Kerouac, Since you seem to be our guy on the ground, can you tell me if you are aware of any interesting community events/festivals, etc., that may be taking place in Paris on September 15 or 16, 2010? Also, what is the real scoop on the D'Orsay? What is on display? I'd want to revisit to see what was on the upper floor last year but if they are all loaned out or off display I'm not going to make the effort. Thanks in advance.

Triptyme, as far as the Musee D'Orsay I think I may know what the problem with the upper floor was when you were here last. Many of the works of the well known Impressionist painters used to be housed on the top floor but a few months ago the museum was in the process of relocating all those works to the first/ground floor. This had created closed off areas on both the ground and upper floors while works were being relocated. The last time I was there about 2 months ago the ground floor exhibits were complete but there were still a few closed off areas on the upper floor. It's possible this work has now been completed. It should certainly be complete by the time you arrive in September.

You can find out what's going on in Paris or anywhere else any time of year by visiting www.whatsonwhen.com.

Found this post on the Orsay from a few days ago.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...enovations.cfm

Too early for me to be paying attention to September yet! Sorry!

Check the d'Orsay website. I think I remember reading several weeks ago that the renovations would not be complete until early in 2011. I believe works are rotating between now and then, with some on loan to museums around the world at various points in time.

The de Young museum in San Franciso will be hosting Masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay May 22 through Sept. 6th.
http://orsay.famsf.org/content/maste...-impressionism
It lists some of the works to be exhibited and gives an overview of the general exhibit.
I would imagine once the exhibit closes there will be a delay of a couple weeks before the works will be on display back at the d'Orsay.
The other Fine Art Museum of SF, the Legion of Honor, is hosting an exhibit, Impressionist Paris: City of Light which provides more background and includes pertinent works from local collections and special loans.
I only mention this for those who read this forum to dream about a possible trip and think about what they'd want to see. SF is a little closer--even has a few decent restaurants and its own sourdough French bread!

Thank you for the responses, everyone. It looks like there are festivals taking place during the time we'll be in Paris, so the website was very helpful. Hopefully we'll get to at least one of them! The info on the D'Orsay was also helpful. We'd go back to see the impressionists paintings but were unsure if there would be any due to the publicity we've seen on the San Francisco museum. After seeing the lineup there, we've actually considered another trip to SF just to see those again since they probably won't be in Paris when we arrive. What I'm getting from all this is that the D'Orsay is still a good idea if we want to see the impressionist paintings, so we'll make that a plan, too. Again, Thanks!