Louvre is for Lovers
Paris is an amazing city for romantic getaways, there is no question about it. If you want to book a getaway and surprise your Valentine, check out the
Paris hotel deals I just posted. I visited Paris with my daughter and my mother-in-law, and one surprisingly romantic place where I missed my husband the most: the
Louvre.
Saying that Louvre is huge is an understatement, it’s gigantic and you could spend days seeing everything in there. My mother-in-law loves art and she was on a mission to see specific pieces of art resulting our experience of Louvre being more of a sporting event running from exhibition to the next one me desperately trying to find everything from the map while still getting lost. Louvre is amazing, but the next time I want to go there with less agenda, and just stroll through the exhibitions, holding my husband’s hand and taking it slowly.
I admit, I am not an art expert, nor pretend to be, but you don’t have to be an art expert to enjoy Louvre. In fact, if you came here trying to read my art sighting tips, I don’t have many for you. I took photos of some of the great sculptures and paintings only to forget to write down the names of them. We did of course see Mona Lisa, but it is covered with glass and my pictures didn’t turn out that great.
This one is the Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters.
And this is probably the most romantic of them all: the sculpture Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss
What I do have for you: Louvre is amazing, and even if you are not an art expert, you will love Louvre. It is a perfect museum to spend a day with your significant other. The history is painted in the paintings, and so many dramatic stories told in the pictures and in the sculptures, making Louvre an amazing place to spend a romantic day. Not to mention that the place is full of semi-naked, naked and erotic paintings and sculptures making it a much better place to visit with your hot husband than with a pre-teen to whom I had to explain a lot of things I was not ready to discuss with her yet.
In all honesty what a better place to have some of our “talks” with my almost 13-year-old daughter than Louvre, we both will probably remember this visit for ever. And I am not saying that Louvre isn’t for children! Oh it is, and you can get excellent tours specifically geared towards children at Louvre and it is a great place for children as well – just be prepared for a few questions if you visit Louvre with your tween.
Tips for skipping the lines at Louvre
We were lucky to visit Paris when it was cold and snowy and the lines to Louvre were short. However it is one of the top tourist attractions of Paris, so be prepared to either wait on the line, or skip them with these tips. Get the
Paris Pass or the Paris Museum Pass and walk straight in. Another tip is to skip lining in the front of the glass pyramid, but enter Louvre through the Carousel mall across the street and go right to the ticket counter. Also remember when planning your visit to Louvre that it is closed on Tuesdays.
Having a plan and a map is a key to successful day at the Louvre, but I did find it difficult at times to even figure out where we were. The best about the map you receive at the info desk is that it has already all of the most famous pieces marked with pictures what they look like. It gives you a little better idea where everything is located. We spent roughly five hours at Louvre but it was more running from a hall to the next one than soaking it all in. I highly recommend making your Louvre experience less of a “once-in-a-lifetime” visit of trying to see everything during your first visit, and rather making it a romantic day with someone you love to enjoy the gorgeous rooms, (just the building itself is a piece of art!) taking a slower pace and looking at the art for the sake of love as much as for the sake of loving art.
Louvre opening hours:
Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Friday: from 9 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.
Closed on Tuesdays
