Musee des Arts Decoratif, part one

We'd planned to visit this museum after Dennis and Nesbit told us how wonderful it was. They even gave us the little map of the museum with the best exhibits circled. We were really glad for that or we'd never have found them, and they WERE wonderful. We walked to the museum, about a mile or so, and to our surprise found a very long line to get in. Phooo! So we decided to continue walking through the Tuilleries to the Jeu de Paume to see the Lee Freedlander photo exhibit. It was worth seeing so we didn't feel badly about the change of plans. Plus I had a great cup of hot chocolate in the little cafe there. How do you say Liquid Chocolate Pudding....yum! We headed back to the Cite along the rue de Rivoli, and guess what? No line to get in, though the museum was closing early, it was their late night, because of a big event having to do with Fashion Week. In fact, there was a big, loooong white tent set up in the Tuilleries, which was an exhibit or an exposition for professionals in the fashion industry. People were loading in cases of things. Rental trucks were pulled up on the sidewalk. The part of the museum we wanted to see was the furniture from the 40s, 50, 60s, and up. The contemporary items. We finally found where it all was, with the help of a friendly museum guard to walked us to the proper elevator. One of the really neat things was the views from the windows. I said it was worth the entry price just to get these views. Here are a few. One shows the buildings along rue de Rivoli heading east, and one along the Tuilleries looking west, with the tent, towards La Defense way at the end of the city. One shows the Eiffel Tower and the gold dome of Les Invalids. And one view gave us the pyramid in the Louvre courtyard. Oh yes, the museum, is down one "arm" of the same building the Louvre museum is in. In another view, you can see Sacre Cour in the distance in the middle and the old Opera Garnier to the left. There was also a strange arrangement of shrubs. Maybe an art installation. Here's the first installation of what we saw.