Museum in Paris, the essential ones

Enter the time machine and travel to middle age. A little stroll in the medieval garden of musée du moyen âge, hôtel de Cluny, near Saint Michel. Enter this fascinating museum and don't miss the lady and the unicorn tapestry. Get out and walk in the streets in the direction of Notre-Dame cathedral. If you have some energy left you can wander in the streets of 'ile Saint-Louis and 'île de la cité. If you are really fascinated by that period or want to see the reconstitution of Marie-Antoinette's cell before her head was chopped, go to the conciergerie.

Then, you can go on with your trip in the past of Paris. In musée Carnavalet, 23, rue de Sévigné (3ème), we explore Paris throug the centuries and in musée de la poste , mail (slow mostly) through ages. Don't miss the exhibition about mail art.

Not far from that we jump forward in an utterly different world : Beaubourg, place G Pompidou, 4ème. A lively plazza, a building strongly colored, joyful, a bold, assertive industrial style. Enjoy the pleasure of discovering Paris progressively while climbing the escalator. Excellent exhibitions, a great collection of modern art and fine activities for kids.

In the same part of Paris, walk under the arches of the Rue de Rivoli and then pay a litte visit or a great one to, Le louvre (too big for our taste but we know kids who appreciate the place really very much and you may want to have a glimpse at Mona lisa's smile). Next to le Louvre, the musée de la mode et du textile , houses at the moment a balenciaga exhibition, while the musée des arts décoratifs located in the same place houses a fascinating exhibition called toy stories.

In the Marais also, the conservatoire des arts et métiers, a museum dedicated to the history of technology, and machines, 60 rue Réaumur. Founded in 1794 on the place of an old priory, this collection is unique in the worl by its exhaustiveness and vastness. A remarkable testimony of man's ingenuity. On sunday you can brunch but you must reserve,

Also situated in the Marais, in one of the most famous private mansion of Paris, hôtel Salé built by a man who inspired Molière for the bourgeois gentilhomme and who became very wealthy collecting taxes on salt during the reign of Louis XIV, the Picasso museum,

And now, let us turn our attention to the second part of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th.

Go to the musée Rodin in Hôtel Biron, next to the golden cupolas of Hôtel des Invalides. Hôtel Biron is a magnificent private mansion built in the 18 th century. In this museum you can stroll between masterpieces, personal belonging of an outstanding artist and enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of a private park in Paris. Rodin 1840-1917.

Not far from there and dedicated to artists of the same period (1848-1914), Orsay museum. Located in a former railway station, it is a magnificent and facinating museum. The only, but sometimes deterrent, drawback is that you can have to queue for hours to enter it!

If you are interested by impressionism, go to the musée de l'orangerie and look at the nympheas. Stunning..