Dublin Marathon 2013: The Louvre in Paris

Dublin Marathon 2013: The Louvre in Paris

Now I’m not an art person. I have always heard great things about the Louvre so I thought this time around I should stop in. It was definitely a spur of the moment thing and I only had about 90 minutes. I thought that was quite enough to see (not experience) the art there. I was wrong on that as this place was massive.

I got there around 10am on a Saturday so there wasn’t much of a line as it was late October and overcast. I got in pretty quick and found a ticket booth and got my ticket.

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I walked into Denon hall and made a bee-line to the Mona Lisa as it should be the most famous painting in the Louvre and the world for that matter. It took me about 15 minutes to get there, not counting stopping and looking at various exhibits. I’m not an art person but it was definitely very interesting to look at sculptures and other paintings.

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Now the sheer size of the below hall just took my breathe away. And walls on each side was filled with paintings. I can’t even fathom the value of the art enclosed in just this one hallway. The second picture shows one of the side rooms that houses a collection of paintings. The one large painting in the middle of the room was just massive. There were quite a few like that, which was pretty shocking as someone painted it.

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I eventually got to the Mona Lisa after about 20 minutes. As you can see, there is a bit of extra protection for this painting. The second picture shows the hoards of people taking pictures of it. I stood to the side for about 10 minutes looking at the painting. It was quite remarkable to see in person. After the movies I’ve watched, I couldn’t help to wonder if that was the real one or not like a decoy.

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As I kept going down the hall, I saw these extremely colorful paintings that caught my eye. There were quite a few of these as well. Some were a bit darker so the colors didn’t seem as bright but still very impressive.

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The next two pictures were of large halls that I was walking through. The first houses larger than life paintings. There were about four other very large paintings hanging up. I kept wondering how people could even paint such a realistic large painting. Just truly impressive.

The next picture is of another hall with more framed paintings. The hall itself was very impressively large and carefully decorated. Just spectacular.

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The next series of halls houses many statues. I didn’t have any time to see any of them, but the room they were in was spectacular. The natural lighting with the marble walls and floor really showcases the sculptures very well, even on a gloomy day.

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By the time I left, it was about 11:30 and a large line had formed. It wasn’t there when I went in.

I remember the last time I was in Paris, there was another way into the Louvre through the shopping area. I can’t remember how, but that could drastically cut down time spent on this line and get into the Louvre. As far as I can tell, you don’t need to stand in line to get a ticket and get into the Louvre.

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I am not an art person, but I would definitely go back to the Louvre to check out the rest of the collection along with seeing the Mona Lisa again. I will also recommend my wife to go see it when she is in Europe in May.

The Louvre is truly impressive and a must see for everyone. There is so much classic art there that there should be something that will appeal to anyone. Every piece in there was carefully curated and each one was truly exceptional.

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