Paris Blog #2: I'm Louvrin' It

First of all, I am sorry not sorry about the terrible pun in the title. I couldn't help myself. Gosh, was it ever hot in Paris today. Me being the genius person that I am, I decided to wear long pants. I wasn't going to go to The Louvre, as you know, I was going to go to Versailles, but it was just so hot that I couldn't bring myself to even think about doing anything outdoors. I was already boiling in The Louvre, and it's inside! I arrived at The Louvre at 11AM and there was a crazy line to get inside. Luckily, with my Paris Museum Pass, I was able to bypass all of that and I didn't have to wait in the sun!

Tip: If you're planning on visiting Paris this summer, I highly recommend entering either by Le Carousel du Louvre on Rue Rivoli or on the entrance at 93 Rue Rivoli. I did the latter and it took me less than three minutes to get into the museum. Le Carousel du Louvre brings you to the bottom floor and the line looked like it was about 10 minutes long. Waiting for the pyramid entry was at least 30 minutes. 

Note: If you're coming by Metro, Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre's line 7 (pink line) exits are closed. I recommend either travelling on Line 1, since that line still works at the station, OR get off at the Pyramides station on the pink line, which was what I did. It's about a five minute walk to the Louvre.

I started my visit off with a quick lunch in the Museum Café. It wasn't anything special... it cost me 12 Euros for a bottle of water and a ham & emmental sandwich (apparently this is some kind of French staple food because it's been the sandwich in both places that I've gone to so far). After lunch, I started in the Richelieu Wing's 2nd floor, which is home to the large French, Germanic, Netherlandish, and and Flanders collections. I have to say, the salon-style hanging was a bit overwhelming at first. I don't know how people in the academy shows used to be able to see anything!

This was the calmest room in the entire floor and there are still a lot of paintings there. As a curator, I certainly couldn't support this kind of hanging style, but I guess that the Louvre has such a substantial collection that they need to do their best to show everything off!

I breezed through the Deco Arts collection on the 1st floor of the building afterwards because I felt like I was seeing a lot of the same thing over and over. I did get to get my first glimpse (and probably one of my only since I'm not going to visit it) of the Eiffel Tower, and so I took the mandatory tourist picture of it. To be fair, I saw the scaled version of it in Vegas last year and when I rode up on that, I thought I was going to puke, I can't imagine going up to the top of the real Eiffel Tower, I probably would just end up having a heart attack before I got up there.

The sculpture garden is by far the most impressive part of this pavilion, and I definitely recommend sitting down there and taking it all in if you can. You can also sit on the steps and practice your drawing skills if you'd like! It's a great way to take a break! I did a sketch but I'm so horribly out of practice that I won't even upload it!

After I finished that pavilion, I knew it was time to do the thing that everybody goes to the Louvre to do: visit Mona. First of all, I have to say, it was hilarious to hear people talk about this painting. They were talking about it as if she were a real human being! "Can you tell me where Mona Lisa is sitting?" "Oh she's left, left, and another left."

I have to say, I have been to a lot of concerts and been everywhere from the mosh pit to the stands to waiting for the celebrities outside before they hit up their bus. I have never, in my life, experienced the kind of hysteria or madness that I experienced in waiting to see the Mona Lisa. To be honest, I wasn't actually that excited about seeing her, but I was fascinated by the hysteria of the crowd. People were pushing and shoving and I'm pretty sure my body has never been as close to another stranger's as in that crowd.

This was the line to see the painting. As you can see, being the short person that I am at 5'1", I literally could not see Mona Lisa until I basically approached her. In the end, I waited for almost fifteen minutes so that I could actually see the painting, and she's encased behind that huge pane of glass, and when I was going to take my picture, some woman pushed me and so this happened:

After all of that, I DIDN'T EVEN GET A PICTURE OF HER. I'm not heartbroken by any stretch because a) that painting has been burned into my memory and my nightmares (I've have a recurring nightmare where I fail my dissertation defence because I concluded that there's nothing left to say about the Mona Lisa) and b) I can just Google it and infinity results will show up. 

After my time with Mona, I had a much better time visiting with Delacroix, David and Géricault. I love me some dramatic French paintings, so I was so excited about getting to see these in person. I didn't realize how big David's Coronation of Napoleon and Empress Josephine was! It was overpowering and overwhelming. Conversely, I was extremely underwhelmed by the size of La Grande Odalisque. I think I've been spoiled by seeing it on such huge art history auditorium screens that it was a little disappointing to realize that it was so small!

I finished off my grand tour with the Egyptian and medieval Louvre sections. I was pretty tired by that point and I'd been looking at art for the better part of five hours, so I thought it was time to call it a day! 

Attached to The Louvre is a series of shops and restaurants, so before I left, I couldn't help but do a little shopping (you'll see what I bought in a Paris Roundup post next week!) - there was conveniently also an Apple Store in the Carousel du Louvre so I was able to right my plug situation! 

To top the day off, I went to Mariage Frères, the famous French tea house. I had a big pot of tea, the limited edition Haute Couture tea. It was 12 Euros, so definitely a treat for the soul, but I have to say that my tea pot was huge and I drank it all so it was worth the price. The tea was lovely and it was the perfect way to rest my feet and do some reading after a long day. I've been keeping a book with me in my bag all week so that I can spend small pockets of time being productive. 

Because it's so hot in the city (it's going to get up to 32 degrees by Friday) and then from Saturday on it's going to rain, I don't think that I will end up going to Versailles, alas. I won't be able to stand the heat in the gardens and there are too many exhibitions that I want to see! Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make it a four-stop day, since a lot of the museums are open until 9pm! Wish me luck!