Louvred

It's school holiday time for me, and I've decided to play Parisian tourist for the week. I have to admit I've been a bit lazy about it, and went to Ikea on Tuesday with Julia, which I doubt any self respecting tourist would do. But we needed wine glasses, and I was looking forward to a visit without the crowds, so that took care of Tuesday.

Ever since Steve and Yoshimi visited this summer and spoke so highly of their visit to one of the world's most famous museums, I've been wanting to go back. I haven't been to the Louvre in years, having been very quickly intimidated by it's size.



This time, again hoping to avoid crowds by going in the middle of the week (probably not possible during considering that it's a major tourist attraction on a school holiday) Julia and I fortified ourselves with lunch first on the rue St. Honore before braving the masses inside the Louvre.



Geared up with audio guides, we followed the masterpieces tour which took us to the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory, and of course the Mona Lisa. We also went through the Grande Gallerie to admire the paintings by da Vinci and Raphael, before spending a good moment admiring the Greek sculptures.



It was quite satisfying, and I felt very cultured, if also exhausted at the end of the visit. I would have also liked to do the French Collection tour, but at three hours, I thought I'd save that for the next visit.