Discovering the Louvre in Paris

The Louvre museum, simply put is majestic. Just staring at the building’s architecture brings a sense of awe.  Furthermore, there is a deep and rich history if you chose to uncover more than meets the eye.

Although the Museum is huge and offers an amazing art collection, we noticed one curious detail.  Everyone seemed to be searching for the Mona Lisa.  We are not big on visiting museums and mainstream attractions.  We prefer seeking to create our own adventures and search for hidden gems.   However we felt visiting the Louvre was a must.

More than the Mona Lisa

For example, when we visited the room with the Mona Lisa, we found everyone staring at the tiny picture while no one so much as gazed at the huge mural on the other extremity.  What seemed more important was to take pictures and many selfies of Leonardo da Vinci’s world-famous painting.  Spoiler Alert, the Mona Lisa is quite small and surrounded by many tourists.  This surprised us since we were visiting Paris ‘off touristic season’ (if there is such a thing).

Lots to see

It’s a fact, that you could walk at least one week inside The Louvre in order to discover every rooms and expositions one by one.  Since we only had one week to visit Paris, we budgeted ½ day to visit the Louvre.  Especially since we are not history buffs nor museum goers.  We do have tremendous respect for the establishment and expositions, so we made our own tour of the Louvre, walking swiftly though many rooms.

Google Maps your way to the Louvre

The museum is easily accessible by metro.  Better yet, Google Maps will give you a detailed itinerary to get from point A to point B. In order to exercise flexibility when visiting Paris, we decided to buy the tickets at the front gate.  We arrived early in the morning to avoid waiting in lines.  The structure is well built and lines moved relatively quickly.  However, we do recommend that you pre-purchase your tickets to avoid the wait.

Security check points are mandatory so be mindful of items you bring inside.  We were indicated to use the lockers to leave large items such our tripod.  If our memory serves us well, there were various sizes of lockers available to accommodate any type of objects, completely modern with glass doors and free of charge.  As with any other touristic locations, the complex offers cafes, restaurants and gift shops.

Our Ratings

We both really enjoyed our visit so here are our ratings. Serge: 5  Eli:  5

Do we recommend ?

Yes, beautiful world art collections.  You might consider visiting on a cloudy or rainy day.  However we got lucky with the weather during our week in Paris !

Tips:

1. Check the security rules in advance to avoid any problems.  For example, last we checked you cannot bring tripods & backpacks inside the museum.
2. Wear comfortable shoes because there’s a lot of ground to cover.
3. It seems only logical to say, the earlier you arrive the quicker you’ll get inside, but it’s true. We arrived early and there were little line formations.  However as the day progressed, that same line grew exponentially.
4. In case you get hungry, there is a restaurant / cafe inside the Louvre.  We would recommend that on a rainy day.  However you will find a few food trucks outside, which is more enjoyable during a sunny day.  Also, there are cheaper food alternatives at the Jardin des Tuileries
5. We paid 30 Canadian dollars to get inside (without a tour guide), but looks like if you have the Paris pass that includes other attractions you can get it cheaper and On Bastille Day (14 July) and the first Sunday of each month entrance is free for everyone, all day. (Please confirm on the Louvre website).
6. Looks like Wheelchair is accessible for free at the entrance