Lesser-known museums in Paris

During a wonderful 4-day visit to Paris at the end of April ’07, my husband, Lou, and I visited some of the city’s lesser-known museums. What a treat these were!

• First up is Musée Pasteur (25 rue du Docteur Roux [off boulevard Pasteur], 75015 Paris; phone +33 1 45 68 82 83, fax 68 89 72, www.pasteur/fr/pasteur/musees) — Métro stop Volontaires or Pasteur.

Part of the Institut Pasteur, it offers guided English-language tours of the scientist’s apartment, museum and Art Deco burial crypt, 2:30-5:30, Monday-Friday. €3 (near $4) adult, €1.50 student.

You can get a sense of the man’s unusual personality and achievements before you go by reading the Pasteur chapters in Paul de Kruif’s still-classic “Microbe Hunters.”

On your way back to the Métro, stop at the handmade-chocolate shop just down the street for a scrumptious (if expensive) snack.

• St. Germain-en-Laye, an affluent western suburb, is well worth visiting for two museums. Take the Métro to Étoile and then the RER A line to the end. Right across from the RER station is the Château Vieux, home of French kings from Francois I to Louis XIV until he built Versailles. It has a chapel built by St. Louis, a garden by Le Nôtre and one of the nicest gift shops we’ve encountered in France, but, best of all, housed here is the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale, or French Museum of Antiquities (Place Charles de Gaulle, 78015 St. Germain-en-Laye, Paris; phone +39 101300 or visit www.musee-antiquitesnationales.fr).

This world-renowned archaeological collection, from the cave dwellers (you can no longer visit the caves at Lascaux, but you can see the drawings reproduced here) to the Carolingians, is so well done that you don’t have to know much French to enjoy it all. Open 9-5 daily except Tuesday, May 2-Sept. 30, and 10-6 weekends. €4.5 adult, €3 senior.

• Then follow the signs through the upscale shopping district to the tourist bureau for a map and directions to the Musée Départemental Maurice Denis “Le Prieuré” (2 bis rue Maurice Denis B.P. 5251, 78175 Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris; phone +39 73 33 87, fax 73 75 29, www.musee-mauricedenis.fr) to visit the artist’s home, his workshop and the chapel he decorated. Denis befriended and encouraged artists of the Symbolist and Nabis schools, like Bonnard, Vuillard and Gauguin, and some of their works are on display here.

It’s a pleasant walk on a good day to the quiet beauty of this small museum. Open 10-5:30 Tuesday-Friday, 10-6:30 weekends. Closed New Year’s Day, May Day and Christmas. €3.8 adult, €2.2 senior.

• A Métro ride north to the Basilique de St. Denis stop takes you to the small city that existed before Paris, where Abbot Suger began the first Gothic church in the 11th century. Parts that were destroyed during the revolution have been reconstructed, and several of the stained-glass windows survived, including the first rose window. It is a light, bright place. Also find here the necropolis of almost all of the kings and queens of France.

The church is well organized, with self-guiding tours, a video and good displays. Perhaps the best preparation for a visit here is Ken Follett’s “The Pillars of the Earth,” a fictional history of the building of this great church.

• The tourist office across from the basilica can direct you to the Musée d’art et d’histoire la Ville de St. Denis (22 bis rue Gabriel-Péri, 93200 St. Denis, Paris; phone +42 43 05 10, fax 48 20 07 60, www.musse-saint-denis.fr), a short walk from the basilica.

Housed in an old Carmelite convent from the 18th century (shades of Poulenc’s opera “Dialogues of the Carmélites”!), it shows the religious life of the nuns at the time but also illustrates life in the town from medieval times through the 19th century. The biggest exhibit tells the story of the 1871 Commune, in which St. Denis played an important role, and on this does a better job than anything we’ve seen in Paris.

Open 10-5:30 Monday, Wednesday and Friday, until 8 p.m. Thursdays and 2-6:30 weekends. Closed Tuesdays and holidays. €4 adult, €2 senior.

• You’ll want to visit all the Impressionists on display at the Musée de l’ Orangerie (Jardin des Tuileries, 75001 Paris; phone +33 44 77 80 07, www.musee-orangerie.fr) now that it’s reopened, especially Monet’s huge water lily paintings, but don’t miss the Musee Marmotten-Claude Monet in the pretty suburb of Passy (2 rue Louis-Boilly, 75016 Paris; phone +44 96 50 33, fax +40 50 65 84, www.marmottan.com.uk) — Métro stop La Muette.

Michel Monet bequeathed to this lovely small museum 65 of some of his father’s best paintings, as well as Monet’s collection of other Impressionists’ works, and it has water lilies too! Open 10-6 daily. €8 ($11) adult, €4.50 ($6) senior.

During our four days in Paris, the two of us did everything listed here and more — including the RER from the airport to the taxi for our departing train, all Métro transportation, hotel, all meals, snacks and beverages, all museum admissions (from €6 to €10 each), tips and even a few souvenirs — for under $900, and the euro was going for US$1.40 at that time. For more information, e-mail us c/o ITN.

CORY PEPOY

Holland, MI