Wednesday, July 16: Paris

The internet network here is still not working - very frustrating! We left mid-morning for downtown to a shopping mall under the Louvre where ticket lines are much shorter than the main Pyramid entrance. They were shorter, but I still waited in line for over an hour. The good news was I was able to get tickets for the D'Orsay Museum and Versailles, so we will not have to endure lines at those attractions and Jack found internet in the Mall and got all his internet work done.

They REALLY do not want birds or people to land on this statue

Tickets in hand, we headed first to a cafe for a late lunch.. The Louvre is absolutely packed with busloads of tourists and it is a total maze trying to find out way around. The maps provided are not terribly helpful and we were up and down countless staircases trying to find our few items of interest. They warn you to have goals set up in advance unless you want to spend 8 hours or more viewing lesser known objects and possibly missing out on the world-renowned paintings and sculptures. So, we followed Rick Steve's tour that we downloaded onto our phones and hit the highlights. Our favorites, along with everyone else in the Museum, was the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo.

Winged Victory

One of the rooms in the Louvre which served as the French King's Palace before it became the Museum

The crowds trying to see the Mona Lisa - also to give you an idea of size.  Most folks comment on how much smaller it is than they expected....

Venus de Milo

It was a very warm day – 85 degrees and the museum was extremely warm in the popular areas. It was great to return to the campground where our electric amps were high enough to run the AC and cool the RV off when we returned. The voltage transformer is working like a champ.

A frustrating and exhausting day – I can see the day when the Louvre will have to resort to timed reserved entrance tickets to manage the throngs of visitors (the most visited and largest museum in the world) at least during peak times. Even the bathrooms had long lines and trashbins were overflowing – altogether not a great experience. But the rule is: when in Paris, you MUST visit the Louvre.