The Louvre - Day 1

Monday morning we went to the Louvre. It was strange how the Concorde Square (the Metro Station nearest the Louvre on our line) was practically deserted in comparison to the thousands of people and media trucks that had filled it the day before. We strolled up the Rue de Rivoli on our way to the Louvre (since we had walked through that side of the Jardin des Tuilleries the day before), looking at the shops and windows and searching for a place to enjoy a late breakfast/early lunch. We finally settled on a little cafe right across from the Mall Entrance to the Louvre and enjoyed a poulet (chicken) sandwich on a tasty baguette.

We then walked over and into the Mall Entrance to the Louvre. Cindy, who is full of excellent ideas, thought we should buy the museum pass packet, which would allow us 4 days of entrance to not only the Louvre, but to many other Paris landmarks. After calculating the individual daily costs, we found that it would be a perfect purchase for us to make. One of the best perks of the pass is that it allows you to move to the head of the line at any of the venues you attend. Sweet!

The Louvre is a former medieval palace, shaped like a "U" with the now-famous glass Pyramid placed in the middle of that "U". All of the upper floors have been reconstructed over the years, but the original medieval underground level remains intact and parts of it can be seen when entering through the Mall Entrance.

We entered the Louvre and I don't know how Cindy and her mom felt, but it was almost overwhelming for me, and I'm not speaking about the art. The place is massively huge, we knew that from seeing it on the outside, but you just don't get a real sense of it until you are standing at the entranceway struggling to take in all the different ways you can begin. Fortunately we knew we were headed to the Mona Lisa first (of course) and the Venus de Milo and then we would see whatever other masterpieces there were along those routes. Masterpieces such as Winged Victory (shown below) which sits atop the head of a massive stairway as you make your way to the Richleu Wing and the Denon Hall where the Mona Lisa occupies its own wall.

After about 20 minutes we finally came upon The Lady herself, along with a few hundred other admirers, and had to spend a few more minutes working our way to the front of the crowd. Unfortunately, there are no photos or videos allowed, here or in the entire hall outside her room where other fragile and priceless works of art reside. There is a roped off area in front of the Mona Lisa extending out about 6 feet (in comparison all the other works in the hall have an area of about 3 feet roped off in front of them) and there are 2 burly Frenchmen standing to the side of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous work. I watched one tourist attempt to surreptitiously take his camera out of his pocket and snap a photo, but one of the guards was quickly on him (even in that tightly packed crowd) ordering him in no uncertain terms to put it away.

There's not much point in describing the painting as it has to be the most well-known work of art in the world. And it would be impossible to describe the feelings one has while viewing it, as I'm sure it is different for everyone. Suffice it to say that, for me, it was a long held desire fulfilled and it is an experience I doubt I shall ever forget.

From there we continued through the remainder of the hall, then doubled back to make our way to the other lovely lady, Venus de Milo. This statue sits in the center of a room in the Sully Wing and dominates everything within. I probably took dozens of photos from different angles, but below is one with Cindy and her mom included, to give you the perspective of both the size and elevation of this famous Hellenistic work of art.

Next post: Our walk up the Champs de Elyse and a close-up encounter with 2 movie stars!