The Louvre - overwhelming

Wednesday 19/03/2014

Today we ventured on to the Metro to try and get to the Louvre early. No problem – the helpful man at the ticket booth gave us all the info we needed. Of course it was peak hour when we hit the metro so definitely standing room only – just like Delhi Rob said, though not quite the crush or the aroma.

Our plan to buy tickets in advance didn’t work out because the tourist information centre didn’t open till 10 and we were there before 9, so we arrived at the Louvre and fortunately early enough that the queues were not very long.

The books suggest being strategic when tackling the Louvre – we had no idea just how big it was until we got there. There was no way we could see it all so we picked the eyes out of it. Considering it is low season just coming out of winter we were amazed at just how many people there were at the Louvre (and other major attractions).  But each place we went to seemed able to absorb the number of people entering the doors. Lots of people around the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, but in other sections it was very quiet and uncrowded.

It was great to see the apartments of Napoleon III. So elaborate and ostentatious display of wealth. Any wonder the French people revolted. I couldn’t imagine this being a palace originally and what they could possibly need all that space for. Apparently it wasn’t just the family living there but also the ministers, military and others. As a kid if you played hide and seek you might be able to hide and never be found, and the cleaning budget!  We spent a full morning plus there and were pretty tired by the end of it.

Next stop Notre Dame. Again the number of people was just amazing. We had intended to climb the 422 steps to the dome, but the queues were quite long, and we were pretty well stuffed by then. The inside of the church is not as ornate as I was expecting – a lot of churches in South America were much more elaborate – but the outside of the church was something to see with all the carvings and facade.

We headed back to the hotel via the tourist bureau to buy our tickets for Versailles tomorrow, and figured out the train – 2 changes on the metro before getting on the line to Versailles. Another early start – we only have another 2 days here to try and fit it all in.