Here’s what the boys had to say about the Louvre.

James

Really really enjoyed the big roman statues beside the four captives. They were neat because of the poses, what they wore (swords) and the animals (lions, snake and dog eagles). I also like the two big statues with five legs, and people visiting a king might be afraid because they are moving with you. It was stupid that Louis XIV thought the sun rose and set everyday because of him.

Matthew

I really liked the four captives, germany, spain holland and someone else. I liked the paintings and sections. The big statues that looks like he is walking with you is good too. Especially the guy fighting the snake near the captives.

Ethan

My favorite thing was going on the escalators and seeing the four captives. They are green.

One of the main “To do” items in Paris is visiting the Louvre but before you go to the Louvre you need to have decided what to go see as the Museum is so big that you can’t see everything in one day. This is doubly important when you go with kids. Thankfully the Louvre has a great website with trails that you can walk including a few for kids. We chose the Louvre Outsize (http://www.louvre.fr/en/routes/louvre-outsize) tour which takes you to the largest pieces in the museum. However before you get to look at anything you have to clear security and get tickets. In what seems like typical France fashion there is little signage to indicate where to go or what to do. So we got in the longest fastest moving line which turned out to be correct. A quick x-ray of our bags and a metal detector and we were in. Then we lined up for tickets but there was like 40 people lined up for one cashier. This seemed crazy and soon found some ticket machines with a do not enter sign which when ignored allowed us to get tickets in no time.

Our first piece was called the 4 captives and was by far the favorite for the entire group. In the same atrium was a whole bunch of roman era marble statues which were great too. Also on the trail was two Assyrian lamassu which we intended to intimidate anyone entering the palace. These are interesting because from the front they appear to be standing guard, but from the side they appear to be running beside you. This is done by giving the lamassu five legs, two visible from the front and four visible from the side – way to go Assyrians. Next we saw one of the 36 capitals from King Darius’ Palace in Persepolis (means Persian City) which used to stand on a 200 foot tall pillar. Also in that room were amazing tiled walls with awesome greens and blues.

 

By then, we were running out of morale and started to speed walk the trail, the Sarcophagus box of Ramesses III which was huge got a fleeting glance but the glass case full of Sarcophagi some of which nested one inside the other did get some airtime, especially the painting on inside of box which would show the person surrounded by writing. Leah and I also enjoyed all the carving and hieroglyphics on the coffins, statues and stones on display. We passed by the Winged Victory of Samothrace which was in a very busy hallway and was made to commemorate a naval victory. It was going on 2 hours and we made a bee line to the Mona Lisa which of course was surrounded by people taking picture and ridiculous selfies with it. I had a direct line of sight to it being tall and was captivated by its eyes which seem to follow you around the room.

 

 

Overall,in 3 hours we covered about 1/8^th of the museum, had only one minor breakdown and saw a bunch of great stuff. We were all tired and needed a break so we had lunch. Initially we were going to do a sandwich bar, but at 10E a head we decided to spring for a “fancy” lunch for 30E more. It was a great choice and a good break before we headed out. Our waiter was a little crazy, he kept putting plates and stuff on a tiny ledge and then knocking them off. He would talk incessantly in french and english about how tired and crazy his day was. The food was good, Leah and I both ordered a combo of starters and mains, the boys had grilled chicken, fries and desert. Between us, Leah and I had beef stew, salmon salad, curried cauliflower and ravioli.

We exited through the glass Pyramid and headed to the Batobus which took us to the Eiffel Tower where we caught a metro to home.