thanks for all the r/r/c...will certainly return the favour but have the longest week ahead of me! h...
thanks for all the r/r/c...will certainly return the favour but have the longest week ahead of me! hope everyone has a succesful week also x
Member since:25.06.2009
Reviews:75
Members who trust:5
I went to paris recently with some friends for a little break. I was going to write a review on paris but as I begun it I realised it Impossible to sum up the city in a short review.. or even a long one. So instead I will write reviews of places I went and things I did while in paris....
The louvre sits proudly in central paris and has a history spanning 800 years. Built originally in 1190 as a fort to protect the wealthiest city in europe (known as christendom at the time) from invaders. It later went onto become a home to king;s and princes and in opened it doors as a museum in 1882 dedicated to art, archeology and culture from all over the world. We were stunned at the sheer size of this museum and it is only comparable in size to the Queen's Palaces I saw on a previous trip to Beijing. The glass pyramids which stands in the middle of one of the courtyards looks a little strange as it is surrounded by such old and ornate buildings yet this is the entrance to the louvre.
Once inside the vast interior is marble white and there is a comprehensive guide telling visitors what is available to view on each floor and three entrances the richlieu, sully and denon - like i said its absolutely massive and I wouldn't suggest seeing it all on one day, unfortunately we had only saved an afternoon for the visit so decide do a short cut and see the few thing we could that is - the statue venus de milo, the famous painting mona lisa (although it was protected by a glass case and rope all around and looked wholly unimpressive from my vantage point as well the anciet greek, roman and eqyptian artfacts..
There is a staircase as well as thankfully an elevator to all the floors and the larger hallways had seating available through out for when you need a little break, and trust me you will need a few as walking around there was almost as much excercise i do on an average workout at the gym! I definetly reccomend you pick up a map from the lobby to navigate your way around.
Although looking at the roman and greek and egyptian relics was fascinating it does tend to be rather the same over and over again and I can't count the number of rooms we went to with old roman head statues in it! There is aslo a whole section dedicated to oriental and asian arts and artefacts however we didn't manage to get around to seeing it.. of all the painting we saw the one's I remember best are the ones by botacelli to be so up and close to a real life botacelli was quite overwhelming. There were of course many other artists on display but having no knowledge about them I really couldn't comment about the painters etc but I do think they were impressivly arranged and were somewhat thematic ie. paintings of death and decay seemed to fill one hallway and another room with paintings of goddess's and such in another.
Entrance is 9 euros I believe although if you are a student or under 25 you can enter for free (lucky me)! there are also those tape tours - I am not sure what they are actually called but you basically buy a tape guide in your own language which tells you abou the individual painting or artists if you key in a letter and digit indicated by the painting.
All in all.. if you are going to Paris you must visit the louvre.. if only to see the mona lisa! wear trainers or comfy shoes as you will be walking around alot and some warm clothes if you go in the winter as it was pretty chilly when we went in late september! I would definetly keep a whole day if not two for the louvre as I regret leaving such little time to see it and will be having a better look when I am in paris next january!
Although my French is far from fluent I'm sure that the correct name is Musée du Louvre. Great review!
Sgathach 28.10.2009 20:41
Sadly one of the place I ran out of time to visit when I was in Paris, I will go back and try and see the countless roman heads!
anonymili 24.10.2009 16:43
I couldn't help but chuckle at this bit "can't count the number of rooms we went to with old roman head statues in it" - your art appreciation is about the same as mine it seems LOL! Thanks for the journey. x
Oct 17th, 2009
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