The Louvre is one of the world’s biggest and most visited museums with a massive 35,000 piece collection. It will take you 100 days without any breaks to look at each piece for 30 seconds.

We transferred accommodations and now stay at the Chatelet area, 1st arrondisement, which is much closer to the Louvre but thanks to our bad sense of direction, we still got lost on the way to the museum, wasting an hour or two trying to figure out how to get there.

We finally reached the museum, stayed for a bit outside to take pictures and people-watch.

La Pyramide, and La Pyramide Inversée, made popular by Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. The Carrousel du Louvre is by this area, below the Louvre. Plenty of gift shops, an Apple store, McDonald’s, and a really fancy paid WC which I really liked.

I am really not credible enough to provide definitive directions, which piece can be found in which floor or wing, Denon, Richelieu, or Sully… the place was disorienting to say the least, we just walked around semi-aimlessly prioritizing a few pieces we want to see.

The Grecian pieces. Venus de Milo (Aphrodite, 100 BC) is one of the most popular sculptures. Found in 1820 in the the Greek island Melos (now Milo) – it is one of the few rare Greek originals, as most Grecian statues are actually Roman copies.

Another one of the most popular Greek originals – The Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike of Samothrace, 190 BC). The windblown details of the gown, and the stance, I find so striking. We spent a long time gazing at this piece. Said to be created to commemorate a naval victory in Rhodes. One of the detached hands are also on display at the Louvre.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna of the Rocks, and his Mona Lisa.

These are the people photographing the Mona Lisa (La Joconde)

A couple viewing the massive painting opposite the Mona Lisa – Paolo Veronese’s The Wedding at Cana. The scene where Jesus turned water into wine.

I really wanted to see this Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (La Liberté guidant le peuple), from the Coldplay record cover (ha-ha). It also inspired the Statue of Liberty.

Other pieces I wanted to see but we couldn’t find them: Cupid & Psyche, The Code of Hammurabi, Egyptian antiquities.

After seeing another dizzying number of art pieces, rested at one of the benches at the Jardins des Tuilieries, just outside the Louvre. Watched a pair of lovers sprawled like so.

Musée du Louvre
Open everyday except Tuesdays, 9AM – 6PM
Wednesdays & Fridays 9AM – 9:45PM
75058 Paris – France
Métro: Palais-Royal Musée du Louvre
+33 (0)140205317