Why You Don't Need to See the Louvre

One of the most iconic places in Paris, after the Eiffel Tower, is probably the Louvre museum. With its glass pyramid entrance, it is an enticing museum to go see. But when we went we were very underwhelmed.

How to Get There:

Using the Paris Metro, get off on the Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre stop. This stop is not like a normal metro stop because it is actually inside the museum. A lot of the museum is underground and by exiting on this stop, you will end up in a mall sort of area with shops that skirt around the actual entrance to the museum. 

This was one of the first annoying parts of the Louvre. There were so many people and not very good signage so it was hard to find out exactly where we were supposed to go. Since we had our Paris Museum Pass, we were able to go right up to the wing where our Rick Steves Audioguide started, but it was confusing trying to get there.

What You Will See:

We used Rick Steves's free Audio Europe App and listened to the Louvre track. Because the Louvre is so overwhelmingly huge, we decided it was best to just stick to what Rick said so we only ended up touring one wing of the museum. On our tour we saw a TON of statues as well as some paintings, including the Mona Lisa which is just as underwhelming as everyone says it is. It is far more entertaining watching all of the tourists mob around the painting trying to get up close to see it. 

The one part we did like was an area that used to be a palace. It was interesting for us to see the history of the building through the artwork from the time period. We also enjoyed seeing a collection of crowns and royal jewels in this exhibit. 

Sum Up:

During our trip to the Louvre, we really discovered that we are not art people. We enjoy art in small amounts, but statues are not our thing. So if you are an art person, especially an art person who loves sculptures, you would probably enjoy the Louvre. There are also just so many people (easily the most crowded place we went to while we were in Paris) that it didn't lend to an enjoyable experience for us. If you have a Museum Pass it might be worth it to go see one or two things inside (like the Mona Lisa) just to say that you went to the Louvre. But if you are paying for tickets, I would suggest not even bothering. Our favorite part of the whole experience was simply seeing the glass pyramids from outside the museum. That was where we took the most pictures and enjoyed our time the most. It is such a huge area that it isn't overcrowded with people and the pyramids are were a lot more exciting for us to look at and appreciate than some of the pieces of artwork inside the museum. 

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