Pardon my French in Paris...: Palais de la Porte Dorée

Métro: Line 8 Porte Dorée
Bus: Line 46 or 201 Porte Dorée
Tramway: T3 Porte Dorée
Address: 293, avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris
Hours: 10:00 am to 5:30pm (last ticket sold at 4:45pm) on weekdays
10:00 am to 7:00 pm on week-ends
Closed on Mondays
Price: Combined ticket Museum + Aquarium 10 euros
Aquarium only: 7 euros (Free for kids under 4)
Museum only: 6 euros
Website: https://www.palais-portedoree.fr/en

Before I even start my post about the Palais I wanted to talk about the Square des Anciens Combattants d'Indochine with its statue of Athena. Sorry it was cloudy on that day so the pictures are a bit gloomy but that place is gorgeous and you see it right as you exit the station.

Can I just say that you won't find many palm trees on the streets of Paris so I love it. This place is definitively all about exoticism but with a heavy reminder. It is a memorial for the fallen of the war of Indochina.

Now on to the Palais. I remember going as a little girl. It used to be the museum of African and Oceanic Art. I have a vivid memory of some beautiful paintings made with huge dots. We even had a school art project to replicate it. I am not sure what happened to those paintings. If you know feel free to leave a comment. The whole concept of this place was to bring awareness of the French overseas territories aka colonies. It is now the Museum of Immigration and in the lower floor it houses the Tropical Aquarium of Paris. The building itself is breath taking and I don't know anything like it in Paris.

The whole project started to prepare the Colonial Exposition of Paris of 1931. The palace is done in Art Déco style and is gorgeous inside and out. The bas-relief facade was done by Alfred Janniot as a demonstration of the beautiful riches of the colonies. You can find a full explanation on their website.

I wanted to take Choupinette to the aquarium. First of all because it brings back childhood memories even though the place has changed a tone since, and second of all because it is a LOT cheaper than going to the Aquarium of Paris (40 euros for both of us over there compared to 7 euros here). It is true that Aquaciné (the Aquarium of Paris by Trocadéro) is more modern and has a lot more fun activities to offer. I like the place but this month I'm broke and I just wanted to see some fishes for cheap. You will find fishes from all over the world but mainly I was really impressed by the abundance of beautiful corals and plants. It is super kid friendly. They have steps for kids to see the tanks without breaking their parents' back. Thank you for that! We really loved to see the Albinos crocodiles and turtles.

I felt I made a connection there! lol

I originally only was planing on visiting the aquarium but Choupinette and I felt drawn to the beautiful murals of the Museum of the History of Immigration so we went ahead and visited that part as well. I was very surprised by it and it reopened all kinds of wounds and emotions in me.

Anyway, this blog is not a place to talk about politics and opinions concerning immigration. But I want to make a quick exception for once. I am French born white middle-class woman. I lived 15 years in the US and the rest in France. I always assumed that by nature I would never be facing discrimination or rejection let alone hate. I am not interested in talking about my bad experiences because I consider that the positive ones outnumbered the bad ones. But going to that museum brought back hurtful memories that I wanted to forget. I feel that immigration is a word that includes too many cases, stories and complexity to be resumed by one word. Immigration is sometime a choice, and other times it is an obligation. I fear that our world is more harsh toward those that have no choice than those who have the luxury of choice. My personal belief is that there is a lack of education, a culture of fear that prevent people from being open minded or just plain caring for the fate of others. On the other hand, I also always felt that even if you do not have a choice you do need to respect and be grateful for the country that welcomes you.

During my 15 years in the US, people talked to me often about becoming an American, I have to say that I always rejected the idea because a/ I love being French and b/ I felt it would not matter because I would always be considered a foreigner. It used to make me laugh when people called my office asking to talk to the Mexican girl. It shows the lack of awareness of some people. If you have an accent, you must be Mexican! lol I just felt that sometime even the most well-intended people never considered you as an equal because you not a local. People speaking louder to you because for some reason they thought that if they raised their voice you would understand them better. I understood fine even if they whispered. I thought to laugh about it. But I cried many days when I was faced with hate so intense that I felt death was going to be the end of the interaction. Hate is a scary place who never recovers totally from. When it comes to Immigration I can't imagine losing everything, sometime even family members or kids having to flee your home and country you love, leaving with no much or even nothing so you can escape death motivated by hate and arrive at another country to face hate again. Anyway, I am closing the parenthesis. All I have to say is love is a wonderful motivator and change for the world.

Just for the story, I did become an American and have dual citizenship. I didn't think it would have such an impact on me but becoming American was actually a very spiritual experience. At the ceremony, I was sitting by a couple that had come to the US to escape a dictatorship. They had lost family members and friends. They had been scared for their kids and were not free to be religious. As I saw theirs tears and heard their story and how grateful they were to be American, my heart changed and realized how privileged we are to have freedom. Freedom is truly a luxury. It is sad to me that the world doesn't realize that it should be a necessity, a human right.

Coming back to the museum, the murals are gorgeous even though sometime disturbing. But its original intend was to show the beauty and riches of France colonies. The gorgeous floor is made of mosaics. Feel free also to checks out that Salons on both ends of the building before you leave because the murals and floors are just gorgeous as well.