Hi all --

Does anyone know whether (and if so how) to purchase advance tickets for the Louis Vuitton trunk exhibit at the Musee Carnavalet? And how much time to set aside to see it?

I am making a quick (2.5 day) trip to Paris in a couple weeks expressly to see the Jean Michael Basquiat exhibit that closes at the end of the month. I arrive @ Gare Nord around 10:00am and have a ticket to see the Basquiat (at the Musee d'art moderne) at 2:00pm. Was wondering if it would be possible to squeeze in the LV exhibit between those two?

Also, any suggestions for inexpensive (free???) things to do on Friday and Saturday morning? I hadn't expected to make this trip so I'd like to keep expenses as low as possible. I have been to Paris once before (last May) and visited the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Rodin Museum, Pere Lachaise, Pompidou Center, and did some shopping. I will be back in April for a longer (7-10 days) trip with my mother and will probably save the Louvre or d'Orsay for then.

Thanks!

One of my favorite museums in Paris is the Musee Cognacq-Jay, which is a small museum made up of the private collection of one couple, consisting of approx. 1200 pieces of paintings, sculptures, furniture, and porcelain from the 18th century. It's a charming collection housed in an old mansion, located in the Marais at 8, rue Elzevir (not far from the Carnavalet) and admission is free. Another free museum that is well worth the time is the Petit Palais.

Not sure about tickets for the Louis Vuitton show; we were briefly at the Carnavalet in October and didn't notice a large crowd, but didn't have time for the exhibit, so didn't ask about tickets.

Been to the Carnavalet several times. It's a real favorite and it's never been crowded. While Louis Vuitton may be a big draw, I doubt it.

Here's website with information about free stuff in Paris.

http://www.parislogue.com/free-paris


And the rest of the Carnavalet is great. All about the history of Paris. Here's a website from which you can download an English guide to the museum.

http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/...t?page_id=8229

I also found this website about the LV exhibit:

http://www.louisvuitton-voyageencapitale.com/

The "practical information" page there tells hours and prices for admission but doesn't mention advance tickets. Perhaps you could phone. (The phone number is on that same page.)

Don't miss this recreated store in the Carnavalet:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623310709181/

Carnavalet is also one of our favorites and agree that it hasn't been crowded any of the times we were there. The Louis V. exhibit sounds interesting.

IMO. the Cognacq-Jay was a bit boring, but we loved the Musee Nissim de Camondo and the Musee Jacquemart Andre, both on the right bank. The furnishings are gorgeous. I think we did pay to visit, but it wasn't much. The JA also has a nice lunch restaurant which is also good for just tea or coffee.

How about The Pantheon? We put it off so many times and then when we finally did visit, it was really worth it.

I saw the Louis Vuitton exhibit last month. It took us about half hour, 45 minutes. There were absolutely no lines, in fact only about 6 of us total at 3:00 on a Friday!

Most exhibits in Paris don't have advance tickets. I don't think they've ever had advance tickets for anything at the Carnavalet, I really don't think this exhibit is going to have them lining up for blocks (L Vuitton trunks? really, I can't imagine it is that big a draw, most people aren't going to even care about those, including me, actually).

I'll admit the Cognacq Jay didn't wow me, either.

Now I wouldn't mind seeing the special exhibit at the Maillol museum running through Feb 13th, one of my favorite places, that is Treasures of the Medicis. It does have advance tickets. And that would be in-between the 16th arr. and gare du Nord (it's near rue du Bac metro as I recall).

While Louis Vuitton seems to be a big deal among a subset of the Fodor's online community, most of the rest of the world are not enormously interested. It's not likely to be as busy as a major Gauguin exhibition.

Thanks so much, everyone! Sounds like I can definitely fit in the LV exhibition, and a bit of the permanent collection as well.

I'm also looking forward to ice skating on the 1st floor of the Eiffel Tower!