C'est Paris: Le Musée du Louvre

February 8, 2011

Did you know?:
The Louvre Museum (the national museum of Paris) is the largest and most visited art museum in the world.

EVEN BETTER, did you know?:
That visiting the Louvre museum is FREE on the FIRST Sunday of each month.  
Oui, c'est vrai!

Note: expect to encounter huge crowds and long line-ups. But if you enter through Carrousel du Louvre or Palais Royal- Musée du Louvre metro station, the line goes along relatively fast and once you're in the museum, crowding will no longer be an issue.

those of you who have seen the movie Da Vinci's Code maybe familiar
with the sight of this inverted pyramid?


About the Musée du Louvre.
A clossal 700m (nearly 2300 feet) along the Seine river, I once read somewhere that it would take up to 9 months to simply glance at every artwork (35,000 in total) housed in this museum!! How INSANE is that? 

It is also home to the famous MONA LISA (La Joconde) - perched high on the wall, behind a bulletproof glass. Be warned: you'll be pushing and shoving in a crowd of people for a simple photo of this lady. She is quite famous!

The Musée du Louvre is housed within the former walls of a palace (you can still see part of it's original fortress if you go underground, there is a section of the museum is dedicated to this) and going about the Louvre can get quite confusing due to its astronomical size. 

  
The original Palaise du Louvre
(now part of it is gone but the Musée du Louvre sits on top of its foundations)

Oh, and expect to spend 1 whole day there or more because there is SO much to see: famous paintings by Michaelangelo and Da Vinci, authentic jeweled crowns, statues of greek gods and goddesses and even a REAL mummy!

There was something about looking at this REAL mummy in front of me that made
the atmosphere very unsettling. Creepy.


Luckily the Musée has provided it's visitors free maps located at the main entrance hall, available in several languages. Curious to know what a lavish lifestyle feels like? If you look hard enough, you may be able to locate Napoleon Bonaparte's lavish apartments which has everything from bedrooms to dining rooms (jaw-dropping) and to entertainment/tea rooms (eye-popping)!

When at the Louvre, take the free maps located at the main info desk in the entrance 
to help you from getting lost!


So far, I have visited the Musée du Louvre twice and still I find myself in areas of the Museum I haven't been to. What I love most about the Louvre isn't only the astonishing beautiful paintings and real-life mummies, but you also get to see real artists at work. Oh how I envy their talent. When I was younger, I had always dreamt about being able to paint portraits like them.


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