Drawing of a Dutch windmill So, you’re in Paris for vacation but have a hankering for the art and museums of Amsterdam. Normally, you would have to catch a costly flight or train ride to get a glimpse of an extensive Dutch collection.

But this winter the Pinacothèque de Paris teams up with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to present a large collection of one of art history’s most interesting periods: the Dutch 17th Century. Visitors to Paris this winter will have the pleasure of bragging to their friends about all of the great masterpieces they saw in the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, the Centre Pompidou and the Rijksmuseum, without even stepping foot on Dutch soil.

Taking place in the 8th arrondissement, the exhibition, entitled The Dutch Golden Age, will feature over 130 pieces of which about 60 will be paintings and about 30 drawings and water-colors. The exhibit focuses largely on the role and influence of the work of both Rembrandt and Vermeer, two names that hold iconic notoriety far beyond art-history circles. Certainly, these two men have become symbols of the Dutch Golden Age and their influential reach goes far beyond their contemporaries. Other artists included in the exhibit may be less-recognizable but nonetheless represent an era that went far beyond the work of two artists. The Dutch Golden Age exhibit is a rare offering of one country’s national treasures to the people and visitors of a neighboring city. Art lovers may be tired after hoofing it around the Louvre for a few days, but a visit to this temporary exhibit is worth it.

Winters in Paris are relatively mild, especially in comparison to the frigid months many Americans endure, making that December break a wonderful time to cross the Atlantic. New York Habitat does still have many apartments available in the 8th arrondissment, close to the Pinacothèque, for the winter season, below are a few select accommodations to help get your search off the ground: