The Louvre

Croissants and coffee for breakfast. Yum. Half hour walk to the Louvre and then saw the massive line. So bought tickets online to save heaps of time for about 4 dollars extra (yay for smart phone and data - 1.25GB per month working out so far).

Then skipped the queue and we were in. Went in the secondary entrance which was a happy mistake as saw sculptures and paintings without huge crowds who go in directly to see Mona Lisa.

Saw some Northern European painters and quite liked some. Balthasar Denner and someone else did these super lifelike portraits (almost like photos) - very cool. Lots of sculptures - really interesting.

Then moved through other parts of the museum which weren't as captivating. Lots of Egyptian stuff (yeah, mostly stolen probably). Some interesting art objects and other random things. They had some good placards in multilevel languages that were really useful - learnt about a series of old tapestries (or old copies of them) about Scipio and his defeat of Hannibal and life etc. Cool.

Got lost a little but eventually made our way to the obligatory Mona Lisa visit (were almost going to buck the trend and not see it at all). But never fear, we saw the mass of people shuffling in to see it. As expected and forewarned, we were suitably underwhelmed.

After that, stomachs rumbling we moved off through the Jardín des Tulieres (cursing ourselves for forgetting our sunglasses - the sun was blazing), and then strolled to Latin Quarter to find lunch.

Overall impression of the Louvre? Great. Worth exploring off the beaten track - more enjoyable crowd wise and you see some gems. Didn't see the need for audioguides - lots in English and our basic French reading helped in other parts. Beautiful building - at times it outdid the artworks and artefacts on display.Read more