musée de l'orangerie

Over the past seven years, I have tried and tried to visit the Musée de l'Orangerie, a small museum located at the far end of the Jardin des Tuilieries. The museum, which houses eight massive waterlily paintings by Monet, was closed for renovation for a few years. The reopening was delayed when ruins from ancient Paris were unearthed. Honestly, not much renovation can be done in France without digging up some archaeological treasures. Even in Amiens, which is pretty far north, there are Roman ruins.

Last September, I was going to visit the Orangerie, but my plans changed when Damien and I decided to go to an exhibit at the Institut du Monde Arabe. After years and years of waiting, I was finally able to go. Michael and I forgot about all the time we spent waiting in line when we found out that teachers have free admission (which you can no longer get at the Louvre, by the way).

An orangerie is where orange trees were housed. This particular one belonged to the Tuilieries palace, which burned down during the Paris Commune in 1871. Turned into a museum, Claude Monet chose this site to display his Nymphéas. In each of the two oval-shaped rooms hang four enormous paintings, which you can see in a virtual visit of the waterlilies, but I promise you they're even more impressive in person. Definitely worth the wait.