It was full of statues and people sitting on chairs. There was also a lot of people propping their legs up on a separate chair, hogging two and there was a lot of litter. Sad. Oh yeah, there are very fat crows and pidgeon also. Idek how they got so fat must be from eating all the scraps. Some pictures of the gardens here!
We then headed to the Louvre and got SUPER DISTRACTED doing touristy stuff like taking pictures of us picking up the Louvre lol. There were these small blocks that you could stand on.
If you were impatient like us and tried to take a picture of the glass pyramid much earlier on while still walking towards the Louvre, you will ABSOLUTELY be blocked by traffic. sianz
Tip: there are a lot of people touting for goods and services. Stay away and make sure you keep your valuables securely fastened and locked and in front of you.
We went on a Tuesday, which was the late opening day for the Louvre and boy it was really empty-ish. Despite recommendations to enter from the Carousel du Louvre (this YouTube video was helpful) which was underground (99 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France), we barged straight in through the pyramid entrance coz there was barely 10 people ahead of us.
So the process of entering the Louvre is
1) entering the Louvre with the need to check bags and pass through a metal detector (any of the 3 entrances would do). There will be TWO LINES TO QUEUE FOR THIS. One line is if you already have tickets, one line is if you haven't bought tickets
2) buying tickets using cash or card at the basement lobby area. There was a queue for this also but since we went really late like 5.30pm, there was only a short queue and we were served in 10 mins
3) entering the different exhibition areas. They are all separated and you need the same ticket to enter each or re-enter one. DO NOT LOSE YOUR TICKET.
When you enter a zone you CANNOT BE SNACKING OR EATING STUFF OR DRINKING STUFF. Plain water in your bottles is fine.
From our experience, we had a headache over whether to buy the tickets online prior to the trip. This was unnecessary imo due to the short queue but many others had very negative experiences wasting time queuing two hours to enter the Louvre. Our research and recommendations from friends told us that entering via the underground entrance is much better which is probably true but not applicable when we came at such a late time.
We discovered later on Disneyland day that we can buy all sorts of museum tickets in advance at the tourist information kiosks/centres so you might want to do that next time too! More on day 3.
We also concluded the museum pass was not for us because we are not going to make the pass worth our while when we only had 2 museums in mind to visit.
We spent a very short amount of time here because we only wanted to see the Mona Lisa, one of the famous paintings by Delacroix and the John the Baptist by Leonardo Da Vinci
From our experience, we had a headache over whether to buy the tickets online prior to the trip. This was unnecessary imo due to the short queue but many others had very negative experiences wasting time queuing two hours to enter the Louvre. Our research and recommendations from friends told us that entering via the underground entrance is much better which is probably true but not applicable when we came at such a late time.
We discovered later on Disneyland day that we can buy all sorts of museum tickets in advance at the tourist information kiosks/centres so you might want to do that next time too! More on day 3.
We also concluded the museum pass was not for us because we are not going to make the pass worth our while when we only had 2 museums in mind to visit.
We spent a very short amount of time here because we only wanted to see the Mona Lisa, one of the famous paintings by Delacroix and the John the Baptist by Leonardo Da Vinci
Everyone is running to see the Mona Lisa so there are actually a lot of banners and signs to show you how to get there.
Also, there is a mad squeeze to the Mona Lisa because everyone is dying to get a selfie or a close look at it. Sooo just be careful of your belongings and know that people will shove. Quite a few rude people. Someone even hit my head with a selfie stick and did not apologise -_-
Also because we are not the kind that would stand in front of art and admire it for the whole day. For 1-2 hours yes no prob. But beyond that... Nope.
Picture SPAM! You can see a lot of better quality pics when you google anyway hmm
Also because we are not the kind that would stand in front of art and admire it for the whole day. For 1-2 hours yes no prob. But beyond that... Nope.
Picture SPAM! You can see a lot of better quality pics when you google anyway hmm
So we left via the Carousel entrance about 1.5 hours later to look for food. If you leave via this exit you can actually take a picture with the inverted Louvre
Guess what. We ate Macs. It was the worst! 20 minute queue and the food was terrible! To be absolutely fair, we were still living in Singapore time so trying to force food at 2am sg time/ Paris dinner time wasn't a very smart choice.
And with that we walked home. Wanted to let the family see the Louvre when it was dark but... the sun wouldn't set until 10pm and this was day 1 for us soooo next time maybe.
Also the Louvre's souvenirs are really... Ugly and boring. Compared to the souvenirs at Musee d'orsay
Day 1 completed!