millet's "The Angelus," a painting I'd learned about at the d'Orsay many years earlier. The Renoir exhibit (Renoir and Love: A Joyful Modernity, apparently just ended) was spectacular, an expansive collection of iconic paintings displayed for maximum impact. It was also jam packed and slightly unpleasant to navigate with two children on the verge of meltdown. I'd love to go back to Paris and explore the d'Orsay at my leisure. I'm sure it'd also be worthwhile to go with a guide, and perhaps two older, well-behaved children who might get something out of the experience. In the meantime, I'm grateful I've been able to see the place at all. It's a marvelous museum, one of the greatest in the world.

One visit is not enough…read more When you learn to swim. One lesson is never enough. The more you dive into the depths and emerge for a breath of air, the more you enjoy. The more rapturous moments are grasped. Ah, so is the Musee d'Orsay. It is not a museum to plunge to once. One must visit multiple times. Otherwise, it is impossible to swim between exhibits, paddle through the intentions of artists. Be sure, you don't need to swim to enjoy the galleries. Even dog paddling between famous works is enjoyable. However, to truly move through exhibits with ease takes practice. You will thank yourself.

Lovely little museum of Monet's art. We stopped by after visiting Monet's house & gardens. We…read moreenjoyed reading about his life and works and seeing his paintings. We spent around 30min-45min.

Free entry to the museum was all we needed to hear! After a wonderful few hours at Monet's…read moregardens, we saw the sign welcoming visitors so we went inside 3 rooms of widely spaced artworks & this exhibition was covering comparisons of Monet and Rothko. Never would have thought to compare the two but it worked! Lots of benches to sit & gaze at the masters & contemplate their works We were fans!

FANTASTIC Museum. It would of received 5-stars, but they never answer multiple emails I sent and…read morethe track was closed, totally contradicting what the website said. My kid, who loves Ford vs Ferrari spend an hour looking at the cars and memorabilia. I was so excited for him. We also got great gifts from the gift shop.

American Tourist here…read more I'm a big car guy so when I planned my trip to Paris I made sure there was time to visit Le Mans. We rented a car and drove from Paris to Le Mans which is ~120 miles, I thought it would take 2 hours or so but it actually took 4 hours! You are basically taking a small 2 lane highway throughout the entire trip so you are probably averaging ~50mphs. About every 5-10 minutes the highway puts you through a small town where you slow to a crawl through the roundabouts. So yah, factor in 8 hours of driving round trip. On to the museum, it's much smaller and less impressive than I thought. There is a decent mix of old and new race cars but a lot of the famous models like Aston Martin DBR1 and Jaguar D types were missing. I was at the Indy museum recently and they pretty much have every single Indy 500 winning racecar there so the Le Mans museum was disappointing. I think even at a leisurely pace you can get through the museum in an hour pretty easily.

American Tourist here…read more I'm a big car guy so when I planned my trip to Paris I made sure there was time to visit Le Mans. We rented a car and drove from Paris to Le Mans which is ~120 miles, I thought it would take 2 hours or so but it actually took 4 hours! You are basically taking a small 2 lane highway throughout the entire trip so you are probably averaging ~50mphs. About every 5-10 minutes the highway puts you through a small town where you slow to a crawl through the roundabouts. So yah, factor in 8 hours of driving round trip. On to the museum, it's much smaller and less impressive than I thought. There is a decent mix of old and new race cars but a lot of the famous models like Aston Martin DBR1 and Jaguar D types were missing. I was at the Indy museum recently and they pretty much have every single Indy 500 winning racecar there so the Le Mans museum was disappointing. I think even at a leisurely pace you can get through the museum in an hour pretty easily.

I came here not being a race fan and left being a race fan. Nice gift shop and very thorough…read moremuseum, plus for a few extra euro you can walk out around the race track. Nothing was going on race wise while I was there but there is still plenty to see. Nothing to eat on the grounds so be sure to pack something if you want something. I took a taxi from the train station but there might be busses that stop near the race track I am not sure. It's not far out of town so it's about 15 euro taxi ride from the gare Le Mans train station.

From the owner: Un travail de titan et de minutie Classé parmi les monuments historiques en 1983, la maison…read morePicassiette est une œuvre de longue haleine réalisée par Raymond Isidore de 1930 jusqu'en 1962. Surnommé Picassiette, il ramassait sans intention précise des morceaux de verre au cours de ses promenades et les entreposait dans son jardin. C'est alors que l'idée germa, et voici qu'il entreprit de faire de sa maison une gigantesque mosaïque. On la visite aujourd'hui pour l'ampleur du travail ainsi que pour son esthétique : la maison est constituée de multitudes de rosaces, dessins et fresques en mosaïques, tout de verre réalisés.

From the owner: L'amour du travail bien fait Nés au Moyen-age, toujours en activité, les Compagnons du tour de…read moreFrance ont leur musée à Tours. Leur histoire et leurs traditions sont évoquées par les grands chefs-d'oeuvre des charpentiers, tailleurs de pierre, couvreurs, maréchaux-ferrants, sabotiers, serruriers, confiseurs, cordonniers... A côté de ces chefs-d'oeuvres, des tableaux, des objets, des outils illustrent la vie des compagnons. Ces collections constituent un ensemble unique au monde. Pour les jeunes publics, des ateliers pédagogiques constituent une découverte du Compagnonnage et des métiers à travers les collections du musée puis sont suivis d'activités d'initiation aux techniques.

Going to Monet's garden at Giverny had been a "bucket list" item for me, and I was able to make the…read moretrip recently while visiting Paris! It was such a beautiful place and did not disappoint. The flowers in mid-April were beautiful to see, with huge peonies, lots of tulips, crocuses, wisteria on the Japanese bridge, and other spring blooms. This also seemed to be a good time to visit as it gets more packed during the summer. Tip: Rather than doing a bus tour, it was fairly easy to simply take the SCNF train to Vernon. From Vernon, there are regular shuttle buses directly to Monet's garden for 5 Euros each way (10 Euros round trip), so it is very straightforward. The train from Paris to Vernon leaves from Gare St. Lazare. Also, if you do go via train to Vernon to get to Giverny, there was an adorable cat cafe there for lunch: Cookie's Cat Cafe!

We visited in early June and the most wonderful flowers were blooming!…read moreWe had a guided tour through Viator, which you don't need. We only had to do it for the transportation from Paris to Versailles. We went through the house first, because later in the day, the line for the house can get long. The house had interesting decor and colors, and a TON of Japanese artwork, which he fancied. I enjoyed checking out the old school kitchen. There are some paintings of his in the first room, of both of his wives. The garden was magnificent. They have a path that has directions. You can't just go anywhere you want. Some areas are blocked off. Workers were busy pulling weeds etc. There is a Japanese garden that isn't too far to walk. That was very peaceful. It surrounds a lake with lily pads. Very picturesque. Summer is a great time to visit because lots of things are in bloom. Later, the sunflowers will bloom. So each season has its own stars. I have heard winter time isn't fantastic for flowers, which makes sense. So I would say spring summer and fall are best for the gardens.