If a trip to Paris this summer for the Olympics is not on your calendar, but visiting the “City of Light” is appealing, for a much lower cost you can stay at home and enjoy Paris at a new exhibition, “Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Paris,” presented by Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens.

It’s not a huge display, but a show worth every dollar of admission which features almost 60 original objects including gowns, jewelry, wedding dresses, accessories, antiques, and decorative arts bought and collected in France by the one-time richest woman in the U.S.

Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973) was the only child of the former Ella Merriweather and C.W. Post, who owned General Foods and Postum Cereals. When her father died in 1914, he left his estate to his daughter valued then at $20 million and valued now at more than half a billion dollars.

During the 1920s Marjorie Post built Mar-a-Lago (now owned by Donald Trump), and in the 1950s, she built Hillwood (she bequeathed Mar-a-Lago to the U.S. government, but it was too expensive to maintain and secure; Hillwood is operated as a private entity).

On Hillwood’s grounds a small dacha houses the exhibition, where guests can see Post’s Marie Antoinette costume she wore for more than two decades and a traveling trunk (made by Louis Vuitton) which held dozens of pairs of her shoes.

Hillwood calls her a “dedicated Francophile” who first went to Paris with her parents when she was 13 to see the World’s Fair. Over almost 70 years and more than a dozen trips, Post traveled to the city by ship, on her yacht or her private turbo-propped plane, designed for 44 passengers.

She stayed at the best hotels and frequented the most luxurious retailers, many still in business today like Vuitton, Hermès, A La Vieille Russie (dating from 1851 and now in New York City), and the oldest florist in Paris, Lachaume, opening in 1845 whose customers included Marcel Proust and Karl Lagerfeld.

The jewelry displayed includes necklaces, brooches, earrings, and a delicate seed pearl handbag of doeskin leather, platinum and diamonds made by Cartier Paris which Post’s second husband, E. F. Hutton, gave to their only child, Dina Merrill (the actress), upon Dina’s first marriage of three. A large map of Paris shows Post’s favorite places, hotels and shops.

From a favorite Parisian antique dealer, Galerie d’Art-Ancien, Marjorie Post bought porcelain commissioned in the 1700s by Catherine the Great of Russia, also on display. The Russians called her a “Russophile,” after she developed her affinity for Russian pieces while married to her third husband, Joseph E. Davis, U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1936 or 1937 — 1938.

Her collection of Russian imperial art is, after Russia’s, the world’s largest.

For a break of a delicious brunch or lunch, Merriweather Cafe is a chic restaurant on the grounds where I spent $21 for a tasty slice of vegetable quiche with cherry tomato, goat cheese, shallot, and a healthy serving of spring greens. I fell in love with Marlborough’s Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc ($12/glass), the label the wait staff permitted me to photograph to take to the wine stop. My meal expenditure was worth every dollar (and more!). The cafe is open daily, 11:30 a.m. — 3:30 p.m.

The exhibition at Hillwood (4155 Linnean Ave. NW, Washington, DC) runs through June 16, open Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m.

“Suggested” donation for entry (weekday/weekend): adults $15/$18, seniors (65+) $12/$15, college students $10, and children (6-18) $5. Free for children under 6 and Hillwood members. Make online reservations to save $1 per ticket on weekends.

Good weather, bad weather, whatever weather is a good day to spend at Hillwood and see flowers blooming along hidden pathways, walk in colorful splendor and tour inside Post’s elegant mansion, all spread over 25 acres of quiet seclusion in northwest Washington.

Post loved Paris in the springtime; she loved Paris in the fall; she loved Paris in the summer when it sizzles, and I love Hillwood when it dazzles, every moment, wall to wall.

For more information, visit hillwoodmuseum.org.