The Louvre
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2005
1
168
289
Trip End
Jan 25, 2009
Paris, France
Monday, July 31, 2006
These French keyboards are awful. Much worse than the Chinese. Getting around on the underground is awful as it takes so long. Each trip is taking up to an hour. I'm completely undecided as to whether I like Paris or London more... the French have been OK but the language barrier is making communication difficult. For that reason, as well as the nightlife, I think London is much better. But Paris has an amazing feel to it, the French people have been good, but the tourists and crowds are proving to be very difficult to deal with. I WILL NOT do Europe again in the Summer and advise readers reading this to do likewise. I have found the crowds, lack of accommodation and high prices a major turn off. But I've still enjoyed my time here and will leave with amazing memories and images of the region. I do hope the photos are doing the region justice.
I spent over 6 hours at the Louvre today which proved not long enough as I only got to see about 60% of the collection... totally missed out on the top floor and adjacent rooms including the Asian and Australasian collections. Museum evacuations and lock outs didn't help matters much. I was in the actual room when a fire broke out but it was only small so nothing to rave about... just attracted a lot of attention. I don't think it justified a whole evacuation. The museum is huge and definitely rates as the best museum I've been to. If you only ever go to one museum in your life, this one is it.
The collection was massive and included Arts of Islam; Sculptures; Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; History of the Louvre; the Medieval Louvre (a huge castle at the base of the museum); Oriental Antiquities; Paintings including the very famous Leonardo De Vinci's Mona Lisa); and prints and drawings. I especially loved the mosaics on display and have taken photos with the view to doing my own small round table. Next time I will spend at least 10 hours at the museum for there is so much to see and learn.
