The Louvre

(Katherine) Today was our big museum adventure - we were going to concur the Louvre! It was drizzling that day, so it seemed like the perfect day to stay inside and look at amazing works of art. Unfortunately, it appeared that several thousand other people had the same idea as well! Luckily, with the recon we had done before, we figured out the fastest way to get into the Louvre - Paris travelers, read my notes at the bottom of this post.

We tackled the bottom floor first, and then made our way up to the second floor. Our new strategy was to complete the top levels first and work our way down. I think this was a sound plan since not all of the areas were air-conditioned, and the heat was rising up the building throughout the day. We saw amazing paintings, sculptures, and a portion of Napoleon’s apartment (which really looks more like a mansion). I personally enjoyed the Ancient Egyptian section while Robert revisited some of his favorite French paintings.

I supposed the highlight of the visit is supposed to be the Mona Lisa, but it’s not quite what I envisioned. First of all, you can’t get very close to her because there is a red rope maintaining about a 20 foot distance from the crowd, and second the crowd itself is completely overwhelming. Third, she now has a huge UV-coated glass shield over her to protect her from the constant stream of flashbulbs, which also takes away from the intimacy of viewing this work of art. Although flash photography is not allowed in ANY part of the museum, we saw hundreds of offenders and reached the point where we wanted to smash the cameras of these disrespectful tourists.

Believe it or not, we actually covered every floor and every portion of the Louvre in just under 8 hours! We only stopped for one 20 minute break, and we obviously whizzed by some sections (after a while, some sculptures all start to look alike!) but I’m proud to say we “did” the Louvre. Though at times I was tempted to linger in some sections, I had the movie “European Vacation” playing in the back of my head with the scenes of their expedited Louvre visit. I’m pretty sure that Robert felt like I had channeled Clark Griswold himself while we were in the museum due to my desire to keep pressing forward!

After departing the museum around 8:00, we literally dragged our weary feet down to Saint Germain street and sat down for a caipiroska while we decided what we wanted to eat. We had built up quite an appetite, so we wandered a bit further into the Latin Quarter and found an amazing crepe house called Le Petite Tour where we found the perfect table perched on a balcony overlooking the tiny street. We were also able to rest our aching feet on the balcony as we dined on savory crepes for dinner, and then Nutella crepes for dessert - a well deserved meal!

After dinner we headed to a jazz club in a wine cave called Caveau de la Huchette.  Robert had been here years ago with his sister, Joanna, and was anxious to return. That night they had a Dixie Jazz group, a delightful ensemble of older gentlemen who gave a lively and fine tuned show. There is also a dance floor just in front of the stage where people are encouraged to dance. Similar to the tango hall we visited in Buenos Aires, anyone who is seated around the dance floor and actively dancing is considered “fare game” to be asked to dance. Everyone was engaging in swing dancing, which looked to also include the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. The dancing combined with the upbeat jazz made for a lovely conclusion to the evening, and us both taking a vow to sign up for swing classes when we return to SF!
 
 
Louvre Entry Advice

Go to The Carousel (Louvre shopping mall) entrance just off Rivoli Street and head to the ticket kiosks. Purchase your tickets there for $9.50 euros each - I don’t recommend paying extra for the temporary exhibits since we walked right into them without showing our tickets again (I don’t think they care).
Take the escalator down, and you will see there are 2 lines to get in. Get in the line to the left which says something like “Guests Without Tickets” - it should be a much shorter line than the one to the right which is for people with Museum Passes. It doesn’t matter that you have your tickets already - once everyone goes through the queue, you all just end up in the lobby of the Louvre. Select a building to tackle and head straight to the ticket checker.
It is interesting to note that they don’t scan your tickets or anything, so if you wanted to go with your group in the morning you could hand off your tickets to another group in the afternoon. Just a little money saving advice!