Monet's "Waterlilies"

If you are interested in seeing Claude Monet's famous impressionist paintings from his Waterlily series (Nymphéas) there is no better to place to go than the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. This museum has been closed for renovations during our last three trips to France but was reopened in May, 2006.

If you are curious and want to see what all the hoopla is about check out their website:http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/index_u1l2.htm

At the top you can click on: la visite virtuelle de Nymphéas for a virtual visit of the two very large oval rooms built especially to showcase these masterpieces. (Salle 1 & Salle 2) You can use your mouse to rotate around the entire rooms and press shift to zoom in. Believe me when I say they are much better viewed in person! Magnifique!

Or you may click on English to get some printed info in English

This museum also contains many excellent paintings by Renoir, Cézanne,
Picasso, Rousseau and others.

Paris Museum Pass

The Carte Musées is now officially called the Paris Museum Pass and in case you are interested in checking it out see:

http://www.parismuseumpass.fr/flash/hp_fr.html

If you want to be able to visit many museums without waiting in line and paying for individual tickets, this may be for you!

The two day pass is 30 Euros and the four day pass is 45 Euros and is easily purchased in Paris.

Great guidebooks!

These are the guidebooks we are using:

For the Lyon area:
Michelin Green Guide, Auvergne and the Rhône Valley

For the Chamonix and Annecy areas:
Michelin Green Guide, French Alps

French:
Lonely Planet French Phrasebook

Paris:
Eyewitness Travel Guide, Paris
Knopf, MapGuide: Paris
Paris Made Easy
Eyewitness, Top 10 Paris
Walking Paris

Sue Johnson had also suggested Paris for Dummies and has field tested it herself!

Pam Renna likes the Paris Walks notecard set.

Any other favorites?

Remember we will be supplying each of you with a packet of maps and brochures when we meet at the airport.