When I last visited Paris at the end of 2005, I had one brief morning to visit le Louvre. In nobody's language was that anywhere near long enough - we went straight to see la Jaconde (otherwise known as Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Mona Lisa) then whizzed around a few other rooms until our teenagers were completely over it, which didn't take long (I think they both got their mother's museum and art gallery tolerance gene.......... it's a very short gene........). So that morning 7 years ago I really only scratched the surface. Today my enthusiastic and optimistic husband and I (slightly less optimistic) are devoting the entire day to this enormous museum and its many thousands of exhibits.......... (do you get the feeling that I'm just gritting my teeth and girding my loins?) ;-)
Having pre-booked our tickets we can get in without having to join the long long queue at the pyramid or anywhere else. I wouldn't bother just rocking up on the day and hoping for the best, I don't think it would be worth the pain. Having said that, though, I did experience a bit of frustration with the ridiculous process involved in online booking and the red-tape required just for two little 11€ tickets to visit a huge museum with about a million other tourists (required fields: name, address, date of birth, phone and email - for goodness sake.........). My wonderful and even-tempered husband saw a different side of me that night (and removed himself to a safe distance to watch the show - just across the other side of the room, which is as far away as you can get in this tiny apartment, good thing we're newly weds)!!! There was also the minor inconvenience of having to walk to the collection venue (our nearest one was only about 10 minutes away), and then the last straw when I forgot to bring the confirmation email with my booking number and, no, she couldn't help me without that number (so why did they need all that other information?????). So we had to make a second trip to pick them up, and all they needed was that one little number and my credit card............grrrrrrr!!! But apart from that, it was totally worth booking in advance ;-)
We caught the Metro to Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre station, which meant that we entered the museum at the Caroussel du Louvre, not nearly as crowded as the Pyramid up the top. And the only thing we had to queue for was security, and even then only for 5 minutes or so.
Once in, we discover that there really isn't much information in English. You can pick up a map that isn't all that easy to navigate because of the three different wings of the museum and several different levels and it can be hard to work out exactly where you are. We decide that an audio guide will be worth the extra money - 5euros each - so I wait in the Cour Manly while my lovely husband goes to get them. He returns with two Nintendo DS units, and then the fun starts and I get to see a different side of my formerly even-tempered and easy-going man - here are my hubby's thoughts on that first hour or so:
I think that 'Louvre' must mean 'long' in French. Long queues, long corridors, wide long staircases, longing to be free from the jostling, seething masses. 40 hectares of 400,000 or so (give or take a few thousand) exhibits, you'd think they'd arrange it so you didn't have to backtrack endlessly in little spaces. Unfortunately the Paris pavement 'two-step' collision (or doggie doo) avoidance manoeuvre is still required in this enormous palace.
I hatch a little theory within the first 30 minutes of trying to get some sense out of the infuriating Nintendo map/audioguide/gps/trailblazer gizmo you have to give up your ID or credit card to acquire. Being a revolutionary and headstrong city, my theory is that there were so many mass destructions of this device they had to start exchanging it for something the volatile masses could not afford to lose. It is certain the joy I would have gained from throwing the thing from the third floor and watching it explode into a million little Nintendo pieces would nearly have been worth the 800 euro left on the credit card they were holding hostage. Ma belle femme says one of the highlights of today's tour was watching me nearly self-implode in the Napoleon rooms trying to wring the stupid thing's neck for some information on Josephine's jewellery cabinet.
Haha, now I don't feel so bad about my own minor meltdown over the ticket booking process...... ;-)
Finally, the frustration starts to ease and we get into the rhythm of button-pressing and locating rooms and item numbers, and we're on our way..........
So, what do we see and what do we enjoy? The Napoleon apartments are amazing, full of chandeliers and gold trim.
There's that beautiful jewellery cabinet that was made for Napoleon's wife, Josephine (yes, we do eventually manage to wrestle some helpful information about this from the Nintendo), but sadly for her she didn't get to enjoy it for long.
It was completed in the same year that Napoleon divorced her, and she clearly wasn't allowed to take it with her (I guess the next wife got to put her jewellery in it). So "Not tonight Josephine" was obviously a sign that all was not well in the Boneparte household!!! ;-)
We also really enjoy seeing underneath the Louvre, which was originally a fortress built to protect Paris. In the underground part we walk in what used to be part of the moat, and around the foundations of the fortress.
The rest of the time we spend hopping between Richelieu, Sully and Denon, the three main wings of the museum. It's not easy to navigate such an enormous space with so many interconnected rooms, and some areas currently closed for renovation, but we've now got the hang of our little Nintendos so we can call up the map any time to see where we are - in theory anyway!!! ;-)
Yes, we do eventually get around to seeing Venus and Mona, along with the hordes, and there's something curiously satisfying about seeing such icons up close, and the audio guide does explain the significance of them and why they're so revered, but really I think it's largely just chance that makes one piece of art famous and another fade into obscurity - why Mona and not one of da Vinci's other portraits? Why Venus and not another of the many beautiful sculptures we pass today? Who really knows.
As expected, we see the usual plethora of paintings and items dedicated to Mary and the infant Jesus. I thought after Florence that I would never see so many all in the one place again, but clearly I was seriously misguided and naive about that. I wonder what percentage of the items in le Louvre are related in some way to God, Jesus, Mary, the disciples, the apostles, the crucifixion, and the resurrection?
Some of the rooms are more beautiful and inspiring than the art they contain, and we spend a lot of time gazing up at ceilings, admiring the incredible detail in the decorations and the ceiling paintings. We also enjoy the unique view of the courtyards and the Seine from various windows along the way, and we take our time in the exhibitions of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, and the paintings from French, Italian and other artists.
And my husband's thoughts on all of this, once he recovers from his earlier frustration?
Umm, sorry........... the Louvre. I see a vase from 3800 BC that I think is great :-)
A painting about the 'massacre of the protestants' in the 15th century is interesting because of the event it depicts. The painter equates the event with the murder of Christians in the colosseum. The Jewish museum spoke about similar atrocities (claiming it was aimed at them), but the victims were Jews who had become Christians.
How anyone could carve statues so magnificent out of anything as hard as marble so accurately and get so smooth a finish is a mystery to me. And there is some great woodwork in there.
The Palace itself is fascinating. Enormous, lavish. Given that the people at the time of the revolution were suffering a lack of basic necessities like bread, their consternation at the opulence of the monarchy is understandable.
Do we manage to see everything? Not even close. Do we even get to every level of every wing? We do not! But we're determined to keep on going and we push through the pain because, darn it, we're not coming back for a second day! And I'm so proud of myself - not really a museum or art gallery person I expected I would be done after 3 or 4 hours, but NO!! We walk out of there just after 7pm, nearly 9 hours with only a short lunch break. That's a world record for me, and apart from the last hour or so where my beautiful man has to twist my arm to keep going just a teensy bit longer so he can see Mesopotamia, I actually really enjoy the whole experience - despite my aching feet. I'm not the only one aching though............
At the end of the day, everything aches, from brain to toes. But as ma femme says, 'I'm glad we've finally done the Louvre, we don't have it hanging over our heads any longer'. Its presence does hold you hostage, pay the ransom and do your penance, and all will be well.
So please don't ever think that even a whole day at le Louvre is long enough to see everything - as we head up the spiral stairs to exit via the pyramid (just because we can.....) I ask mon cher mari how long he thinks it would take to see absolutely everything that there is to see in the place - not necessarily to stop and read every item or contemplate its beauty (or otherwise), but just to eyeball every one of the thousands and thousands of items of art and history in the permanent collection (let alone the temporary exhibitions)!!! Neither of us has any idea, and we don't even really know how close we come today (not very, I would suspect) or what percentage of the total we manage even to walk past today.
Nevertheless, we are done!!! So, tired and very satisfied with our efforts, we head home for a late dinner and the promise to each other not to do any more museums........... for a day or so anyway.
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