Arc de Triomphe and Musee Louvre

At the Louvre!

For Monday (March 16) and Tuesday (March 17), I purchased the Paris Museum Pass. This is a 2-day pass (or you can choose longer days for a higher price) where you can see as many sites covered by the pass as you want. To make it worthwhile, you need to see four sites total. This can be tricky, as every site has different hours, and some are closed on certain days. I planned it out, and with the exception of Musee l’Orangerie not having any time slots available to see it on the day we could go, we had a good plan—knowing it would be a lot to do in two days. As a note—children under 18 get in free to most of the museums on the Paris Museum Pass list, so we only got tickets for Zach and I. 

We got ready and out the door and walked to our first site on the pass, the Arc de Triomphe. There's no reservation needed, although you do have to pay for a ticket if you don't have the pass. We took the stairs to the top, stopping on the floor below the roof to learn about the monument’s various carvings and its history. At the top was a beautiful 360-degree view of Paris. We thoroughly enjoyed walking around the whole thing and looking out at all the sights we had come to recognize. We went down to the bottom and looked closely at all the art on the walls. And then, we took the Metro over to the Louvre. 

On top of the Arc de Triomphe

We climbed lots of stairs - 15 flights!

Spiral staircase!

We had purchased physical Navigo cards the day before because we figured maybe we just couldn’t have two cards on one phone. So that worked. Except that Felicity’s card fell out of my purse pocket, and the line to purchase another was very long, so I went to the computer booth and could only order a single use full price ticket. So I did. We were on a time crunch to eat lunch before our 1 pm reservation at the busiest museum in the world, so we quickly went through the turnstiles. At the second set of turnstiles, our app and ticket did work, but Zach’s and Wilder’s did not. So Felicity and I stood on the other side, waiting, while Zach bought more tickets on the app and reloaded the card, only for it to not work. There was no one to help us. Eventually someone who worked there let us through. The whole experience ate into our time, and stressed us out, plus we were worried about incurring fees for not paying! 

On the plus side, I will say both the Tube and the Metro were cleaner than I expected. Especially the Metro! I feel like it’s cleaner than it used to be. But this system with the cards and apps was a real challenge. 

Zach and I have a photo of us in our wedding clothes under this arch!

We made it to the Louvre with enough time to get through just before our 1 PM time slot. Instead of grabbing lunch at a mono prix or a cafe to eat beforehand, we hustled into the museum and had to try to find food inside. It’s confusing to learn where you can go—once you leave certain areas, you cannot get back in—and I wasn’t sure if we could eat and then go in later than our time slot. But we could. The ground floor cafe I was familiar with was closed, so we went to the one near the Richelieu wing. I had a burger, Zach had a ceasar salad, and we shared. The kids ate their packed lunches. We just needed to get in and out quickly, and it was very crowded and also pricey. Ahh, oh well.  The food was good!

The Louvre exterior is iconic, and beautiful, and it always reminds me of the photos we took in our wedding clothes. We have a huge photo of us in wedding clothes from the Louvre in our living room, and we also went there and took photos when it snowed. 

But the museum itself is huge and complicated to navigate. I am a completionist, and knowing that I’ll never ever be able to see it all is overwhelming. Plus we made the mistake of seeing it on one of its busiest days —Monday. Some other museums are closed on Mondays, which helps contribute to it being crowded.

We went to see a special exhibit first - Louvre Couture. This is the first time the Louvre has ever had a fashion exhibit, if you can believe it. Several famed fashion houses collaborated with the museum and brought in 99 dresses, shoes, purses that meshed so well with surrounding artwork and historic rooms. It was housed in the Richelieu wing, an area I have never seen and probably wouldn’t have visited if the temporary exhibit wasn’t there. The exhibit felt a bit like a scavenger hunt—walking through to see what dress was nestled into the fancy furniture and artwork. This exhibit is only there till July 25th!

One of her favorites!

Felicity was extremely interested in this exhibit and dragged us to every single piece—backtracking if we missed one. We decided to snap photos of the outfits, and she has since drawn several of the pieces to put in her journal. 

This was place in a room full of armor--it took us a minute to realize it was fashion!

I love how this furniture was made hundreds of years before this dress! And the dress was not made for the exhibit--it's years old.

This was felicity's favorite piece!

Next, we aimed for the Mona Lisa, listening to Rick Steves’ audio tour along the way. We saw the Winged Figure of Samothrace—my favorite piece in the museum—and the Grand Gallery, on our way to see the famous portrait. The kids did enjoy seeing her! 

Winged Figure of Samothrace

Grand Gallery

Seeing the Mona Lisa!

Unfortunately we finally made it to Venus de Milo right at 5:30 pm, and the museum shut down the area to prepare to close, so we did not get to see the piece Wilder wanted to see. We saw large replicas in the gift shop though, on our way out. But it was still a little disappointing. 

Overall, the Louvre is a lot to take in. This was my third time to visit the museum. I’m really glad we got to see the couture exhibit, especially because it’s only there until July. But the Louvre is just so big. 

The pyramid

Worn out, we took an Uber home. I did not want to try to figure out dinner from Monoprix again (Although I will say that on our last day, I realized this Monoprix actually has a sandwich shop just steps from the main entrance—would have been so convenient!!). But we got takeaway Thai food instead from a place a few minutes’ walk away. It was good!

The next morning we had a portrait session, and two more sites to see: Musee d'Orsay and Musee l'Armee!