Paris Part 3: The Louvre

Ben and I set aside an entire day to check out the Louvre. The museum is HUGE and you could probably spend a couple days there.

 Ben and I started in the statue garden. It's this wonderfully magical place indoors, but feels outdoors. Actually, most of the lighting for the museum comes from filtered natural light. However, this was mid-April and it was a cool 60 degrees or so outside. Inside with all of this light, it felt like 90 degrees in this room and just as hot in several areas of the museum that had more light streaming in.

 We continued on and strolled through relics of eras past...

 And then we stumbled upon something new to us... Napoleon III's apartments!

 This door was massive! I would guess it was atleast 14' tall.

 There were tons of chandeliers, each room had a different style. This was just a plain hallway, nothing too fancy here (Psyeah!)

 More chandeliers and wallpapers and pictures and ceiling treatments. There was not a single place for your eye to rest.

 This is the family room. One of many actually. but this was the largest family room.

 And this was the dining room. I think this is the largest table I have ever seen. Ben and I both counted and double checked and this table seats 46! Comfortably too!

 These curvy chairs were spotted in several rooms, but the burgundy velvet and gold theme was found in just about every room.

 I LOVE these staircase corridors that can be found in corners of the Louvre. It has such an M.C. Escher vibe!

 From some of the higher levels, like in the Napoleon apartments, you get some incredible views, like this one of the pyramid outside to the other side of the Louvre.

 This is the statue garden from above.

 And this was a neat view of the city to the Eiffel Tower, a mere 2.5 miles away or so.

 You actually enter the museum under the large pyramid and then enter the many wings from there, this is looking up under one of the smaller glass pyramids.

 We weren't able to see much more of the museum on this trip because they were doing extensive renovations (plus it was soooo hot and we were moving quickly to get to what we wanted to see so we could get out quickly) but we had to stop by and see the Mona Lisa. See it, there in the middle of the giant wall. (look at the arrow)

That's it. It's the most popular exhibit in the museum, hence the glass, double thick railings to keep people at bay and the eight or so security personnel in this room alone. It's so much smaller than most people realize. It is neat to see though. So, once we spotted Mona Lisa, we waltzed through some other areas of the museum and then strolled out in the cooler air of the outdoors to see more sights.

I'll be back with one last post tomorrow to show you the main sites and attractions we saw. I hope you're enjoying this little tour!