If I were in Paris... Friday, January 14, 2011

Today's temperatures are between 54 and 44 degrees, so cool but not freezing. What would I be doing?

Definitely I would be at the exhibit at Musee Malliol in the 7th, where their exhibition "Tresors des Medicis" is winding down. The exhibition carries 150 items from the Medici collections, which practically guarantees a variety of amazing items across the spectrum of useful and artistic possibilities.

The museum is located in the 7th on the Rue du bac, open 10:30am-7 pm everyday and at 11 euros seems... well, reasonable. The exhibition will undoubtedly be amazing, including materials from both Catherine and Marie, the two Medici women who were queens of France and brought Italian culture, art, and learning to French courts.

I would love to follow this up with the exhibition on designer Andrea Putman at the Hotel de Ville, again open every day from 10 am to 7 pm in the 4th... and it is free. The designer is 85 and this is a retrospective of her career as one of the quintessential French designer, beginning in the 1940s. As a woman and a designer she is unpredictable; her work is labeled "eclectic" and her signature is black-and-white duochomatic design. Hotels, interior design, movie sets, and even the Concorde... how could it not be a great exhibition?

From that exhibition, today I think I would walk a few blocks and treat myself to tea at Mariage Freres on Rue Bourg Tibourg. This means a single pot of tea chosen from their huge selection of house teas or infusions and a treat--cake, pastry, or custard of tea-based recipes. This is my favorite of the MF shops. On a cool, cloudy January afternoon, nothing could be better.

After that, a walk through the Marais, perhaps, looking into the brightly-lit windows of the shops, and home to a cozy, late dinner, reading my current book (perhaps on the Nook!), and well-earned sleep.