After recovering from a cheese and lack of sleep fueled sickness (that I detailed in part 1), Melissa and I were back and rearing to go on our third full day in Paris. Part of the reason we took it easy the night before, aside from that brief stomach bug, was because we wanted to be fresh for our day at The Louvre.

We purchased our tickets to the historic museum ahead of time and entered in the late morning, after breakfast at the hotel and a few short train rides. I purposefully had tried to stay away from reading about The Louvre once we booked our tickets, wanting to take it all in with fresh eyes. Whatever expectations I did have were soon blown out of the water.

I always find it amazing when something so historic and beloved is even better than what people say. That’s how I felt about exploring this museum. I expected to see an amazing collection of art, which we did, but The Louvre was so much more than that. That became apparent almost immediately.

After waiting in line to enter for 20 minutes or so, we first explored the ground floor of the Sully Wing that is filled with Egyptian Antiquities. The art itself is impressive for sure but I was immediately struck by the layout of the exhibits. Everything was perfectly curated to different sight angles. Displays were thought out in every conceivable way, more than any museum I’ve stepped in before. And that was in my least favorite exhibit that we went into!

If that wasn’t enough, the buildings themselves were absolutely amazing. It was to the point where they could have taken out all of the art and I still would have been happy to pay the $30 entrance fee to walk the buildings. In a very basic way, that reminded me of Tokyo DisneySea. Everything was so well crafted that it was just a place I wanted to hang out in. With DisneySea, everything is manufactured to make you feel that. I suppose it’s the same for The Louvre, just everything has been curated over decades, if not centuries, to make you feel that.

We made our way through Egyptian Antiquities and then into Greek Antiquities, where the Venus de Milo is showcased. The framing of this was almost as spectacular as the statue itself. My photos clearly don’t do it justice, as there was a presence to the artwork that isn’t quite portrayed.

This photo does a slightly better job at showing how beautiful The Louvre is while still focusing on the art. I took a lot of photos that day, far more than I have in any other art museum. Here’s a few more from that morning.

The day was flying by and we were ready for lunch after only exploring a small portion of the museum. We went back to the entrance area of The Louvre, under the famous pyramid, and had a great sandwich before journeying on. At that point, it was clear that there was no possible way to see the entire museum even if we still had 5 hours in the day. Maps that we picked up in the lobby, as well as online guides, showed some highlights and so we emphasized those while still trying to keep a leisurely pace.

That was the plan at least, but nearly every room we went into stopped us dead in our tracks. Immediately after lunch we stepped into The Studio, an open space filled with more statues and a 4-story high glass ceiling. I’m no interior designer, but I can’t imagine a room anywhere being more perfect than this one. There were different levels to the room, featuring pieces of art at every tier. Some Parisians were camped out in here, spending the day drawing different pieces or taking it all in.

Some places you go and want time to stop existing – sitting on a beach, walking around my favorite theme parks, enjoying the greatest art the world has ever created. That’s part of why we travel, to pull us out of the routine and give us something out of a dream that we then can go back and, well, dream about. This whole day that I’m writing about fits into that dreamlike state, where all of my mental images have been developed with a glossy gleam.

We left The Studio and went up to explore the recreation of Napoleon III’s apartments. I really like taking pictures of light fixtures and this may have been my mecca. If anyone knows of better chandeliers to take photos of than the one above, please fill me in. The photo above almost doesn’t look real, with how much detail and lavish decor there was around. That’s how every room in the exhibit was.

Another of our favorite exhibits was the museum showcasing designer dresses in the midst of classic art. If there’s a high end fashion designer you know the name of then, chances are, they had a dress in there. Some were outlandish, others were elegant. The Louvre does an excellent job of being an ode to Paris while being worldly and that was especially true of this exhibit called Louvre Couture.

The rest of the afternoon turned from leisurely strolls, stopping for coffee into rushing through to make sure we caught all of the highlights. At some point, we reached a mental capacity for exploring beautiful rooms filled with historic art. Along the way, we saw the Mona Lisa among hundreds of others trying to get a look.

The famous painting was down an offshoot of this giant hallway filled with so much art. I’m running out of superlatives but this area was stunning, if not a little overwhelming.

Another favorite piece we encountered was the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The statue was brilliantly displayed and in stark contrast to the grand hall you see above, with a room almost devoted solely to work.

You’ve probably caught on by now that I loved The Louvre. It was easily one of my favorite experiences in Paris, if not the world, and I’d go back in a heartbeat. Here’s a few more photos from the afternoon.

We exited the building a little before closing and walked around the iconic glass pyramid. This is accessible to anyone, regardless of if you have a ticket or not. Right around closing proved to be a good time to enjoy the area as the crowds had dissipated from the area.

We were lucky and caught the sun setting, illuminating the buildings in a yellow glow. Walking around there for half an hour was a perfect cap to our experience at The Louvre.

There was a bookstore Melissa wanted to check out about a 15 minute walk away so we set off through one of the main streets in Paris, enjoying the sunset as we walked.

Eventually, Tuileries Garden ended up across the street from us so we crossed over and walked through the park for a while. That was a beautiful, unexpected surprise. Seeing all of the locals hanging out, enjoying each other’s company in the 40 degree weather was also a treat.

The garden ended in a nice view of the Eiffel Tower at the tail end of sunset. Blue hour beginning gave the view an icy tone, which also summed up how my hands were feeling. I forgot gloves, although I don’t love taking photos with gloves on anyway. If anyone has any tips on this, let me know! Fingerless gloves are fine but not my favorite thing to wear.

We cut back into town, explored a few cool bookstores (including a British shop) and then found a bistro for dinner. For being in the middle of Paris, I was pleasantly surprised at how affordable this restaurant was. I had trout and really enjoyed both the food and colorful presentation.

We had a touch of energy left in us after a delicious meal, so we capped the night off with a visit to the Arc de Triomphe. If there’s one monument in Paris that I liked but didn’t love, it was probably this. Don’t get me wrong, the memorial is very impressive and well done but it didn’t strike me quite as much as other things did. Maybe it’s because I didn’t speed through the round about on a motorcycle like Tom Cruise. That probably would have helped. I was able to take a few photos and am glad we stopped to see it. The whole day was exceptional.

The next morning, we woke up, had breakfast and then checked out of our hotel. They were kind enough to store our bags there and we set off for a steak frites lunch at Le Severo. I forgot to photograph this for some reason. Le Severo was run by a few gruff Frenchmen who looked exactly like they should run a no-nonsense steakhouse. The meat was delicious and we enjoyed the experience.

After lunch, we made our way over to the Seine to walk along the river. We were moving to the Disneyland Paris area that night but had a few hours to spare. What better way to spend it than walking by the water in the city!

Detailing an hour long walk probably isn’t the most exciting thing to read but it is a quintessential Paris experience. There’s so much to see just by walking along the river, plus it’s a relaxing way to spend a morning or afternoon. Seeing all of the runners go by while getting a feel for how the city is designed was delightful.

An hour or two went by in a flash and eventually it was time to go back to the hotel to grab our bags and move along with the day. But that walk showed off the peaceful side of the city, among all of the history and fantastic buildings was a very accessible, down-to-earth way to see them all. Not many cities have that and I was wowed by the planning of Paris once again.

On our way up from the Seine, we passed by Plaza de la Concorde which played a key role in the French Revolution. The architecture in the area is unique and stunning. Although the fountain was dry, I really liked the look of it.

We caught a train near there, went back to our hotel and grabbed the bags before starting our Disneyland Paris portion of the trip! That’s where we’ll pick up with our next trip report.

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