After lunch on our last free day in Paris, Rebecca and I headed for the Musee Carnevalet in the Marais District of Paris. We found the museum, located in the oldest Renaissance townhouse in the Marais. The logis in the main courtyard has decorative bas-reliefs ofthe four seasons. The statue is of Louis XIV.
I’d hoped to do some research specific to the French Revolution, but when we got there we learned that the rooms we needed were closed. In fact, the entire museum was scheduled to close the next day for extensive renovations. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed, but glad we’d made it to the museum at all. The ground floor gallery had some items of interest, including old shop signs and models of Paris in the early years of the 20th century. I loved the 19th century apothecary shopfront. I apologize for the quality of some of these photos. It’s hard to get a good shot when a display is behind glass.
This model shows the Ile de la Cite. You can see Notre Dame on the right.
Model of Ile de la Cite
We were able to look at some of the period rooms on the first floor which is reached via an impressive staircase with a huge mural on the wall above. It always amazes me to see these old homes built on such a grand scale. The Carnevalet was built from 1547-1549 as a residence. Later it became a pension during the early 19th century but was purchased by the government in 1866 and converted to a museum.
I loved this blue room. It reminded me of the Regency Room at the Geffrye Museum in London.
Not sure I’d want to sleep in this bed. It looks a little on the short side! Though I have been told that people used to sleep sitting up rather than lying flat like a corpse. Tempting fate, I suppose.
The courtyard and garden were very pretty.
Something interesting happened on our walk back to Place de la Bastile. I’d been listening to French language lesson before we left, and I hadn’t been able to make much use of it. Then a French woman stopped us and asked, in French, if we knew where Hotel de Sully was. We’d just passed it on our walk, so I answered her in very simple French. “Oui,” I said, pointing down and across the street. “C’est la bas a droit.” After she left, Rebecca said to me, “I can’t believe you did that.” Have to say, I was pretty proud of myself.
Believe it or not, our day wasn’t finished, but I’ll go into that next time.
Linda
