Monday, July 21, 2014

Musée du Louvre

Day 2 was reserved for Louvre which, in hindsight, simply wasn't enough to even glance at everything on display there. After a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, we took subway to the museum. Having bought tickets online, we joined the admissions queue which moved surprisingly fast and within 10 minutes we were inside the palace.

There are three entrances to the Louvre. Though the most famous is the Pyramid and Galerie du Carrousel entrances, lines are a bit shorter at the Passage Richelieu or Porte des Lions entrances. Its is open every day expect Tuesday and some holidays - so please keep that in mind when planning your visit

Once inside we realized how big it was and how many different options we had if we wanted to optimize the one day we had planned for it. My advice - visit the online site and get information about exhibits (permanent and temporary) and plan what all would you want to see in one day. After all its simply impossible to see 40,000 works of art in one day!

We bought a 2 day pass that allows multiple entries to the museums (booking.parisinfo.com) - I would recommend the same as you can step out, grab a lunch and get back inside the museum without paying for the ticket again. The pass gives access, to 60 museums and monuments, as many times as you wish, in and around Paris. There are 2, 4 and 6 days passes to suit your plans (ranging from 42 to 69 Euros) I would highly recommend the 4 day pass if you plan to stay 4 days in Paris (including one day at Versailles) as it covers almost all major museums and monuments including Louvre, Orsay, Notre Dame, Arc De Triomphe, Chateau de Versailles. Separately, cost of admission to these places is much more. The museum pass can be delivered to your hotel or you can collect it from their office to save on postage.

There is no way I can do justice to the beautiful works that we saw and experienced in Louvre, so I will refrain from talking about it. I honestly didn't take many pictures either, so absorbed was I in the beauties that surrounded me. All I can say is that Louvre has spoiled me for all the other museums in the world. No other museum, that I have seen, comes even close to what Louvre has to offer.

Would like to mention though that Monalisa felt like a let down - A small painting with throngs of people around it - I could barely see it :)

Next time I would keep at least 2 days for Louvre - just hoping that next time happens soon :)






 

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