A Quiet Louve, But Not Entirely

Since going to a quiet Louvre was the original impetus for our trip to Paris, we thought we would do a quick post on our experience there. While it was certainly much quieter than normal during the height of tourist season, we have seen it nearly as quiet when visiting Paris during less busy times of year. 

To begin, there were no hordes in front of the Louvre, which was likely due to the fact that you had to buy tickets with a timed entry in advance:

I spent a good amount of time evaluating when we should go to the Louvre and determined, based on the advanced-reservation ticket sales system, that late afternoon would likely be best as those time slots were not selling out like the early morning time slots. So, we reserved Monday at 3:30 p.m. Normally I don’t take pictures of art in museums – the art is there to be enjoyed and experienced. After all, you can look at a better photo of the art anytime you want. But for the sake of sharing our experience with our readers I took a few shots.

As you may know, there are 3 supposed “can’t miss” pieces in the Louvre. It was easy to enjoy Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo practically alone, which we have not experienced even at quieter times of year:

But the famous portrait of that Italian lady is still – even with the museum at 30% capacity – just too darned popular:

We did not get in line to see the Mona Lisa; just quickly snapped this photo and got out of Dodge. The main halls displaying the various French masterpieces by Delacroix and David were also congested but manageable. To get away from these more crowded areas, we went and visited the museum’s antiquities area, where we particularly enjoyed the pieces from ancient Persia.

After two visits to the Louvre and two to the Prado in the past two-and-a-half years, we’ve decided that the Prado is a better museum for paintings. The collection is broader and easier to visit, but the Louvre as a historical building is more interesting overall, and its antiquities collection is splendid. 

In the end, visiting the Louvre again was a great excuse to visit Paris to test drive traveling during the COVID era, it was hardly our favorite experience of the trip. Stay tuned for more details on the rest of our Paris activities.

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff