| Small Paris museums offer you an
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| | Still closer to the Gare Montparnasse is
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| alternative to the large venues when you
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| | the Musée de la Poste, an offshoot of
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| wish to avoid the crowds there. See which
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| | the postal administration - and a good
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| museums to visit here.
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| | place to take the prettiest mail-woman in
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| Fan of Klimt, Schiele & Co., I recently
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| | your neighborhood.
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| wanted to take a leisurely look at the
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| | Opened in 1973, it's a museographical
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| Grand Palais blockbuster exhibition on
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| | surprise: you take an elevator to floor
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| Vienne 1900. I picked a weekday
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| | five then spiral down, room-to-room, to
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| mid-afternoon, assuming I could whizz in
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| | the ground floor.
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| and loiter through. Oops! I lined up
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| | Goodies along the way include: an
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| before the entry (in freezing weather)
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| | articulated-arm Chappe semaphore (ca.
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| for over an hour. And when I got a
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| | 1800), part of a France-wide network
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| glimpse of the over-populated jostling
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| | enabling messages to come 10 km.
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| going on inside, threw in the towel.
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| | station-to-station in clear weather from,
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| If body-contact sport isn't your ideal
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| | say, Calais to Paris in just over an hour
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| for expo-visiting in Paris (or
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| | until France imported Samuel Morse's
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| elsewhere), try small museums.
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| | system in 1856; a lovely 1900 ceramic
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| Here's a sampling of Parisian fares in
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| | post office counter; and an explanation
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| this vein, where - despite the displays'
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| | of Paris pneumatique system that,
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| intrinsic interest, and English
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| | 1866>1984, air-propelled correspondence
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| documentation generally available -
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| | via underground tubes at a speed of up to
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| you're not likely to have your feet
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| | 700 meters a minute.
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| trampled or be elbowed in the ribs. Some
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| | Address:
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| are so tiny they aren't mentioned in
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| | 34 boulevard Vaugirard
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| Bordas' authoritative Guide des Musées
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| | Paris 15th district
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| de France.
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| | Open except Mondays and holidays 10
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| Let's begin by wandering down rue Antoine
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| | a.m.>6 p.m.
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| Bourdelle, 15e arrondissement (district)
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| | Full entry: 5; reduced: 3.50;under 18
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| near the Gare Montparnasse. At no. 18 you
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| | and mailmen/women: free;
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| can't not notice, through a grillwork
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| | Metro station: Montparnasse.
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| fence, a garden hosting a bronze horse
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| | And now, for gruesomely comic (?) relief
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| almost two storeys high.
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| | : Paris' Crime Museum a.k.a. Musée des
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| This is the Musée Bourdelle, former home
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| | Collections Historiques de la Préfecture
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| and studio of the sculptor (1861-1929)
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| | de Police.
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| for whom the street is named, and whose
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| | Can you imagine what early handcuffs
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| work - fittingly for a small museum? -
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| | looked - and felt - like ? Ouch ! They're
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| was grandiose in intent and result. The
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| | there. As are: a genuine guillotine
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| style is somewhere between rough-hewn
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| | blade, perhaps used on the murderer of a
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| Rodin (with whom he collaborated for a
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| | nearby victim's punctured skull, and
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| while) and Art Déco's wind-swept
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| | stark temporary exhibits.
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| streamlining.
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| | A recent one of these documented
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| On view are samples of his inclination
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| | oh-so-graphically the trials and
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| for antiquity and exoticism that range
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| | tribulations of bagnards - forced-labor
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| from statues of Sappho and Archer
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| | convicts transported to hellish camps in
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| Heracles to a monumental portrayal of
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| | e.g. New Caledonia and French Guyana as
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| Polish national poet Mickiewicz and
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| | late as 1953. Among them was the
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| bas-reliefs of music, drama, etc. for the
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| | escapee-author of 1970s U.S. best-seller
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| Théâtre des Champs Elysées,
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| | Papillon.
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| inaugurated in 1913. It was inaugurated
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| | Address:
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| with a scandalous premiere of
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| | 4 rue de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève
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| Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, danced by a
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| | Paris 5th district
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| rather lightly clad Nijinsky. That year
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| | Open Monday through Friday 9 a.m.>5 p.m.
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| Bourdelle exhibited work at New York's
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| | Free entry (except for executed
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| landmark Armory Show.
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| | criminals)
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| Address:
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| | Metro station: Maubert-Mutualité
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| 18 rue Antoine Bourdelle
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| | For wine buffs I can think of no place
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| Paris 15th district
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| | better than the Musée du Vin (Wine
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| Open except Mondays and holidays 10
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| | Museum). It opened its doors in 1984, and
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| a.m.>6 p.m.
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| | hunkers in 13th century quarries
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| Full entry: 4.50; youth: 2.20; under
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| | reconverted in the 16th-17th centuries by
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| 14: free.
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| | monks to store their wine (grapes grew
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| Metro stations: Montparnasse, Falguière.
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| | abundantly on the Passy slopes, now
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| Just around the corner is the diminutive
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| | facing the Eiffel Tower).
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| Musée du Monparnasse recalling such
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| | Ranging through time from Roman
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| Roaring-'20s Montparnasse denizens as
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| | domination, and signposted by
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| Hemingway, Picasso and Modigliani. It
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| | mini-Bacchus figures, displays include
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| opened its doors in 1998 in a quaint
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| | viticulturists' tools, a barrel-maker's
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| paved street (Chemin du Montparnasse)
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| | workshop, and vessels for testing,
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| which itself is worth the visit.
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| | storing, transporting and consuming the
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| The museum offers its visitors a treasure
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| | beverage.
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| trove of photographs taken by such
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| | The visit ends with... wine-tasting. You
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| luminaries as Robert Doisneau and Henri
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| | can also lunch there.
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| Cartier-Bresson, and many watercolours
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| | Thermal springs once flowed here, so the
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| and prints by Montparnasse artists.
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| | Wine Museum is on... rue des Eaux: Water
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| Address:
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| | Street!
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| 21 avenue du Maine
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| | Address:
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| Paris 15th district
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| | Rue des Eaux - 5, square Charles Dickens
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| Open except Mondays and holidays 12:30
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| | -
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| a.m.>7 p.m.
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| | Paris 16th district
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| Full entry: 5; reduced: 4;under 12:
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| | Open Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m.>6
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| free;
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| | p.m.
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| Metro station: Montparnasse
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|
