Unlike the free-form day of January 1 (with no pictures taken - a first for us in Paris I think), January 2nd not only had a plan, but several back-ups as well. We were going to see the Louvre. We've tried on various occasions in the past but always ran into some obstacle or the other. Now we were resolved to get it done. Even though it was a free admission Sunday, we felt confident we would be able to negotiate the crowds and finally get in.
We were up early and had breakfasted by 8am. A quick ride on the metro was followed by a brisk walk through the Tuilleries to the Louvre entrance. The queue was enormous and the building wasn't even open yet. Luckily we were directed by some staff to 'go to the Lions'. Most other tourists had a hard time understanding and ignored the advice, choosing instead to join the two hour queue at the pyramid entrance. We went across the park to the 'Porte des Lions' where there were only about 20 people in line. 5 minutes after the Louvre opened we were in and had checked our coats. Our advice: never try to enter the Louvre through the pyramid entrance. At some point during the day we took a wrong turn and ended up going down a one-way emergency exit. We were a little worried as we stood outside, thinking with the museum getting busier we would have to wait a few hours to get in at any entrance now. Certainly the queue at the main entrance was longer than at the start of the day. But again, 5 minutes later we were back in the museum, courtesy of the Carousel entrance. Anyone who takes more time than that to get in on a free admission Sunday has clearly not done their homework.
How to describe the museum itself? Being somewhat experienced museum-goers, we were surprised to be surprised by a few things. It is big. I know you can see that from the outside, but you really can't make the mental jump from the size of the building on the outside to how vast and enormous the multitudinous halls are. Second, it is busy. Not busy to the point where it turns you off, but be prepared for people, some of whom think it is a good idea to stop 6 abreast in the doorway of each room to read their map one more time. Thirdly, it is a maze. Keep your map handy, you'll need it. Most confusing are rooms where you think the room is merely split by a panel and that going either side of the panel will bring you to the same spot, but in actuality you end up in two completely new rooms. Lastly, a question: how many steps are in the Louvre? Answer, too many! It seems like you are always going up or down. It's like a really crazy split-level home. Our legs were jellified by the end.
What about the exhibits themselves? Fiona and I always leave a museum asking the question, if you could steal any one piece, which would it be? Our favorites were mostly sculpture, although definitely not the Venus de Milo, which we placed in the over-rated category. I loved 'Nymph and Scorpion' and Fiona liked the remnant pieces of a statue of Jupiter that used to stand in Versailles. We both also really like the painting 'The Consecration of Napoleon I', although would have nowhere near the wall space needed to hang it at home. Generally we were disappointed with the French painting and sculpture, especially versus the Dutch and Flemish masters and the much more sophisticated Greek and Italian sculpture. As always, we both enjoyed the Egyptian antiquities, and were both awed by the size and grandeur of the Persian statues. As for the star attraction, the Mona Lisa, be prepared for how small it is. It is definitely hard to work your way through the crowd to get a good enough look to appreciate the genius.
We had lunch inside the museum, arriving just before the crowds and enjoying some great pastries. After lunch we polished off the remaining halls and left thinking that we had taken in the best of the museum. There really is no way to see it all.
Post-Louvre was a slow walk back through the Tuilleries to the Champs-Elysees for a pizza dinner and a bottle of wine to warm us up. We needed it because straight after that we went back to the Monet Exhibit and deposited ourselves in line. At this point it was only projected to be an hour wait, but the night was clear and cold. In the end it turned out to be only 35-40 minutes, although the exhibit would have justified a wait of at least twice that. We didn't like everything, but his good stuff really is the best. The way he works with water is just amazing. For Fiona as a budding artist it was quite neat to see that Monet would do the exact same scene 2, 3 or 4 different ways, playing with the amount of detail, or with light from different angles. It may help tame her inner perfectionist which says that each painting she does must be completely perfect when done. We're glad we saw the exhibition and are probably going in search of some more Monet tomorrow. Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed at the exhibit so we can't show our favorites, but attached are plenty of uploads from the Louvre.
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