Musée d’Orsay, Paris - Photo by Barry Frangipane

Imagine being able to sleep among the finest Impressionist works of Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and Van Gogh. All by yourself. In a train station. And then step outside on the balcony to watch the opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Musée d’Orsay, Paris - Photo by Barry Frangipane

When I first saw the abandoned train station, I was only 21, and it was 1979. As I explain in my new book Paris for Life, …I was walking along the Seine with my frien...