Luckily the Musée de l'Orangerie wasn’t impacted by the strikes and we were able to proceed with our early morning time slot. The Musée de l'Orangerie has impressionist and post-impressionist art and is located in the west corner of the Tuileries Garden next to the Place de la Concorde. The museum derives its name from its original function; Napoleon III had the Orangerie built in 1852 to store the citrus trees of the Tuileries garden from the cold in the winter. Eventually the Orangerie came under the ownership of the Under-Secretary of State for Fine Arts In 1921 and the goal for the building was to provide gallery space for living artists. At that time Claude Monet was painting a series of Water Lilies (Nymphéas) for the state and his friend and politician Georges Clemenceau managed to persuade Monet to increase his gift from two panels to a decorative series and house the work in the Orangerie. The Water Lilies donation to the Orangerie was finalized in 1922 and Monet helped the architect with the design to house the eight panels in two oval rooms with natural light. Monet continued to work on his panels until his death in 1926. Clemenceau then put everything into action to inaugurate the rooms for the Water Lilies in strict accordance with Monet’s wishes. The museum was inaugurated on May 17, 1927 as the Musée Claude Monet. Later it was formally renamed the Musée National de l’Orangerie des Tuileries.

The centerpiece of Musée de l'Orangerie is clearly Monet’s Water Lilies. It is neat that the space and artwork were designed together and it was some of my favorite artwork we saw on the trip (yes, I’m basic, lol). We have seen other Water Lilies pieces (e.g. at The Met), but there was something special about this collection. We took our time appreciating Monet’s work and taking pictures before moving on to the rest of the museum. The only other exhibit that was open was a Matisse exhibit. We took a spin through Matisse’s work, stopped by the gift shop, then were on our way. Upon exit we had a look at the Luxor Obelisk in Place de la Concorde (we also saw it on our 2CV tour the night before). The 107 foot tall obelisk dates to the eighth century BC and was originally standing outside the Luxor Temple. It was gifted to France by the vice-king of Egypt and after a long journey by sea, was erected in 1836 at Place de la Concorde.

We were heading to Le Marais next and it worked out that on the way we could stop at Angelina on Rue Rivoli, which according to everything I read before our trip was a must do. Angelina is a legendary tea room in the Belle Époque style that opened in 1903 and has several outposts in Paris (the location on Rue Rivoli is the original). There was a short line (otherwise we might have skipped it) and we didn’t have to wait long to be seated in the elegant tea room. Of course I had to try the hot chocolate and opted for the Parisian breakfast that also came with fresh juice, croissants, baguette, and butter and jam. It was tasty and the hot chocolate lived up to expectations.

We took a quick metro ride to the Hôtel de Ville stop to check out Paris’ city hall on our way to Mémorial de la Shoah. Ever since 1357, the City of Paris's administration has been located on the same location where the Hôtel de Ville stands today. The original building went through modifications and the building of additional wings through the 1500s and 1600s. During the Semaine Sanglante in the Paris Commune’s final days (1871), the building was set on fire. The building was rebuilt from 1874-1882 following the original design, but larger. Fun fact: Hôtel de Ville contains a room called Salles des Fêtes (“Party Room”) that replicates the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

A few days ago we visited Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation and today we expanded on this period of French history by visiting Mémorial de la Shoah (“Holocaust” is commonly used in Anglo-Saxon countries whereas the Hebrew word “Shoah”, which means “catastrophe”, is used in France). The Mémorial de la Shoah actually has its origins during the war. During the occupation of France an industrialist named Isaac Schneersohn brought together activists and leaders in the Jewish community to create a collection of archives (The Centre de documentation Juive Contemporaine or the CDJC). His purpose was to gather evidence of the persecution of Jews by the Nazis and the French collaborators of the Vichy government to use after the war as testimony and to seek justice. The effort was successful, even obtaining information in remarkable conditions - such as records from the German embassy in Paris or from the Gestapo. His foresight in establishing these archives helped the case of international criminal justice at the Nuremberg trials after the war.

In 1950 Isaac Schneersohn decided to create a memorial tomb for the victims of the Holocaust (The Memorial of the Unknown Jewish Martyr) and the first stone of the memorial was laid in 1953. The building was inaugurated on October 30, 1956 and a few months later ashes from the extermination camps and the Warsaw ghetto were solemnly placed in the crypt. Extensions to the memorial were completed in 2004 and the current space houses a permanent exhibit, space for temporary exhibits, an archive center, a reading room, and an auditorium. Details on what we saw at the memorial:

The Wall of Names: The names of 76,000 Jews, including 11,000 children, are engraved on this wall. These men, women, and children were deported from France and most were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the rest at the Sobibor, Lublin, Majdanek and Kaunas/Reval camps, between 1942 and 1944. Only 2,500 survived. This is one of the first things we saw upon entering the memorial and it is incredibly sobering to see all these names together, each one representing a father, a mother, a sister, a son, a person brutally murdered. Their names engraved in stone ensures they will not be forgotten. There is another wall at the memorial called the Wall of Righteous located in the alley next to the Memorial. Three-quarters of the 300,000 Jews of France survived thanks to the actions of the French population and this wall bears the names of more than 3,900 men and women who, at the risk of their lives, contributed to the rescue of Jews in France during the war.

The crypt: The black marble Star of David in the crypt is the symbolic tomb of six million Jews who do not have a grave. Here lies the ashes of Jews from the death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto’s ruins. The back wall of the crypt bears a biblical quotation: “Look at me no one has ever had pain like mine. Young men and women killed by enemy swords.” One of the crypt walls contains six chests that protect the volumes of the “Book of Remembrance”, in which the names of the dead are inscribed to rescue them from oblivion.

The Jewish File: An enclave at the back of the crypt holds the Jewish files deposited at the CDJC in 1996. The files were compiled by the police between 1941 and 1944 at the behest of the Vichy government to record the Jews arrested in Paris. It also includes the files of the Drancy camp and the Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande camps in the Loiret. All the files have specific subdivisions for interned children. One thing I found notable was signage in this room that said “On July 16, 1995 after undergoing 50 years of silence and collective memory lapse, the French state recognized the responsibility of the Vichy Government in the persecution of the Jews in France”. This sentiment was expressed several times throughout the memorial and I think the words are important: “After years of amnesia, France finally acknowledged the responsibility of the Vichy Government in 1995, thus easing the transition from memory to history. This recent history, so close to us, took place in our country, in our villages, and tragically extended to the extermination camps in Poland, in the heart of Europe. Let us make it our own, live and build upon this crime and despite this crime.”

Permanent exhibit: Photographs, original records, posters, videos, audio recordings, and private correspondences are used in the permanent exhibition to describe both the collective history and individual stories. The exhibit presents the timeline of Jews in France during the Holocaust told in twelve sequences. The exhibit is very well done - it’s informative and tells the story well.

The Children’s Memorial: This is the last part of the memorial we saw and it was the most emotional and heart-wrenching. The Children’s Memorial is dedicated to the 11,000 Jewish children deported from France. It is made up of more than 4,700 photographs from family albums, public and private archives, collected by Serge Klarsfeld and the Shoah Memorial. Seeing the pictures of the kids (and how many pictures there are) and thinking about their fate - what a heartbreak. This memorial definitely makes an impact. “A bastion against oblivion.” May they never be forgotten.

We had a somber, contemplative walk to Miznon for a late lunch. We had previously eaten at Miznon in NYC and loved it and were looking forward to eating here again. Miznon was hopping, but we were able to grab a seat and enjoy our food. We were rejuvenated by the delicious food and were ready to explore more of Le Marais. We walked by Hôtel de Sens, which currently houses the Forney art library. The current hôtel at this location was built between 1475 and 1519 as a residence for the archbishops of Sens. During the 17th century the building was in a state of disrepair and was confiscated during the French Revolution and sold in 1797. In a street fight during the French Revolution of 1830 a cannonball hit the facade and was lodged in the wall. It is still visible today above the main entrance with the date engraved beneath it.

Next we walked to Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris. The square was originally called Place Royale and was renamed after the French Revolution in tribute to the northeast region of Vosges (bordering Germany and Luxembourg), which was the first to pay taxes imposed by the new government. The square was constructed between 1605 and 1612 in the architecture style of Louis XIII. The square is symmetrical and bordered by 36 buildings. There are several attractions nearby, such as Musée Carnavelet and the Picasso Museum, and we decided to stop by the Victor Hugo House in a corner of Place des Vosges (free admission).

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a writer and politician and is considered one of the greatest French writers of all time. His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). Hugo, his wife, and their four children lived in the Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée on the Place des Vosges from 1832 to 1848: one year after the publication of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and before his exile. Hugo was elected to the National assembly and had outspoken political views. When Napoleon III took control of France in 1851 and abolished the democratic system of government, Hugo had thoughts. Napoleon was not amused ("we have had Napoleon the Great, now we have to have Napoleon the Small") and Hugo was forced into exile. He fled to Brussels and Jersey before settling in Guernsey for 15 years, where he completed Les Misérables. Hugo returned to France in 1870 and passed away in 1885. More than two million people joined Hugo's funeral procession from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthéon, where he was buried.

The apartment at Place des Vosges was re-let after Hugo left and was later converted into classrooms. The layout of the rooms changed and most of the furniture was dispersed in 1852. Luckily documents were conserved that helped recreate the apartment as it was during Hugo’s time. The museum was established in 1902 and displays a collection of Victor Hugo’s personal drawings, books, portraits, and furniture. Victor Hugo’s life has been divided into three major periods: before exile, exile, and after exile. The apartment is arranged according to these time periods and organized as a chronological journey. For instance, the Chinese Room is from his exile period and the bedroom is a recreation from his post-exile years at 130 Avenue d’Eylau.

The visit at the museum didn’t take long and we continued to wander around Le Marais afterwards while we made some decisions about the rest of our day. We originally had tickets for the Eiffel Tower in the late afternoon/evening, but those were canceled due to the strike. As an alternative, we decided to see the views of the tower from Trocadéro and go from there. We took a metro ride to the area, walked down Rue Cler (a charming market street), made our way to the Seine, and took in the views on our walk to Trocadéro. Palais du Trocadéro was built on this location for the 1878 World’s Fair and was named in honor of the Battle of Trocadéro (in southern Spain). The palace was partly demolished and rebuilt in 1937 as the Palais de Chaillot. The square is called Place du Trocadéro today, has multiple attractions, and is a popular spot for its views of the Eiffel Tower. We took our obligatory photos and while we had initially considered staying until sunset, the overcast cloudy skies convinced us to return to our hotel to recharge before dinner and a Seine River cruise.

A Seine River cruise was on our list of activities to do while in Paris and we left this open ended depending on how our days went (we could do this because advance reservations aren’t necessary). We bought tickets online with Vedettes de Pont Neuf for a night cruise departing from Île de la Cité. The cruise was an hour long and traveled to the Eiffel Tower and back. There was a guy with a microphone talking on the boat, but we really couldn’t hear him. That was okay though because we really just wanted to enjoy the views from the river. It was a pretty evening and we especially liked the views of the Eiffel Tower (and we witnessed a proposal just as the tower was sparkling). I’m glad we had a chance to do the cruise - it was a nice perspective of the Paris sights.