In Paris, spring rainfall hovers around two inches per month. Should a shower derail your plans, it’s nice to have backup—especially one spot where you can spend all day. As long as it’s not a Tuesday, take my tip and head to the museum complex at Beaubourg, a.k.a. the Centre Pompidou. You can buy a ticket online, but be sure to bring an umbrella for the outdoor security queue. Inside, check your brolly and enjoy a day of art, book browsing, film, tasty dining, a little shopping—then writing and even mailing some postcards.

It’s all under one roof. Beaubourg hosts around six art expositions, from mainstream blockbusters to avant-garde offerings (such as video installations of films made on mobile phones). This is all in addition to its permanent collection, the Musée National d’Art Moderne, which reopened on April 4. Housing Europe’s foremost collection of contemporary art, Beaubourg yearly rotates the works on view, culled from a trove of 50,000 pieces by more than 5,000 artists. You’ll find a feast of big names, from Matisse to Pollock, Picasso to Rothko.

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