Two Museums in a City of Contrast : the Louvres and Centre Pompidou

Paris is a city that offers a large variety of museums. We have selected two very different ones that might interest you and suit all artistic tastes.

The LOUVRE is the largest museum in Paris ( 160 106 m²) and it's one of the most famous in the world.

It is located  between the right-bank of the Seine and the Rivoli Street in the 1^st arrondissement.

At first, the Louvre was a castle built by the king Philippe Auguste in 1190 and at the Renaissance, the Palace of the Louvre was unified with the palace of Tuileries, built by Catherine de Medecis. The museum used to be the residence of François Ier, then of Louis XIV. The first historic sign was a statue of Louis XV. Other buildings were added and modified later on.

In our opinion, the Louvre is probably the best place in Paris to enrich your artistic culture because of the extreme variety of its works. This museum is interesting for its architecture and for the masterpieces that are kept there. The French and Italian paintings for instance are worth to be seen and suit all tastes.

The Louvre enables you to have fun with friends and/or family, particulary thanks to the shops, where you can buy some gifts inspired by themasterpieces. Why not take refuge during a cold afternoon between innumerable and funny works ? The entrance is free every first Sunday of the month and it’s also free all year long when you’re under 18 !

The CENTRE GEORGE POMPIDOU also nicknamed Beaubourg by Parisians is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, next to the City Hall. It is such an excentric and modern museum in terms of appearence that it created quite a scandal when it was built in the middle of the very classical « marais » architecture !

This was the result of the idea of President Georges Pompidou to create a new museum of Modern Arts in the French capital city.

The museum is more than a museum : it is a cultural centre equiped with cinemas, a large library, a cutting edge music experimental centre called IRCAM, etc…

There are sometimes some curious pieces exhibited. Once, we even saw an old dilapidated car next to a little sofa! But we still recommand this place which is very lively and rather amusing !

       Emeline & Gwendoline.

Paris: From Myth to Reality...

Everybody thinks that Paris is a wonderful place, but we are going to show you some aspects of the city that people hardly ever imagine...

 Paris may be known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but there are  lots of downsides here too. Only a few districts have a good reputation,  and most others have a bad one. The subway stinks: it's dirty and crowdy inside and Parisians are always in a hurry and don’t want to help you when you need it... Parisians are not polite: they don’t apologize when they push someone and when you ask your way they often give you the wrong direction! When they have a dog, they don’t even clean their droppings, they just ignore the fact that their dog has had a poo and they run away. There’s too much pollution, noise, pigeon droppings and dog dirts!!!

But more than mere derogatory impressions, Paris is such a source of disillusion that it led to a real psychoanalytical illness.

The "Paris Syndrome" is a psychological disorder encountered by some people visiting Paris. It was first identified by a Japanese professor who discovered that when Japanese tourists arrive in Paris, they have the idea that Paris is the most beautiful city in the World, in fact, it is partly true, but from myth to reality, there is a BIG difference. When they arrive at the airport, they have to take the RER B, they have to go through the northern suburbs of Paris which are known for being poor and sometimes dangerous areas. Then they have to take the subway, and there’s no coach with a handsome Parisian who is going to take you out for dinner with beautiful words and wonderful roses. When they are in the subway, they just don’t know where to go and when they want to ask their way, the Parisians don’t listen to them and go back to their sudoku!

When you know you’re going to visit Paris, don’t be excited because when you’ll be there, you might  be disappointed, maybe it’s not as beautiful as you thought it would be in the first place.

Jessica, Bani and Nelly