Monet's Giverny in the Summer

Monet's Giverny in the Summer

Let's travel through time and space to colorful Giverny, France in the summer. Claude Monet made his home at Giverny for over 40 years, until his death in 1926. In the warm season, you can visit his house and studio, as well as the famous flowerbeds and reflecting pond that inspired his sublime paintings. To visit [...]

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Autumn Colors at the Château de Fontainebleau

Autumn Colors at the Château de Fontainebleau

Historic châteaux differ from traditional museums in an important aspect: seasons. When I think about visiting most museums, I focus on what I’ll be seeing on the inside. But with historic châteaux and houses, I add in the factor of the time of year I will be visiting. I love making the pilgrimage to the Château de Malmaison during rose [...]

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Hunting for Beavers in La Maison du Castor (Château Ramezay)

Hunting for Beavers in La Maison du Castor (Château Ramezay)

Montreal’s Château Ramezay has a fuzzy past. The grand house was originally built for Claude de Ramezay, the governor of Montreal from 1703 to 1724. But Ramezay went a little overboard, spending way too much of his own money on the building project. After his widow’s death in 1745, the heirs sold the property to the West Indies Company, which had a monopoly on the export of beaver [...]

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Birds, Guitars, Cacophony: from here to ear v.19

Birds, Guitars, Cacophony: from here to ear v.19

There is a ridiculously cool exhibition now on in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Seventy songbirds fill a room littered with electric guitars on stands. As the birds perch on the strings of the guitars, they create a cacophonous song of pre-recorded rock, punk and heavy-metal chords. The installation [...]

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Aquariums: Zoos of the Seas and Rivers

Aquariums: Zoos of the Seas and Rivers

If you’ve been following along for the past few weeks, you know that Garlands in Paris in middle of a creativity series on the theme of the Outdoors. Today, I’m happy to introduce you to Nolwenn, a dear friend and fellow blogger. I asked her to reflect on this month's theme in a Parisian cultural institution. So, without [...]

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Exhibition: Jeff Koons

Exhibition: Jeff Koons

The Centre Pompidou just opened its retrospective on Jeff Koons, the contemporary artist behind Balloon Dog and the porcelain Michael Jackson and Bubbles. I have never been a huge Koons fan, so I was hoping this exhibition would help me understand what the hype is all about. The first part of the exhibition was unexpected [ ... ]

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