Rain on the windows, wet umbrellas, the city turned grey. Some people stay home. Others know that rainy days are secretly the best days for museums, especially if you know which rooms to head for.
Here are a few places in Paris that feel like shelter when it pours. Check opening hours and exhibitions before you go.
The great clock at the Musée d'Orsay
The museum was once a railway station, built for the 1900 World's Fair. On the upper floor, the back of one of the huge station clocks forms a giant round window over the Seine and the Louvre. On a rainy day, watching the grey city through the clock face is magical.
The Cour Marly at the Louvre
A vast courtyard covered with a glass roof, filled with eighteenth-century sculptures made for the royal gardens at Marly: rearing horses, gods, nymphs. Light pours in even on dull days, and the sound of rain on the glass is wonderful.
The water lilies at the Musée de l'Orangerie
Two oval rooms, lit from above, wrapped in Monet's water lily panels. On a rainy day, the soft daylight changes with every passing cloud, and the water in the paintings seems to move.
The period rooms at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
A succession of rooms recreating interiors from different eras, full of furniture, objects and fabrics. It feels like wandering through other people's homes across the centuries, perfect when you'd rather be indoors.
A small museum with a garden view
The Musée de la Vie romantique, at the end of a cobbled lane in the 9th, with its intimate rooms and garden. Watching rain fall on the garden from inside feels like being in a nineteenth-century novel.
How to make a rainy museum day perfect
1. Go mid-morning, after the early crowds and before lunch. 2. Choose one or two rooms, not the whole museum. 3. Sit down whenever you find a bench with a view. 4. Listen to the rain on the roof, the windows, the glass. 5. End in the museum café, with something warm, watching the weather.
More places for grey days
The Digital subscription brings recommendations on museums, exhibitions, opera, ballet, books and music, with at least one video each month, photo stories and the digital edition of "(meditating) On Art". A guide for rainy days, and every other kind.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi