Louis XIV used the Louvre to house the royal collection, including antique sculptures. He used the Palace of Versailles as his home (more on that next week!) and during the French revolution, they decided that the Louvre should be a museum from that point forward.
We got there before they opened and found the lesser-used entrance underneath the famous pyramid inside a mall. It was nice having the museum pass, which, after passing through security, we were able to scoot past the ticket lines and go right into the exhibits. We hung out for a few minutes here before making our way to see Mona Lisa:
(He's saying, go this way!)
Get there early like we did, and you can have entire wings to yourself!
As we've heard, the Mona Lisa is super tiny. Still neat to see, but you've all seen it, so I didn't take a picture. Then we backtracked for additional pictures in the sun-filled area with statues.
With the trees, it was peaceful and offered a respite from the ambling crowds. We also found the Code of Hammurabi:
And the Sphinx! Neat.
After our fill of culture, we got a few pictures outside....
And then proceeded to lunch. I was getting a bit bratty with all the crowds, and because the place I wanted to go eat was packed, but we got through it. We totally had McDonald's for dinner on our last night in the city, which as I may have mentioned before, is far superior to any McDonald's in the US.
While Paris was nice, it's still a big city and with that comes masses of tourists (PS - why did I see so many people taking pictures with iPads and iPad minis? Just get a camera, you look ridiculous). We were definitely ready for the rest of the trip, which was planned to be a lot more relaxed, and with better accommodations.
Would I go back to Paris? Yes, but I wouldn't stay as long, and I'd stay somewhere else. I'd go for more leisurely shopping and even more sitting outside sipping wine. Next time, tune in for a post about my Top Ten Travel Tips for Paris :-)
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