Any points of interest with a Vietnamese (colonial or otherwise) focus?
 

Hey everybody,

I'm taking my dad to Paris Dec 24-31. He's a refugee from the Vietnam War and never left Canada once he settled there. He loves to chat about life before the war, colonial history, and old-timey politics. I'm surprising him with a trip to Paris because he grew up under the French education system and had always "dreamt" of seeing the Eiffel Tower with his late brother who never left Vietnam.

While we're there, I'm wondering if there are any museums or interesting remnants of French relations with Vietnam (or the colonized Indochinese Federation) that we could visit and spark some reminiscence in Dad. Perhaps a statue of a famous figure or a glass case of a famous document we could swoon over? This stuff has been more of a challenge for me to Google, but we're using this LA times article as a starting point.

We're thinking of taking three days mid-trip to visit an old childhood friend of his in Brussels as well. If there's anything along the way, in Belgium, or around our route that we should know about it, please do lend us your incredible FT insight. :)

Thank you!

Musèe Cernuschi has a substantial Vietnamese art collection: Vietnamese Collections | Musée Cernuschi

Otherwise, the Choisy triangle (the area between Boulevard de Choisy and Boulevard d'Issy, south of Rue Tolbiac and including the housing projects at Olympiades) in the 13th Arrondissement is known as "Asiatown", although recently this means more and more "Chinese" rather than "Vietnamese".

You might like to visit the Jardin d'Agronomie Tropicale in the Bois de Vincennes. It has a number of Vietnamese and Indochinese relics, as well as numerous small monuments honoring the colonial forces. You get there by taking the RER A to the Nogent-sur-Marne station because it is on the back side of the Bois de Vincennes.

I made a photo report about it a number of years ago. I gave this place my own name: The abandoned garden of desolation

immigration museum
Porte doree

Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration |

you ll find stories related to Viet nam people which emigrated to France at various stages

Thank you kindly for your suggestions. Hope to include a few of these in an epic trip report this January!