I’ve come to realize, through travelling the last few years, that I am not a museums or a park person. This is unfortunate since many top-tier tourist attractions within cities are museums or parks. Paris is one of those cities, and if you don’t visit the Louvre (the largest museum in the world btw), your friends will think you’re an ogre who grew up in a cave. How can you not see La Gioconda in real life? Maybe because I’d rather see it without having to fight through a crowd, stand behind a wooden barrier, and view a small portrait from far away while it is obstructed by glare from its protective “see-through” barrier.
But the truth is we did visit the Louvre. If not to see the famous pieces of art, but to walk around a former palace. We went in the afternoon and not during tourist season, so fortunately for us, it wasn’t as busy and there were empty seats on their couches to rest. It’s not like I’m anti-history; I enjoy reading about history and how things came to be, I just don’t get enough out of seeing artifacts to warrant spending my limited amount of time there. A good example is the Venus de Milo. It’s one of the top pieces of art at the Louvre, but why? I don’t know. It would be more interesting to me to understand the story behind the statue than to see it (Wikipedia says its fame is due to a French propaganda campaign).
The most interesting gallery was the history of the Louvre itself. A palace has existed at the site for almost a thousand years, and has been expanded gradually through various monarchies. Some sections of the Louvre are still amazing, especially the Napolean Apartments and the Apollo Room; but walking through the grand structure that is now separated with partitions, it’s difficult to imagine the palace bustling with life and being habited by le Roi.
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