Toby and Allan Live in Paris: Musée Nissim De Camondo and Paris Walks

Update: On Thursday June 16, Alain hit a milestone in his running. He reached 2500 km from the time he started running with his Nike counter in May 2008. The milestone was reached on the Pont Sully bridge. WAY TO GO!

On Friday June 17, we headed out to the 8th arrondissement to the Musée Nissim De Camondo, which borders on Parc Monceau. The Camondo family history is a fascinating one. Originally from Spain, the family fled due to the inquisition, then settled in Italy and later in Constantinople, where they established a bank at the beginning of the 19th century. In the 1870s, two brothers (Nissim and Abraham) moved to Paris and purchased two town houses, over-looking Parc Monceau. Moise, the son of Nissim, tore down one of the properties at 63 Rue Monceau and built a beautiful mansion modelled after the Petit Trianon in Versailles. He gathered a remarkable collection of furniture and decorative arts from the 18th century. He had two children- Nissim and Beatrice. Nissim, a pilot, was killed in 1917 during WWI and Moise died in 1935. His will bequeathed his town house and collections to the Musée des arts décoratifs, on condition that the museum bear the name of his son and that the collections be left as they were on his death. His will notes that the 18th century was the period he loved above all others (this reminded me of the Woody Allen movie- Minuit a Paris, which we recently saw, in which a number of the characters are always harkening back to another era, which they say was the best time to be alive).

His faithful reconstruction of an artistic dwelling of the 18th century is remarkable. The guide points out that with few exceptions, the house looks the same as it did in 1935. This is a real gem of a museum and we highly recommend it. Sadly, Moise's daughter Beatrice, her ex-husband and two children were deported to Auschwitz, where they perished. Beatrice had believed that her French citizenship, conversion to Catholicism, horse riding with German soldiers, and the fact that her brother had died for France would enable her to survive the war. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

The museum, view from the courtyard

Signage at entrance to museum

Memorial plaque at entrance

Nissim-shot down in WWI

Entrance way

Stairway

Beautiful desk

Modern tiled bathroom

View of garden and Parc Monceau

We then stopped for lunch nearby at Le Grand Cafe de la Poste. Nancy had a croque monsieur and Alain and I shared a hamburger. It started to rain so we headed home and went to see Beginners at the local cinema.

Saturday was another cool day with the odd rain shower. We wandered around the neighbourhood, had lunch at home and then walked with Nancy over to the Rodin Museum, where she checked out the sculpture garden in the rain. On the way home, we saw this anti-Alberta tar sand ad in the Paris Lush store.

We had dinner at the restaurant next door with Ron and Patsy, visitors from Toronto and old friends of Alain's from Winnipeg. Dessert was at our place.

Alain, Patsy, Ron, Nancy and Toby

Toby, Patsy, Ron, Nancy chez nous

On Sunday, June 19, we went to the Bastille market and loaded up on treats. In the afternoon, we took a fascinating Paris Walks entitled Paris of the Impressionists. The 2 1/2 hour tour focussed on the writers, painters and collectors who lived in both the wealthy area near Parc Monceau and in the Nouvelle Athenes area nearby (less wealthy).

We started with a walk through part of Parc Monceau. The park was at the old border of the City of Paris and contains one of the old toll booths in a beautiful rotunda. The park was established by Philippe D’Orléans, cousin of Louis XVI, in 1769. He had an English style garden designed, which was rare in Paris for that time. Unfortunately, Philippe Equalité, as he was known, was guillotined in 1793. The City of Paris purchased the park in 1860 and sold 1/2 of the park to make way for the beautiful mansions (including the Camondo residences) that now surround it.

Toll booth at the edge of Parc Monceau

Park gates where carriages could go through

Ruins in the park

Arc moved to Parc Monceau after the City Hall burned down in 1870

Memorial for a playwright - Edouard Pailleron

Alain and Oriel, the tour guide, pointing out the old boundaries of Paris

After the park, we saw the beautiful Musee Cernushi building, another mansion bordering the park. We visited Gustav Caillebotte's apartment in the wealthy district and saw places where Manet, Gaughin, and Zola lived or worked.