Journeys›Photograph

Long Weekend in Paris, Louvre Day

·Paris, France·#travel#summer#museum#france#paris#louvre
A person in a polka-dot dress stands on a cobblestone street with a domed church and ornate city buildings behind them.

Long weekend in Paris, and today went to the Louvre. First, though, the neighborhood around Place Saint-Augustin — the domed church squared off against a curved Haussmann block with a tricolore flying from the roof, scooters and bikes threading the cobbled intersection. From a rooftop we could pick out the Eiffel Tower across the city, with the white tethered balloon hanging off to one side of it.

Then the Louvre itself, which is hard to take in from ground level: a 12th-century fortress, then a royal palace, a public museum since 1793, now about 38,000 objects on display across 72,735 square meters. I. M. Pei's glass pyramid sits in the middle of all that stone, and the line into it — MUSÉE DU LOUVRE lettered over the door — folded back and forth through rope stanchions and out across the plaza. It's one of the most visited museums in the world, and in August you feel every bit of that in the Cour Napoléon.

The Bernini-derived Louis XIV rearing on his pedestal had a pigeon parked on his head the whole time we stood there.

A person smiles in a polka dot dress on a city street with a domed church and a French flag visible.Eiffel Tower stands tall over a city with a hot air balloon and buildings under an overcast sky.The Louvre Museum courtyard with its glass pyramid and many people under a partly cloudy sky.The Louvre Museum complex with its iconic glass pyramid, surrounded by many people under a blue sky.The ornate facade of the Louvre's Pavillon Turgot and the glass pyramid with people are visible under a cloudy sky.The Louvre Museum's main courtyard is filled with many people around the central glass pyramid under a partly cloudy sky.Equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Bernini stands before the Louvre Museum with many people in the foreground.The Louvre Pyramid with many people queuing in front of its entrance under a bright, cloudy sky.

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