Musée d'Orsay

After my previous visits to Paris, I had always gone home with the pain of having missed the Musee d'Orsay for lack of time. I made do with admiring the beautiful building (designed by Victor Laloux for the Universal Exhibition of 1900) from the outside. During my most recent trip to Paris, I made a resolution to not to leave without visiting the museum.

After waiting in a mile-long queue in the rain (it rains constantly in Paris, a secret the French rarely let out), I finally fulfilled my wish.

Don't start at the bottom, but rather go straight to the top floor to begin your visit. That way, you won't miss amazing works like the Gates of Hell by Rodin.

It's funny...photos are prohibited in the museum but everyone does it anyways!

The last train left this station in 1939, a time which marked the beginning of a dream interrupted in 1945, when spacious railway stations were used to receive repatriated prisoners of war.

The old station was used to house the Drouot auction house, as a rehearsal hall for the Renaud theater company, and finally as the set for the Orson Welles film The Trial.

George Pompidou went as far as to propose demolishing the station, but Parisians roundly refused the idea as preposterous.

The museum was designed by Gae Aulenti and when it was inaugurated in 1986 it finally became the space we enjoy today, thoroughly designed to bring visitors in intimate contact with the collection.

Wonderful collection in an amazing building (from trainstation to museum) . Enjoy the impressionists and other beautiful art. Absolutely a must see when you are in Paris!