Paris - Louvre

Monday 5 January

Up and on the road at 9. Now some may say that we should have stayed in because the snow was fairly heavy and covered most everything we could see, but no, we ventured on.

We get to the Louvre - hoping that now that the European vacation period is over (and also because of the crappy weather) that the crowds would be down. We turn the corner and spot the pyramid and there is no queue...we wonder if the Louvre is open, but no it is Monday, the Louvre closes on Tuesdays...it is open and there is no queue. We venture in and head downstairs to get tickets - only one other person in front of us at the ticket queue. Bliss!! We have tickets, we check our coats and venture in to the Louvre amongst crowds that must be one tenth of the crowds experienced over the last week.

We head straight to the Mona Lisa - a few people around the famous painting, but we are able to enjoy it. We continue on through the Apollo Gallery to see the crown jewels, through the apartment of Napolean III and all the other major attractions and as everyone who ever visits the Louvre seems to, we go into overload with the extraordinary volume of outstanding works of art. We end up drifting from room to room of masterpieces, barely pausing to notice, let alone appreciate, the works by Van Gogh, Delacroix, Raphael, Botticelli, and so on and so on and so on. But enjoy the moment we did. Simon and Rose both overwhelmed and exhausted from the sheer size of the Louvre and its collection.

Despite some general exhaustion and continuing snow, we walk up to Gallerie Lafayette do a little shopping, pick up some produce from the 'Gourmet' section (i.e. food hall) and then head back through the shopping arcade of the Palais Royale back to the apartment to dry off, warm up and settle in for the night.