Before we took off for France, we watched quite a bit of Rick Steves and Samantha Brown.
We also watched Eurotrip.
Those hosts are absolutely real, but Eurotrip is a hysterical stereotype of travel in Europe. I honestly believed we would be sitting on a train in Europe and with each passing tunnel, a dude would be scooting closer to the mister, muttering “mi scuuuuzi.”
I also believed there would be insanely long lines for each major tourist attraction in France.
If there’s one thing we do well, we travel efficiently. Ladies and gentlemen, I may not be the best writer and the mister may not be the best at softening the blow to my fragile ego about my writing, but I’ll be damned if we aren’t concise and expedient. We had no desire to wait in lines. We have a lot to see in our France itinerary and waiting wasn’t a part of that.
We bought the Paris Museum Pass on our very first day in Paris. Having that museum pass saved us a lot of time and money during our visit to Paris. The very next day, we headed to the Louvre before it opened at 9:00 am. The line was already long…for the suckers who didn’t plan ahead. With the museum pass, we were able to skip the line and walk right in.
Louvre
The Louvre was once a fortress in medieval Paris. Now, it is home to hundreds of priceless art and artifacts that have shaped our understanding of history. Just the sheer size of the museum is daunting, even with a map. But, it’s not just the size that seems overwhelming. Imagine this: many generations ago, a man sat and painted a scenery. He had no idea his little slice of talent–the ability to spread colors on canvas–would be forever immortalized in the annals of history; that in the 21st Century, amid people talking on a phone that also acts as a camera and a computer, they would pause and admire the intricacies of his skill…and then snap a photo and immediately upload it to Facebook.
Now imagine that feeling of admiration 100 times over. That is the Louvre.
Inside the Louvre
Oh nice. The Louvre
That being said, the painting that got the most attention was the Mona Lisa. I’m sure people in the crowd had the same reaction we did, a feeling of wow, that bitch is small… The Mona Lisa painting is much smaller than how it’s portrayed in media. I even heard some people in the crowd saying: “She’s as big as my face” (actually, it was me that said that).
If you’re going to the Louvre, then your goal shouldn’t be the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo as the be-all end-all experience in the museum. There are so many paintings that deserve as much attention as those do. For example, the Wedding at Cana (see below) shared the same exhibition room with Mona Lisa. It’s a floor-to-ceiling painting, but it was virtually ignored.
The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese (1563)
La Liberté Guidant le Peuple by Eugene Delacroix (1830)…boobs
The best part about the Louvre is that you can visit and explore the museum as you see fit. I’m not an art fanatic, but my husband IS an artist and he loved every minute of the museum. It’s quite alright if you don’t know the genre, time period or creator of all the art in the Louvre. It’s about making your experience whatever you want out of it.
I’m MAKING art fun!
I’m MAKING art perverted.
I’m MAKING fun of my schnoz….
Have you been to the Louvre? What’s your favorite part? What’s your favorite thing about art?
Louvre-ing these stories? Join us on our adventures via email! Go nuts!
You can also follow this blog on Bloglovin!
2 responses