Paris Museums
Paris has over 40 museums. The Louvre (www.louvre.fr) and the Orsay (www.musee-orsay.fr) are mandatory, of course, but they are not the only two worthy of your attention. There are more than a dozen other art galleries alone, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Centre Georges Pompidou, the Cartier Modern Art Foundation, and the Marmottan which features Renaissance works and a major Money collection. The Grand Palais et Petit Palais feature temporary exhibitions of works from the 17th to the 19th century. The Dapper focuses on African Ethnic art while the Ennery features Chinese and Japanese works. There are individual galleries celebrating the works of Delacroix, Picasso, Rodin, Henner and Moreau.

Prefer history to art? Then check out the National Museum of Natural History, or the Carnavalet Museum of Paris history. Musee du Moyen covers the middle ages and Musee de Mode exhibits works of fashion throughout history. The Cite des Sciences et de l'industrie focuses on technology of today and tomorrow and the Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace is an outstanding air and space museum. Musee Cernushi exhibits the wonders of ancient China while the Institut du Monde Arabe delights visitors with treasures from the Arab world. If those seem a bit narrow, perhaps you would prefer the Musee de l'Homme, a tribute to mankind and its diversity.

Paris also has a fine collection of single-interest museums. There are museums dedicated to wines, to hunting and wildlife, to coins and medals, and to the history of boats and navigation. Perhaps one of the most interesting specialty museums is the Musee Nissim de Camondo which provides a fascination look into 18th-century aristocratic life.

And we haven't even mentioned the castles, the music museums or the wax museum. Paris provides an outstanding opportunity to deepen your interests or whet your appetites for some new ones.