Louvre, Orsay and Rodin

If someone asks me: "what are the Museums of Paris that I prefer?" I should certainly need few minutes to think about it...

There are many nice museums but the best ones are the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay and the Musee Rodin.

If you think about visiting few museums and attractions

Get free entry to over 60 top museums and attractions in Paris with a Paris Sightseeing Pass

The Louvre

Address: 34 quai du Louvre, 1st arrondissement. Metro: Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre.

Opening times: The museum is open every day 9-6pm except Wed. Fri. 9-10pm. Closed Tuesday and the following French holidays: December 25, January 1, and May 1. It's my favorite of the museums of Paris.

Tickets: €9.5 for a full-day access to the Louvre except for temporary exhibitions in the Hall Napoleon also valid for the Musee Eugene Delacroix €6: on Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. access to the Louvre, except for temporary exhibitions in the Hall Napoleon. On Friday night the museum is free less 26 years old.

Allow 2 hours and more for the visit.

Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis Philippe follow by the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte have lived in the Louvre. Pei's pyramid this giant glass pyramid was commissioned in 1989 by Francois Mitterrand. It's also the main entrance to the Louvre. The pyramid is 70 feet high and made with glass segments.

One of the most famous museums worldwide, it's enormous you could be lost. The museum is divided in 3 sections: Richelieu, Denon and Sully wings. The Richelieu wing is for French, German and Dutch painting. The Denon wing is dedicated to the Italian Renaissance where you find the Mona Lisa (to know where just follow the crowd). The Sully wing is devoted to classical antiquity with Greek statues includes the very famous Venus de Milo, Roman mosaics and Egyptian Mummies.

Cafe Marly is facing into the Cour Napoleon.

Cafe Richelieu is outside the museum so with your ticket you can come many times you want during the day. You can skip the entry line.

A priori The: 35 galerie de Vivienne. 19th century tea house. A salad and a delicious home made cake could comfort you.

Faster to get in by the rue de Rivoli entrance.

Musee d'Orsay

A short walking distance from The Louvre. Allow Over 2 hours for a visit.

Address: 1, rue de la Legion d'honneur, 7tarrondissement. Metro: Solferino

Opening hours: 9.30am to 6pm, 9.30am to 9.45pm on Thursdays, Closed on Mondays

It's my second choice of the museums of Paris.Originally the building was a train station. Beautiful iron-glass station, admire the big clock outside. The president Giscard d"Estaing in 1970 decided to turn it into a museum.

The museum has three floors. And a large number of paintings. Perhaps you'll prefer a guided tour in English for a view of the principal pieces the Masterpieces of the Musee d'Orsay or more an in-depth visit In-Depth Tours. The rooms on the side of the Seine are for landscape painters like Corot, Daubigny and Millet.

The impressionist landscape paintings are upstairs. Renoir with Les Baigneuses, Van Gogh with La Chambre, Degas favorite little girls'painting Petite Danseuse de 14 ans, Manet with his Dejeuner sur l'herbe. You will see the famous Monet paintings like Rouen Cathedral, Les Coquelicots Poppy fields. Gauguin with his tahitian paintings. Cezanne with his beautiful country landscapes. Toulouse-Lautrec.

Downtstairs is the sculpture hall. French sculpture between 1840 to 1875.

A charming restaurant Musee d'Orsay restaurant with its sumptuous dining room.

A top floor cafe named Cafe des Hauteurs offers amazing view of the Capital.

The Museum has also a number of concerts during lunchtime (around 12:30pm) and evening.

Rodin Museum

Address: 79, rue de Varennes, 7th arrondissement. Metro: Varenne Allow at least 2 hours for a visit.

Museum, exhibition and museum store: 10am to 5.45pm

Get free entry to over 60 top museums and attractions in Paris with a Paris Sightseeing Pass

It's my third choice of the museums of Paris. Rodin Statues are famous around the world. A little story you should know about Rodin sculptor he was rejected three times to the well known school Ecole des Beaux Arts. To earn his life he made decorative stonework. Several pieces are made with his his model and mistress Camille Claudel.

The museum is in the 18th century Hotel Biron. An Hotel particulier where Rodin lived 10 years before his death (1917).The formal garden with benches, fountains and also a little cafe (access for 1euro only) offers to the public over 6 600 sculptures. You will find in the garden a large collection of bronzes some are well-known. Probably you know the Thinker Statue Le Penseur. There are just 25 copies around the world. Other important statues in the garden include the Gates of Hell and Burghers of Calais, Balzac.

Indoor a huge variety of marbles. The most famous are the Walking Man, the Cathedral, The Kiss by Rodin. He was inspired by the tragic story of Paolo and Francesca. A young woman fall in love with his husband's brother.

A little further you can visit at Meudon the Villa des Brillants where Rodin worked from 1895. Meudon is just located at 9.1km of the center of Paris. RER C station Meudon-Val Fleury.

Tips Museums of Paris

Get your tickets online to avoid long lines, buy tickets in advance at Fnac, Virgin Megastores. Or come before opening.

Paris Museum Pass offers the entrance of more 60 museums of Paris and monuments. It's good for 2, 4 or 6 consecutive days.

Passport museums of Paris Rodin-Orsay in one day for 12€

Pick up maps at the entrance and ask about guided tours.

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