We’re not big museum people but of course since we were in Paris we HAD to visit the Louvre. Don’t get me wrong I like to go look at the stuff it’s just that museums are not at the top of our ‘sightseeing list’ and I didn’t feel the need visit several of them in one visit. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I can tell you one thing, it was NOTHING like I had imagined and not in a good way, LOL! More about that later on.
As you know from my previous post we hit the Louvre on our first day of Paris and walked there after following Rick Steve’s historic walk from Notre Dame, you can read more about that on my post here. It’s about 1.5 KM and takes about 20 minutes if your walking straight there. We stopped along the way, and it sure felt like a bit longer of a walk after climbing up & down the Notre Dame towers.
We arrived at the Louvre around 2 pm on a Wednesday. From reading Rick Steves’ we knew there was a Museum Pass entrance between the glass pyramid & Rue de Rivioli, as well as an underground mall entrance, but we were excited to find that there was no wait to enter straight through the glass pyramids. It wasn’t too crowded inside, we could walk around and see what we wanted without feeling like sardines. As you can see from the above pic, there were people around but it didn’t feel like mass chaos and I wasn’t overwhelmed.
When we got in and Mr. B went to the ticket counter to show our pass & get free tickets for the kids as well as a map. We went to the baggage check and checked our bags & jackets, except for our camera. This was nice not to have to carry them but despite not having to haul them around we noticed something was amiss…
I so love the ‘selfie’ photobomb in this one! It cracks me up every time I see it 🙂 Boo was able to check this off his list of places visited before he heads back to the US for college this fall.
Bub looks thrilled as usual, I’ll enjoy when he one day has to explain these to his kids…LOL!
…It was SOOO stinking hot in the Louvre! It made it so hard to enjoy it all all 🙁 From all the research I’ve done no one has ever mentioned it being so HOT! It got the point where I found a vent blowing ‘air’ not even cold and we just stood over it for a bit. My friend went a week later and verified it indeed was hot, so it was not just us. I have no idea how the art can stay preserved like that? Not sure if it was because it was April & they hadn’t turned on AC yet but I would not go back and visit again in heat like that! It’s hard to enjoy looking at the stuff when you feel like your suffocating.
Note your able to take pictures in the Louvre, you just cannot use your flash.
So after realizing it was going to be a bit of torture we used Rick Steve’s Louvre Tour and started hitting all the attractions so we could get the heck outta there! We made it as far as Mona Lisa and then decided we’d had enough! We managed to find our way out of the maze of the museum and get our bags. I was SO thirsty that Mr. B had to go buy me a bottle of water, turned out the kids were dying of thirst too! We split the bottle of water and decided to go get something to eat.
The we did not get to see The Winged Victory as it was out for restoration while we were there.
The Louvre used to be a palace so there is some amazing artwork on the ceilings as well.
I’m always so impressed with these amazing works on the ceilings that someone painstakingly painted by hand, it had to have taken so many hours to complete!
There was a crowd around the Mona Lisa, as to be expected. I knew it was small but Mr. B had just found out before we left for Paris, he was a bit disappointed to find that out, LOL. It’s small & behind plexiglass so it doesn’t make for the best photo op. Boo & I managed to wiggle our way to the front so he could take a ‘selfie’ with Mona & I could get a pic.
This is a ginormous painting across from the Mona Lisa, as you can see there are quite a few people in this room, and even more were clustered around the Mona Lisa, but again it wasn’t horrible. This was the most crowded room while we were there so since we didn’t plan on hanging out in there a long time it wasn’t bad.
The bathrooms in the Louvre were horribly crowded & with long waits for the ladies, of course no wait for the men as usual.
We headed over to the Carrousel du Louvre which has a food court, to include McDonalds, and Starbucks! As soon as we entered from the Louvre lobby we were greeted by cool air, it was so refreshing and MUCH more enjoyable than the Louvre. It is here that you can see the underside of the glass pyramid & take pics. My brain was so sapped from the heat stroke of the Louvre that I couldn’t even remember to think about taking a pic.
Boo said he wanted to eat at a McD’s in every country and by this point we were so tired we didn’t care. We got dinner from McD’s & some Starbucks for Bub. They had a neat seating that was comfortable at the McD’s & food court.
There are also bathrooms there that cost €0.50 but I’m fine with paying that an not having to wait for 20 minutes! It was after Bea & I made a bathroom break that we had a ‘scare.’ While I was gone Mr. B told the boys they could go down to Starbucks, when I got back I wasn’t happy about us begin separated because we had NO cell phones there to get ahold of each other. I asked Mr. B what he’d do if the boys weren’t there and he said he’d call them…then I pointed out he couldn’t, DUH! I was not happy. So we went downstairs and realize that the Starbuck is on the other side of security back towards the Louvre, Mr. B goes back through and they are not there! We knew there were 2 Starbucks so he asked the security guard where the other one was. At this point my heart is starting to pound and I’m getting upset. We walk down to the 2nd Starbucks and they are NOT there!! I’m about to freak out at this point, I start walking back towards the center (under the pyramid) and see them walking by and yell at them! They had gotten their Starbucks and went back upstairs to McD’s the opposite way we’d came down. Crisis adverted but darn I was sure scared. Yes, I realize that Boo is 17 and about to head to college but I so did not enjoy not knowing where the boys were in a different country where French is the main language and we had NO way of getting ahold of them. Needless to say Mr. B will not be doing that again unless he wants me to have a panic attack 😉
After eating we headed out to find the Big Bus pick up point. It’s actually outside the arch and across the street from the Louvre. We rode that to the Arch De Triumph to see the city & catch the RER train back to Disney train station.
Was it worth going and seeing…yes and no. It was ‘free’ because it was included in our Paris Museum Pass but I can’t say I’d pay €11 to see it again. Was it enjoyable…no not really. Did we get to see the infamous Mona Lisa…yes, we did. We also got to see the ‘must see’ glass pyramid & take pics..but we could’ve did that without enduring the torture of the heat inside, LOL. The best part by far was the food court!
Know Before You Go:
Where: Louvre Museum – Paris, France
How To Get There: Approx. 4 hour drive from Spangdahlem.
From Disney Paris area its about 1.5 hours via bus/shuttle & RER/subway, subway stop is Louvre Rivoli and Palais Royal Musée du Louvre
From Notre Dame: It was about a 20 minute walk (1.5 KM).
Hop on Hop off bus & Batobus drops off near here.
What: There is tons of stuff to see at the Louvre, how much time you spend there is up to you, it’s huge! Plan on spending at least 2 hours there and longer if you want to try and see more. Make sure you stop by and say Hi to Mona Lisa!
Cost: €11 or covered by the Paris Museum Pass, also note kids 18 and under are free. You just need to get them a ticket at the register but it is free.
When: Note the Louvre is closed on Tuesday, as are many other attractions so keep this in mind when planning. Open Wed-Mon 9 am to 6 pm, but open until 9:45 pm on Wed & Friday. Last entry is 45 minutes prior to closing.
Where to find info: Online, above links
Rick Steves’ Paris – this book was AMAZING for our trip, he has a Louvre tour in the book that is great.
We were just in Paris! We had visited the Louvre on our honeymoon ages ago, so decided to skip it with our little kids this time (though we may have tried it if we were staying much longer). It seemed like EVERYwhere in Paris was hot. Maybe it’s all the people? Anyway, the Louvre stop on the Metro line we took was closed. We had walked there from the Opera, but It was a good reminder to check the latest info before planning your day.
The Louvre was the ONLY place it was hot while we were in Paris, the weather was great & the rest of the places we visited were comfortable. I agree, always check info ahead of time and I also like to verify with the people at information at the metro, they were super helpful and never minded answering our tons of questions 😉
You got a much better picture of the Venus de Milo that I did when I went. I was not overly impressed with the Lourve. I would much rather spend my time people watching and documenting the city rather than visiting there again. I would go for my child but only hit the big stuff and call it a day. Then see more important things…….that are free. 😛
Yeah I don’t think we’ll be visiting again, unless it’s in winter and we’re without the kids, but even that is a stretch. We only visited one free thing but the rest was covered by our Paris Museum Pass, so we didn’t have to spend $ at each place…we except the Eiffel Tower. Kids were free at all the places except for the Eiffel Tower, where they got a reduced rate. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one not impressed 😉