Saturday, October 14th, 2023
This morning we had a timed entrance ticket to the Louvre Museum. We were lucky because our time was for when the museum opened.
We walked to the Carrousel du Louvre entrance.
This was considered to underground entrance and we had no line to enter. There were stores as you walked to get to the Louvre entrance near the inverted pyramid. And of course it was another chance to do O-H-I-O for our Buckeyes who were playing later today.
As soon as the Louvre opened we entered!
The Louvre first opened in 1793 with 537 paintings. Today the museum had almost 35,000 objects exhibited over 652,300 square feet. We’ve included a few of our favorites from our visit.
The first place we went to visit was Mona Lisa! Three of the six of us had never been to the Louvre so they were so excited to see the infamous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. He painted the oil painting on wood sometime between 1503 and 1519. We saw her in 2019 and our nephew saw her when he last visited Paris.
As we climbed the Daru staircase we had the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Nike all to ourselves. It had been on display at the Louvre since 1866. This ancient sculpture, 190 BCE, was found on the Greek island of Samothrace.
The Venus de Milo was another very famous sculpture found on the Greek island of Milos (was Melos) in 1820. She was donated to the Louvre in 1821. Nobody was around when we visited her. We were very fortunate to be ahead of the crowds for her as well as Mona Lisa and the Goddess of Victory!
We walked through galleries and you can see with the picture on the left that it was advantageous to arrive when the museum opened. The picture on the right showed the crowds getting heavier.
Athena Parthenos, known was Minerva with a Necklace was a Roman copy from the 1st-2nd century AD. It was believed that the original was dedicated inside the Parthenon in Athens in 438 BC.
We visited the Egyptian antiquities and saw the Grand Sphinx of Tanis from 2500 BC. It was carved from a single block of granite.
Looking out from the second story window you could see the courtyard of the Louvre and also just how large this museum was!
When we left the Louvre the cloudless sky had now changed to rain clouds.
Since it looked like rain we got tickets for the Hop-On Hop-Off bus to tour the areas of Paris that we might not have visited.
We passed the Eglise Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois which was located opposite the Louvre museum. The church has been on this site since the 5th century and rebuilt several times. Unfortunately it was most remembered for the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre on August 24, 1572. The church’s bell signaled the beginning of the killing of tens of thousands of Huguenots (French Protestants).
When we passed the Notre Dame Cathedral we could really see the construction of the rebuilding of the church from the devastating fire in 2019. There was still a lot of scaffolding.
The Arc de Triomphe was built between 1806-1836 and was located in the center of the Place Charles de Gaulle and at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. This triumphal arch was built in honor of those who fought for France. Located underneath the arch was the tomb of the unknown soldier.
Located at the other end of the Champs-Élysées was the Place de la Concorde. It was created in 1772 and originally known as an execution site during the French Revolution. The most notable guillotined here was Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. It was redesigned and in 1836 the famous Luxor Obelisk(3,300 years old) was erected. Fountains were also added. When we saw it, the Rugby World Cup Village was set up. Throughout Paris, the police presence was heavy. We later learned that France was on their highest terrorist threat!
We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a Mexican restaurant called El Vecino Taqueria Saint-Honoré. A disc jockey was playing music while we ate our meals.
Paris was doing a lot of construction and advertising for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
The Louvre received a threat and it was evacuated and closed for the rest of the day!
The clouds were eerie as we walked back to our hotel.
It was a busy day in Paris even with some rain mixed in during the day.
We landed in Paris around 7:16 AM Paris time. By the time we went through customs, retrieved out luggage it was 8:15. Our driver was waiting to take us from the airport to our hotel for the next 3 days, the Melia. It is a nice boutique hotel and the location is perfect for us. When we finally arrived at the hotel is was after 10:00. 
We stored our luggage with the hotel and off we went exploring. The Paris Opera House isn’t far from our hotel, so we walked there to catch our hop on/hop off bus. These tour buses give a good overview of the highlights of the city.
When we returned to the stop where we started, we got off and grabbed some lunch/dinner and then walked back to our hotel to “officially” check in. It was nice to finally get a shower after 26 hours! We rested for about 40 minutes then walked to the Eiffel Tower. On our way to the Eiffel Tower we passed the Place de la Concorde. The city was still cleaning up after their big military parade on Bastille Day, July 14th, 2 days ago. We wanted to be at the Eiffel Tower by the time the lights came on! We enjoyed our time waiting for the lights! It was beautiful! We have to say it was also great people watching!
