Jim's Last Day and Two Private Home Museums

Staying at the hotel worked great; we walked across the street and had breakfast in the apartment with the girls.  Then we were off to purchase our overnight train tickets for the journey to Italy on September 26th.  We leave Paris at 5:45 pm and arrive in Florence Italy at 7 am.  

By 11 am we were headed for the Metro and Parc Moneau; a beautiful park near the Arc de Triomphe.  Multi-million dollar homes have backed up to this parc since the late 1800’s.  One of them was owned by a wealthy banker who designated that the government would have his home as a museum in honor of his son who was killed in WW I. 

The irony of this happens during WW II; his daughter and two grandchildren died in Auschwitz in 1943, just before the end of the war.  The family was Jewish but had been in France for several generations; they never considered the possibility of being sent to concentration camps.  This home has been maintained as the family left it in 1943 and is known as the Nissim de Camodo Musee after the son. 

Leaving this Museum we walked over to Haussmann Blvd and found a small café for sandwiches before going to our second Museum about 2 pm.  Another private home, the Jacquemart-Andre Musee has many more pieces of art work; many of them by world famous artists including several Rembrandts.     This home was owned by a wealthy man and his artistic wife.  There were no children and the home was left intact to the state.  One of the more remarkable architectural features was a double staircase that was designed by the second runner up for designing the Opera Garnier Building; this was his “see what you missed by not choosing me” design that is absolutely stunning and leads you up to a room that opens to the floor below.  The area surrounding the opening was used by the musicians during parties at the house.  Always a delight to see this magnificent home.  

It was nearly 4 pm by the time we finished visiting both of the museums so we headed to the Metro and back to the apartment.  Jim said goodbye to Bonnie and Jane as he would not see them again.  We had made plans to meet with friends for dinner near their hotel.  Did I mention that I’d dropped my camera on my toe this morning and by this time I was limping along with what felt like a broken toe; but we walked to their hotel; about a mile, looking for a good restaurant along the way.  We’d found one on Google Maps and checked it out on Trip Advisor and it looked really good.   But by the time we arrived at their hotel; we’d found two possibilities but not the one we were looking for.

Jim continued to look for another twenty minutes while I met the girls.  Just as we were about to give up we spotted the restaurant.  Oops…it was closed for the evening. 

Our friend Christa from Illinois and her friend Sue joined us for dinner at the second choice.  We met Christa on the Trip to China many years ago and have stayed in contact by email and her one visit to California. 

A very fun couple of hours getting to know Sue and enjoying Christa’s company.  We caught the Metro home; picked up the rest of Jim’s things at the apartment; said goodbye to Mary and headed for the Hotel. 

To bed by 10 pm as the wakeup call was at 7 am.  Found out later than Bonnie and Jane returned home soon after dinner and they all played cards at the apartment for hours last night!

Hope you enjoy the slideshow…sorry this is a day late in posting!