Louvre

We spent all day Sunday at the Louvre.  I think it's the largest museum in the world so it takes more than a day to visit everything.  The French were early explorers and understood the importance of history so they amassed a huge collection of Greek and Egyptian/middle eastern antiquities which are on display.  They also had lots of very early paintings such as the Mona Lisa by DaVinci.

Our goal was to arrive right when the Louvre opened so that we could avoid the crowds at the entrance.  We had also planned to head directly to the Mona Lisa as we knew that was very popular with the tourists.  Crista studied the museum layout and knew the route to follow to that famous painting. 

Unfortunately we had a late start to our plans.  Also it was our first journey on the Metro so it took extra time to learn the ticket kiosk, plus I didn't pick the optimal transfer so that wasted precious extra minutes as well.  We arrived 20 minutes late to a huge crowd in the courtyard by the glass pyramid waiting to get in. As we walked up, we were relieved to find out that the huge line was for visitors without tickets and there was no wait for those with tickets or the museum pass so we walked in. That museum pass just paid for itself!

Once inside under the glass pyramid we could spot large tour groups getting organized. There were lots of tour groups from China which we also saw at Notre Dame. These groups always have a private guide (not from the museum) with a microphone and the group world each have an earpiece to listen. These groups would have around 25 people and the travelled very tightly around the guide. 

Despite being late we decided to follow the plan an head straight to the Mona Lisa. Crista walked very quickly until she got distracted by another famous statue which is of the lady with wings in a boat but missing her head.  She was about to stop for a photo opp till I reminded her why we were in a rush so she continued on.  We arrived to the Mona Lisa room and was greeted by a very small crowd. Our plan had worked!  It was easy to get up front to admire the painting without being rushed. 

Afterwards we went back to the statue and then we started our long day at the rest of the museum.  Eventually we made it back to the Mona Lisa room and it was packed with tour groups and visitors.