The Louvre and long lines

On Sunday morning Andy and I got up early to hit the Louvre right as it opened. Many museums are free on the first Sunday of the month and the Louvre is one of them. We lucked out by going early because there was barely a line and the museum wasn't too crowded. We got audio headsets, a map and headed inside. It was ENORMOUS. We could have spent days within its walls -- but cut that down to about 3 hours. The museum is beautifully built. Every room was spacious, clean and filled to the brim with art. Each section was dedicated to something different, from Greek and Roman sculptures to French paintings to Egyptian art.



We saw the Psyche Revived by Cupid statue (which was one of my favorites), hundreds of religious paintings from ones of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus to ones of the crucifitcion. And of course we hit up the most famous painting in the whole museum -- the Mona Lisa. That room was the most crowded and you could only get within about 10 feet of the painting because it was roped off and security gaurds patroled its parimeter. But it was really neat to see, and as everyone does say pretty small. We also saw the Law Code of Hammurabi and too many paintings and sculptures for me to remember. I really liked the sections for Egyptian and Aztec art.






We could have spent hours more in the Louvre, but the sun was shining outside and I wanted to walk around the outside of the building before we grabbed the train to Versailles. The outside of the Louvre was also amazing, with the building in the shape of a square missing one of its sides and the glass triangle in the middle (we actually exited through it!!) Across the way was an arc and the outline of the Eiffel Tower was visible in the distance. We walked down the flights of steps that lead to the Louvre and came upon fountains and sand covered paths that lead out to a roundabout and further on to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees! It was spectacular and the sun was warm and bright. There were green chairs set around the fountains and people where everywhere just enjoying the sun with picnics and books. It was everything I dreamed it would be. We walked all the way down to the street and then headed for the metro station.



However, by the time we found the right train and got to Versailles clouds had come out. We grabbed lunch and then headed over to the palace to be greeted by not one, but two incredible long lines. One was to get tickets, the other was to get in. We only had three hours until its closing and knew we wanted to spend at least 3 hours inside it, so we decided to go back another day. Luckily my French was good enough to check with the guard that the palace would be open on Tuesday and check its opening time, too. Despite that set back everything was going perfectly.

Since Versailles was a bust when we got back to Paris we decided to check out the Pantheon, where many famous French citizens are buried. It's a really neat building and inside was beautiful with paintings on the walls and statues dedicated to important figures in France's history. We also went down to the crypt and got to see the tomb of Voltaire, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, among other famous French men and women. It was an unexpectedly awesome part of the trip.