Before we left Australia we were looking at what we could do on our extra days we had in Paris.  Of course I suggested we go to the Louvre.   We looked at booking a pre paid ticket so we could avoid the long line ups.  No one wants to spend all their time waiting to get in somewhere.

Then Paula rings me one night to let me know as part of our tour in Paris the Louvre is one of the options.  Luckily I hadn’t purchased any tickets. It pays to read the itinerary.   So the Louvre would be our morning tour on the Sunday.

The choices for the Sunday were The Louvre, Montmartre and the Sacre-Coeur and a gastronomic Tour of Paris.

We decided that as we would have an extra 2 days in Paris we would do Montmartre ourselves and just walking around Paris was a Gastronomic delight.

There were only 8 including our Tour Guide for the tour.   We arrived at the Louvre around 9am.  Security is tight as it should be not just the threat of terrorism but the real threat of art thieves.  I asked before we left the hotel if photos were allowed in the Louvre and was happily surprised when told yes.  I can not put all the pictures I took in the Louvre as I took hundreds, so much to see and take in.  Not just the artwork and statues but the building itself is an architectures dream.

As we had special access into the Louvre it didn’t take us that long to get in.  We had seen the crowds lining up the day. Even though it early it was very crowded.  Some of the exhibits were hard to see because of the crowds.

Our tour started in the Medieval Louvre in the Sully wing  where the foundations are from when the Louvre was a fortress. The foundation walls line an empty moat.   It dates back to 1190AD until the early 16th Century.  The Louvre has been a gallery since 1793.

Earlier this year they had to close this part of the Museum due to flooding.

For anyone that has been to the Louvre understands how big it is.  I think it would take days to see all the exhibits properly.

 

Venus de Milo was discovered in 1820 on the island of Melos in the Cycaldis. This statue is supposed to depict Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty (Venus to the Romans).  It is marble and slightly larger than life-size standing at 6ft 8 ins.

Diana of Versailles – Artemis Goddess of the Hunt.

 

 

 

 

At times due to the large crowd, getting a picture proved very hard.  Often I would just hold my hand in the air with the camera and shoot.  As you can see it’s on a lean.  This is definitely the case with the next picture.  The Famous Mona Lisa.  I was about 30 people back and was finding it really hard to get a picture.  A lovely gentlemen in our small group managed to move his way through the crowd and took photos for the rest of us.  If you look closely you can see the many faces of the crowd in the glass.  Mona Lisa is also roped off so you really can not get that close to her.

 

So many stairs to climb but so much to see that you do not notice all the stairs until this picture.

 

We spent 3 hours in the Louvre however it went so quickly.  So much to see, every inch of the museum has something to look at.

Two of the ladies in our group wanted to do some shopping after we finished our tour.  So we went back down to where all the shops are.  We also did a bit of browsing in the museum gift shop and I purchased a couple of fridge magnets.  You can never have enough of those!

Even our Tour Guide was excited at doing a bit of shopping as normally she doesn’t get the time.  As there were only 8 including our guide we managed to get around to all the important parts of the museum.

 

If you ever get the opportunity to visit the Louvre, then do not hesitate.  Get a ticket before you get to Paris if you can so you do not waste a minute.