Orsay on a Tuesday--early or late?

Museums are best first thing in the morning when you have the most energy. The only problem is the tour groups who block your view.

Tuesday will be a nightmare. I go to the Orsay with a local who has a Carte Blanche membership and we could enter ahead of the regular opening and so we got into the Impressionists exhibit (the special exhibit ) when it was almost empty. But although we were there before the museum opened, the lines for all categories were at least 100 persons long -- those hoping to buy, those with reservations, etc. So book whenever, there will be along line. Book your time slot then find the line for your half hour time slot.

My husband went to that same exhibit with our friend later in the day on thursday and the special exhibit was shoulder to shoulder.

Well, I am an early museum person. I don't care if I stand in line for 30 minutes before the doors open, I want to be there for the 1st entry time. For the Orsay, I then race thru the ground floor to the left side of the back wall, take the hidden escalators up to the 5th floor and have the Impressionist rooms to myself for a few minutes, lol!! Then I work my way thru them and on to the Van Gogh/Post Impressionist art work in the galleries across the front end of the 5th floor, then down thru the other galleries as I have time and energy.

I will add that nearly all the museums in Paris feel hot to me by afternoon even in the Fall. I am ready to leave by noon to avoid this, lol!!

Pam makes a good point about heat. Museums are not well air conditioned and it does get quite warm late in the day. Also they are not controlling crowd size. After our leisurely stroll through the special impressionist exhibit before the museum opened for the general public, my friend and I had a late breakfast in the cafe. I then decided to through the main impressionist exhibit to visit some of my favorite paintings. It was so crowded you could hardly move and it was hard to see the paintings. It was at a point that should simply never have been allowed. They should have sold fewer tickets and stopped selling tickets to newcomers until people had cleared the museum.

"Museums are not well air conditioned and it does get quite warm late in the day."

I am not an HVAC expert but it always feels like their air handlers do not exchange the air often enough. They all get stuffy, then warm. It couldn't possibly be post-menopausal me, hahahaha!!

Janet, that is awful about the crowds you encountered upstairs. And yes, I agree, since they are doing timed entries, they should lower their limits on numbers allowed.

Thanks, everyone, for your input! We will go to the Orsay first thing on Tuesday morning. Museums are ALWAYS too warm for me, so no afternoons!

Kathy,
It is not clear from your post...you do know to reserve a time for the Orsay ahead of time, don't you? Reserve your day and time as soon as possible. I don't know how far in advance reservations are available, but I would check that out right away, and if you have to wait, mark your calendar to reserve online at first availability in order to get your desired time.

Bonne chance!

When we were there in April we went on a Sunday to the special Impressionist exhibit late morning (the only day we could go; and best time I could get online), then after made a beeline for the 5th floor. I have no idea why, but it wasn't very crowded up there. It was a very hot day but I could feel the AC on. Got to enjoy the clock view without crowds. Saw all the wonders on the fifth floor without being pushed and shoved for most of it. But, as we were getting ready to leave it became unbearably hot (there are skylights in the room adding to the heat) and extremely crowded; fire marshals in the US would never allow it. I'm not quite sure how we got so lucky. Go as early as possible, because our recent experience was a fluke.

After that we went back down to the first floor and were walking along the outer hallway/walkway between rooms, but closer to where the special exhibit was; I stopped to look at my phone to check the time. I turned around and there sitting alone, nobody noticing her while they walked by was Whistler's Mother. (For kicks I looked up her age...only 67!)

Afterwards we went to The Restaurant; the hidden gem in a magnificent room to get a bite to eat. (We only found it because we were looking for the restrooms; which were nowhere near there. The Restaurant is not the cafe.)

Thanks, Judy, I do know about making reservations. I just looked at it and there seem to be plenty of spaces. I plan to take the 9:30 or 10:00 time slot. We do also plan to make our way quickly to the 5th floor. The first time we were there I was very confused with the "exploded" museum map they offer. I have looked at it now online at my leisure and understand it.