Day 4 is Saturday and we expect there to be more tourists at the sights we were seeing. Booking venues is tricky due to museum closures, closures of exhibits within the museums on certain days, weather for outdoor events and just plain booking availability. We booked at 12pm timeslot at the Louvre about 2 weeks before leaving on a day that was supposed to be rainy - but it was sunny outside. Saturdays are when most exhibits are open - so while that means you can see everything - so can everybody else and that probably drew more people.
We knew it was going to be busy, but some parts of this museum are insanely busy. April is not even the peak season, but the line to get in was massive - we had a scheduled slot of 12pm and we went to the line at 11:30pm and we were somewhere in the middle of the queue. They get you in in a pretty orderly fashion through the pyramid but then they just drop you to figure out what to do from there. A self-serve cloak room meant no waiting which was nice. We got our audio guides and started where we thought it said to start. The audio guide is on a modified Nintendo 3DS but it was a super non-intuitive and generally bad user interface. We spent a good first half hour trying to figure out how it could take us on a guided tour but eventually just gave up and used it occasionally for some info on some pieces but got rid of it about half way through and just enjoyed the art and attempted to translate French descriptions when interested.
There is some stunning art - the coronation of Napoleon and a decent Egyptian art collection but the crowds are overwhelming at times and take away from the art. So many people that seem to be there to take a picture of themselves in front of the art rather than actually enjoy seeing it also take away from the experience. Few places to sit or even sometimes stand in the Denon wing - due to the number of people here just to see the masterpieces - the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. I suppose it's worth seeing - but we didn't venture into the throng of people in front of the Mona Lisa - we saw it from the exit point instead.
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| Coronation of Napoleon |
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| Winged Victory of Samothrace |
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| Venus de Milo (in the back behind all the people) |
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| Renaissance porn (actually "The Death of Dido") |
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| Fête de nuit - Gaston La Touche |
The rooms and the building itself are equally stunning. Some of the art is just massive too.
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| And we thought a stippled ceiling was fancy in the 1980s |
Our favourite part of the museum was the European decor and Napoleon's apartments in the Richelieu wing. A lot less crowded and they had modern fashion designers pairing some fashion creations with the decor of the rooms on display. That was very well done.
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| Balenciaga - looks comfy |
It's a nice museum but you have to go through a ticket check for each wing and the check at the Denon wing where the masterpieces are was just bonkers. Carrie almost got trampled by 2 Asian ladies who seemed to be dead set on keeping up with their tour group. When it comes to internationally renowned art museums, I prefer the Met in NYC (how's that for a super snobby thing to say!). It would probably have been much better if the crowds were about a one-tenth what they were. We did manage to have a fairly bland sandwich and pop and even get a seat to eat it at without waiting too long for it. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful museum, but if this crowd is only the "average" crowd size, I'd hate to see what it's like at a busy time of the year.
Carrie was in charge of the itinerary for the rest of the day so she found us a Vietnamese restaurant and we had a pretty good (and fast) dinner back in the 7th arrondissement. We were happy to get out of the crowds. It was still a bit early and we weren't too tired (despite another over 20,000 steps again - I guess we were getting used to it), so we tried our luck at finding a Seine river cruise. We found Bateaux Parisienes pretty close to our hotel so we went down and bought a ticket. Pretty long line but the boats fit a ton of people and run every 20 minutes or so. We didn't wait too long and got on when the boat was probably about 70% full. The top of the boat was looking pretty full so we opted to go downstairs where there was a single bench on the deck outside of the enclosed cabin. At first we thought: "Oh no, we will only see half because we don't have a 360 degree view" - but then quickly realized the boat turns around and you do see both sides, and luckily we got the side that faced the tower on the way back when it was getting dark so we could see the lit tower from the water where I got some of the best photos of it.
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| One of my favourite tower photos on the walk up to the river cruise |
The cruise was beautiful and the shores of the Seine are lined with people picnicking and just out having a drink or enjoying the sunset. Many wave and we wave back - there is even a dedicated spot for over-the-top marriage proposals. How romantic!
I judge the beauty of each of the bridges as we pass under them - some of them like the Pont Neuf, Alexendria III and a couple others are stunning while others were clearly built when cost trumped aesthetics. A beautiful sunset and I played with camera settings to make it look even darker for some better snaps.
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| Paris in springtime means blossoming fragrant trees in many places |
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| I mean, can you get a better photo of the tower - this is postcard material |
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| Pont Alexandre III with some shutter speed changes |
A group of Italian tourists was beside us - there was about 9 of them in a space that fit maybe 3 and they had champagne and were partying it up. Mostly didn't bother us and made it seem like a party but they talked very loud and everyone at the same time. I have no idea how anyone could make anything out. A couple on the other side of us were from Thunder Bay and we chatted with them for a bit - they seemed a tad annoyed at the over-the-top Italians.
The streets our busy on Saturday night with lots of street vendors peddling cheesy Eiffel tower flashing souvenirs that you can probably by a box of 100 for €10. They are typically directly outside the major tourist venues pushing their wares claiming "€1" for everything which I'm sure it's not. I did buy one water off a guy outside the Louvre for €1 but that was reasonable.
With sore feet and after popping many Advil and Tylenol, we retire for the evening.