DATELINE: Paris (7)

The sun came out and so did we.  Off we went to Parc Monceau and the Nissim museum, and I am so glad we did.  The owner of our apartment has been pushing us to visit this temple to 18th Century decorative arts so today was the day.  What a beautiful home ~ une hôtel particulier (mansion) ~ it is.  I've already mentioned how much Mr. C likes the Jacquemart-André; he wants to off-load that place and buy this one instead.

There are three floors of beautifully furnish and preserved rooms open to the public.  Since Sunday is the traditional day for entrée libre to French museums we thought the place would be packed.  Mais non!  First, this museum does not offer such a thing and second, who comes here anyway?  There were very few visitors and thus we could roam around  freely and take our timel

The family of wealthy Jewish bankers lived in this beautiful mansion, filling it with exquisite 18th dentury furniture, art, silver, china and tapestries.  When the patriarch died in 1935 he gave the home and its contents to Les Arts Decoratifs in memory of his son, Nissim, killed in WWI.  His daughter Irene, her husband and two children were deported from Paris in 1944 and perished at Auschwitz.  The Camondo family died out.

Le salon bleu

Part of M. Comodo's "office"

Main dining room

Library

Library

The kitchen.  Through the open door in the rear right is the scullery.

Kitchen; the cook top and oven in the foreground; a roasting oven in the right rear

This is the "call box" on the wall of the kitchen.  Someone in a drawing room or salon pushed a button to summon a servant; this box showed who rang.

A display of the family's Sèvres china.  There are probably 300 pieces for every conceivably use.  Each piece has a different bird.

 Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist and is considered the "inventor" of the idea of "species."  He made hundreds of drawings of birds and they were used to decorate this delicate porcelain china.

The "modern" bathroom.  Through the doorin the corner is la toilette.  Note two bidets; I think one is for feet!

A beautiful apartment building with a 5th floor garden.

The wide walkway through the Parc Monceau

Lots of children playing in the park, hoards of runners/joggers/walkers.  You can see that the Plane trees are starting to turn and the leaves to fall and cover the ground.  A beautiful autumn day here in Paris.

All told, about 300 stairs, counting the museum.  But it all seemed very easy today.  Tomorrow's outings are iffy as it's supposed to rain most of the day.  We'll do something but I'm not sure just what.
  Only three days left . . .