We had good intentions to get up at 6am and head over to Sacre Couer before the Louvre opened at 9am. However, our original plans didn't include hanging out at a pub until 2:30am. As you can imagine, we set the alarm for later... 7am. At 7, we decided that wasn't enough, so we went back to sleep with an 8am alarm. At 8, we push it back to 8:30. At 8:30, we felt like we couldn't push it back anymore since we had a full day, so went ahead and got up to get ready.
Part of the reason that we had chosen our hotel was that it was in walking distance of the Louvre. So we checked out of the hotel and made our way over. We ending up stopping at a little cafe for breakfast which ended up being a German cafe. They still served French food so we ended up with a chocolate banana crepe and a fromage baguette.
Part of the reason that we had planned to go to the Louvre on Sunday was that it was free on the first Sunday of every month. That was also the reason that we had planned to get there early since we expected it to be packed. We were a little apprehensive as we walked up to the entrance, but we shouldn't have worried. There was a small line, but it was moving quickly since people didn't have to buy tickets, they just had to get through security. Once inside, we got started and there sure was a lot to see.
The Louvre is a huge museum that houses tons of art. And it is huge, you could easily spend several days here looking at everything. We knew that there was a limit to the amount of art we could take in a day, so we did a little research before we started out and staked out the highlights that we wanted to see. We of course did a lot of the more famous pieces such as the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa (which was much smaller than I expected.) We really enjoyed a lot of the marble statues, particularly the Italian and French ones. The Sphinx was a really impressive site to see and we also liked seeing the Medieval Moat that is on the Lower Ground Floor which is all that remains of the original palace that was located there.
Venus de Milo
Mona Lisa
The Sphinx
Cupid and Psyche
We did take a break in the middle of our tour to have tea at a little cafe on the first floor that overlooked the entrance of the Louvre. It was nice to relax and watch the people go by and to enjoy the architecture of the actual building since it is really impressive by itself. We were glad that we got there when we did because they appeared to quit letting people in for awhile.
View of the crowds from the cafe
After we had hit a lot of the highlights and things that really interested us, we figured we would grab a quick bite and head over to the Musee Rodin. We went to the shopping center next door and grabbed a quick pizza before heading out.
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