Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [121]
QUICK BITES: Just steps from the Drouot auction house, J’go (4 rue Drouot, Grands Boulevards | 01–40–22–09–09), one of two Paris outposts of the Toulouse wine bar and restaurant, is a perfect spot for an evening apéritif or a light dinner. The cozy bar serves an impressive menu of grignotages (tapas) from France’s southwest, such as peppery foie gras on bread or Basque cheese with jam, either of which is nicely paired with a glass of madiran, a hearty red from the Pyrenees. The restaurant upstairs serves rib-sticking specialties such as lamb stuffed with foie gras. The name is a play on the French “J’y vais,” or “I go there.”
Fodor’s Choice | Musée Nissim de Camondo.
Perhaps the most opulent and best museum devoted to French 18th-century decorative arts, this mansion is about as glamorous as Paris gets. However, all of its splendor is steeped in tragedy, as it was created by the Camondo family whose haunting story is recorded within the walls of this superb museum. Patriarch Moïse de Camondo, born in Istanbul to a successful banking family, built this showpiece mansion in 1911 in the style of the Petit Trianon at Versailles, and stocked it with some of the most exquisite furniture, boiseries (wainscoting), and bibelots of the mid- to late 18th century. Despite his vast wealth and purported charm, his wife left him five years after their marriage. Then his son, Nissim, was killed in World War I. Upon Moïse’s death in 1935, the house and its contents were left to the state as a museum, and named for his lost son. A few years later, daughter Irène, her husband, and two children were murdered at Auschwitz. No heirs remained. Today, the house remains an impeccable tribute to Moïse’s life, from the gleaming salons to the state-of-the-art kitchen. There are background materials and an excellent free audio guide in English. | 63 rue de Monceau, Parc Monceau | 75008 | 01–53–89–06–50 | www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr | €6 | Wed.–Sun. 10–5:30 | Station: Villiers.
Fodor’s Choice | Palais Garnier (Opéra).
Haunt of the Phantom of the Opera and the real-life inspiration for Edgar Degas’s dancer paintings, the opulent Palais Garnier, also called the Opéra Garnier, is one of two homes of the National Opera of Paris. The building was begun in 1860 by then-unknown architect Charles Garnier, who finished his masterwork 15 long years later, way over budget. Festooned with (real) gold leaf, colored marble, paintings, and sculpture from the top artists of the day, the opera house was about as subtle as Versailles and sparked controversy in post-Revolutionary France. Treat yourself to a performance, or take a guided tour (€12; in English), which includes a stop in the lavish auditorium with a ceiling by Chagall. There is also a small ballet museum with a few works by Degas and the tutu worn by prima ballerina Anna Pavlova when she danced her epic Dying Swan in 1905. | Pl. de l’Opéra, Opéra/Grands Boulevards | 75009 | 08–92–89–90–90, 01–41–10–08–10 for tours | www.operadeparis.fr | €12 for guided visit; €8 for solo visit | Daily 10–5.
Parc Monceau.
This exquisitely landscaped park began in 1778 as the Duc de Chartres’s private garden. Though some of the parkland was sold off under the Second Empire (creating the exclusive real estate that now borders the park), the refined atmosphere and some of the fanciful faux-ruins have survived. Immaculately dressed children play, watched by their nannies, while lovers picnic on the grassy lawns. In 1797 André Garnerin, the world’s first-recorded parachutist, staged a landing in the park. The rotunda—known as the Chartres Pavilion—is surely the city’s grandest public restroom; it started life as a tollhouse. | Entrances on Bd. de Courcelles, Av. Velasquez, Av. Ruysdaël, Av. van Dyck, Parc Monceau | 75008 | Station: Monceau.
Passage Jouffroy.
Before there were the grands magasins (department stores), there were the passages couverts, covered arcades that