When I was still a relative newcomer to Paris, I hopped on a regional train on a warm day sometime in June, feeling a sudden and pressing itch to get away from the city bustle. An hour or so later, I was roaming around the gardens at the Chateau de Versailles, bemusedly observing goats and sheep idle around in the pen next to the cottage where Marie Antoinette liked to dress up as a peasant and play at being a "commoner". I remember marveling at how easy of a getaway this was.
Looking ahead to an upcoming spring or summer trip to Paris? Day trips like these are a great way to avoid city burnout syndrome and see more of the greater Paris region, which tends to be underrated . I'm always looking to collect ideas for interesting excursions within close reach of Paris, so please share your ideas, tips and pictures related to Paris day trips here.
Share Your Tips and Experiences: What Paris day trips do you recommend?
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Image: The Chateau de Versailles has several acres of spectacular gardens. ©2008 Jasonb42882. Some rights reserved under the Creative Commons license.
It's easy to presume that Paris' Musée d'Orsay holds the most impressive collection of paintings and sketches from beloved Impressionist Claude Monet-- the permanent exhibition does include some of the artist's more iconic paintings-- but the lesser-known Musée Marmottan-Monet in fact houses the world's largest holding of works by Monet.
The intimate museum, tucked away in a quiet stretch of the city's posh 16th arrondissement (district), was created when a friend of the Monet family and the artist's son, Michel, bequeathed some 130 paintings, drawings, and other artifacts-- making the collection a highly personal one. Especially If you missed last year's much-lauded Monet retrospective at the Grand Palais, take some time to explore the Marmottan Monet museum: it'll give you a less caricatural perspective on the artist whose most famous paintings have fueled a booming industry of coffee mugs, tablecloths and table coasters, and prove you probably don't know everything there is to know about his remarkable body of work.
Read More: Visitors' Guide to the Musée Marmottan Monet
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According to British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, French officials are in the
middle of drawing up plans for a theme park dedicated to the Emperor Napoleon I. The park, assigned the tentative name "Napoleonland", would reportedly be built south of Paris in Montoreau, where the ambitious and power-thirsty emperor won a last battle against the Austrians in 1814.
The park is only in its planning stages and won't see the light of day unless planners can generate enough buzz to raise the some €220 million needed to build it. Battle re-enactments would be a major staple of the park's offerings, but so far it's unclear whether there are plans for Napoleon-themed rides, shows or other common amusement park attractions, nor whether the creators will be targeting a primarily French audience or try to draw international tourists en masse. The Telegraph claims that former French minister Yves Jégo came up with the idea in part to compete with Disneyland Paris, which attracts millions of visitors per year. The Paris region also boasts an Asterix theme park based on the beloved comic strip Gaul character, but it's primarily frequented by French tourists. What do you think? Is Napoleonland a new draw card for the region, or a money pit?
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by Colette Davidson, About.com Paris Travel Contributor
Stepping into the labyrinth of the "Danser sa vie" exhibit at the Centre Georges Pompidou, it becomes apparent from first glance that this is going to be three hours and 13 euros well spent. As a tropical storm crackles overhead by way of Daria Martin's video project, "In the Palace", a man writhes poetically on the floor in tortuously slow movements. But no need to panic: Tino Sehgal's performance installation is part of the exhibition, and just one of the many ways for real human interaction here.
The show, which runs through April 2nd, spans the 20th and 21st centuries and focuses on links between visual art, dance and the era's burgeoning modernity. It breaks into three themes: "dance as self-expression," "the abstraction of bodily movement," and "the dialogue between performance and dance." The exhibit's 450 works are split between video projects, live performances, paintings and other still pieces. A quote at the door by dance icon Isadora Duncan captures the spirit of the artists featured here, who lived their lives through movement: "My art is just an effort to express the truth of my being in gesture and movement. From the first, I have only danced my life."
As each of the more than dozen rooms offers a nuanced aspect of dance's history, visitors can enjoy Picasso's twisted figures, Emil Nolde's vibrantly colored strokes and Rodin's bronzed dancers in myriad elegant positions. The still art makes for a calming complement to the hefty selection of videos - Isadora Duncan whirling in a garden, Thierry de May's topless but not overtly sexual dancers spinning on a grassy patch, William Forsyth's tutorial on the geometrics of dance, Josephine Baker smiling radiantly as her body skips to electro dub, and Jan Fabre's envelope-pushing "When the Leading Man is a Woman," showing a naked woman slathered in oil and unsuccessfully dancing her way to a stand.
Perhaps the highlight of the video pieces is a near-full length showing of choreography great Pina Bausch's "The Rite of Spring" (1978). Dancers outfitted in sheer, nude dresses throw their bodies explosively for a completely physical and raw experience that leaves them covered in sweat and dirt, and to electrifying effect.
Closing out the exhibition, Andy Warhol's "Dance Diagram" (1962) teaches the Charleston, while headphones are provided in a nearby corner to practice your new steps, if you dare. Allan Kaprow's "Rearrangeable Panels" (1957-59) uses scraps of mirrors, wood, apples and paint, to break up the overwhelming dance content. And the final video piece by Jerome Bel, "The Show Must Go On" (2001) is so surprisingly silly that if it doesn't send you out the door with a smile on your face, you might want to check your pulse.
Exhibit: Danser sa vie: Dance and Visual Arts in the 20th and 21st centuries
Dates: November 23, 2011-April 2, 2012
Centre Georges Pompidou
Image: Emil Nolde, "Dancer with purple violin", 1920-1925.
