Musee Gustave Moreau with Elaine Sciolino

Does your bedroom look like this?

Or your fireplace? Who has a fireplace...

Do you have stacks of decorative tchotchkes like this (a clue where you can find them later).

Malheureusement my cyclamen are not so glorious, in fact they're non-existent. 

Visit Musee Gastave Moreau at 14, rue de la Rochefoucauld, 75009 M Trinite. You will encounter all these treasures up close. The walls are filled floor to ceiling with his works and his collections.

Moreau was a leading Symbolist painter and teacher (1826 -1898) and  friend of Redon, Degas, Chasseriau.

Restoration has finished at last. The Moreau is one of Paris's best small, secret museums.

They changed how you can view his massive collection of drawings. Instead of a circular bookcase allowing just one person to view the pictures there are now banks of drawings and many stools upstairs in the atelier.

It you love to draw and looking at drawings, this is an extraordinary experience.

The personal rooms downstairs are tiny, but upstairs the space is glorious. That's Moreau's watercolor box in the glass case by the way. Start drooling. And paintings in various stages of development, another rare treat.

I love circular staircases to look at, not climb.

The day before I got a grand tour of upper rue des Martyrs

With ex-pat NYTimes journalist/author Elaine Sciolino. Remember her terrific book, LA SEDUCTION? Couldn't these tchotchkes go nicely in your new small mansion in the 9th arrondissement? Elaine has a great eye for spotting hidden treasures and she's as bubbly as the best Champagne.

Did you see her NYTimes story on single-product shops on rue des Martyrs? She has a book coming put in November on RDM, THE ONLY STREET IN PARIS:Life on the rue des Martyrs. It's full of fabulous nuggets of Paris info. For example, I didn't know there are 85 churches in Paris. I think I've only hit a mere 6-7 thus far.

I didn't know every building in Paris (since the year 2000) must restore it's facade every 10 years (except churches). Ever gone back to your favorite restaurant and it's covered in scaffolding yet still open? In NYC it would be closed for fear of lawsuits. Nuggets like that make you feel practically Parisian reading Elaine's book. Yes, I couldn't resist the cherry cup at L'Objet Qui Parle. I'm on my way to creating my own Moreau-esque musee.

Just across the street divine artisan shop (one of the few left at 97, rue des Martyrs).

There is artisan Laurence Gillery (included in Elaine's book) back in her atelier gold-leafing something or other.Her main obsession is restoring mercury barometers back to full working order. Laurence may be one of the last in Paris able to do this. I wondered if she ever re-gilded any of the Moreau collection - so many frames! Could be a goldmine (no pun intended). If you've ever worked with gold leaf you'll know it is the most fiddly, delicate stuff on the planet. Some pastry chefs like to add it to their creations. It is edible by the way but don't lick your gold frames. Varnish and shellac is not.

While Elaine and Laurence bavardé (chatter too fast in French for moi) I take in this perfectly lit atelier with gorge skylights overhead.

Here Elaine is browsing the Fab bargain books(only outside) at Librairie Vendredi also in her book, but that's another story for another PB post.

If you're one of those people who say, "I won't go there...too many Americans" (like my sister, who fortunately doesn't read my blog - one of the few) you'll Adore rue des Martyrs and Elaine's book. It's mostly locals & people-in-the know coming to this charming enclave in the 9th.

Watch a mini film of Elaine exploring RDM HERE. 

By the way we're collaborating on an illustrated Paris Map so you can get clues to the  street's secrets...very exciting!

I'm so delighted to have met Elaine. I loved her book, French Seduction. Her new book is full of engaging Parisian tales. Story-teller Elaine is a Scheherazade .

I went back Sunday to St.Denis for the free organ concert and survived to tell the tale. Divine. Elaine wrote about the marche St.Denis by the way.