Fondation Louis Vuitton and Jardin d’Acclimatation

May 31, 2019 — Day 22 (Friday)

We decided to visit the Fondation Louis Vuitton today forgetting it is located beside the Jardin d’Acclimatation, a major amusement park very popular with Paris families. We took the Metro to Les Sablons and started to walk to the Vuitton and quickly became aware that every child in Paris and their family was headed in the same direction The crowd reached its peak at the garden entrance and we fought our way past. After the Jardin d’Acclimatation, the crowd thinned considerably. We arrived at the Vuitton to discover three long lines. The first two were for people who bought tickets ahead. So many people bought tickets ahead to avoid the lines that they created their own lines. Oddly, the third and shortest line was for those of us who did not have tickets! We stood in line for an hour behind two very interesting and fun Danish young men. It made the time pass more quickly and we finally got to Security and then ticketing. It was in full sun and incredibly hot so museum employees were walking around handing out white umbrellas to those who wanted them for shade. We had our trusty Tilley hats so we were fine.

We entered the very dramatic Frank Gehry-designed building and snapped a couple photos before finding “Le Collection Courtauld–Le Parti de l’Impressionisme” down a couple flights of escalators. Despite the soaring open-looking building with lots of glass, the galleries were dark little squares and rectangles that did nothing to help in exhibiting the works. The paintings were hung at eye level but the titles and information were placed lower on the wall so you had to bend over to read it. Most people skipped it. The collection was excellent as we knew it would be since we’ve been to The Courtauld in London. However, the crowds were overwhelming. It was a complete crush of people, all taking phone and iPad photos. This would have been a good time to forbid photography. [Fondation Louis Vuitton, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris; tel: +33 (0)1 4069-9600; Click here for the Fondation Louis Vuitton web site]

We fought our way through the entire exhibit and decided to look for lunch. We then discovered only one restroom in the huge, crowded museum and one restaurant with a predictably long line. Decided to go elsewhere to eat so decided to go out the back and get building photos before we left. Oddly, we had to go through Security to go out and found ourselves in the Jardin d’Acclimatation. I got my Gehry building pictures and we started looking for a place to eat in the garden. It looks like great fun . . . rides, animals, pony rides, climbing, zip lines, boats and hundreds of happy families enjoying their holiday. No food . . . at least nothing appealing to us so we walked back to the Vuitton where we had to go through Security yet again. We literally walked through and back out the other side to the street having gone through Security three times in total.

As we walked out of the park, I took a couple more photos of the Vuitton Building. We hiked back toward our Metro stop and checked menus as we passed restaurants. Ended up at a very friendly Le Sequoia where we both had the salmon. Mine was perfect but Ed’s wasn’t cooked through so he wasn’t too pleased. We both had ice cream for dessert and walked to the Metro nearly in front of the restaurant. Long ride, but we’re home. No dinner tonight. We’re stuffed!