Day trip: La Piscine #2

Along with a small group of French journalists I recently had the unique experience of a behind-the-scenes exclusive look at the ongoing expansion work of La Piscine Museum, site of a former municipal swimming pool in an Art Deco building on the outskirts of Lille.

Above: artisans at work reminiscent of Caillebotte's Les Raboteurs at the Orsay Museum


Below: boxes of artworks yet to be unpacked; display bases for sculptures; 19th and 20th-century art fills back-room ateliers during construction works

(click to enlarge)

La Piscine Museum
23 rue de l'Espérance 59100 Roubaix
 Scheduled re-opening date: October 20, 2018


More in The Good Life France Magazine

Next month's newsletter
Day trip: Lille

[The museum restaurant / café is managed by Méert of Lille, famous luxury chocolate and pastry makers] 

Day trip: La Piscine #1

A ten-minute train ride from the city of Lille (2 hours from Paris), La Piscine - an early 20th century municipal swimming pool transformed into an astonishing art exhibition space - expands and readies for re-opening this October.

La Piscine Museum
23 rue de l'Espérance 59100 Roubaix

Monday: behind-the-scenes

Day trip: Musée Camille Claudel

Newly opened Camille Claudel Museum in Nogent-sur-Seine is just an hour and a half away from Paris and on the way to Troyes, restored to its medieval splendor and gateway to the Champagne region.

Lunch:
AU NUMERO VINS
(wine / charcuterie-foie gras-cheese planches one-minute walk from museum)
5 Rue de l'Étape au Vin 10400 Nogent-sur-Seine

 

***

  

“There is always something absent that torments me.” Camille Claudel in a letter to Auguste Rodin 1886

Being a muse is not as easy as it looks. With the opening of France’s first national museum dedicated to the talent of Rodin’s tormented assistant / mistress, Camille Claudel (1864-1943) has finally received the recognition that she has long deserved. - BPJ

Museum dedicated to the work and times of Camille Claudel 

Article: The Good Life France Magazine

 

Day trip: At home with Monet #2

Interior of Impressionist icon Claude Monet's Giverny home with partial view of gardens from a window.

***

Un Jour avec Claude Monet à Giverny by Adrien Goetz (Flammarion)

 

Paris' 21st arrondissement #2

 

Provençal-style markets, small fishing villages, local fleur de sel and fleur de sel goat cheeses.

 

On the nearby tiny island of Aix where no cars are allowed and access is solely by ferry a man makes his way down the main street.

 

***

 

Getting there: 

By TGV train from Paris: leave early to La Rochelle (just 2 1/2 hours)

At La Rochelle rent a car and head to île de Ré, a 10-minute drive

 

By car from Paris: approximately 4 hours 

If driving, plan on spending at least one night