Day 2 ( Part 1): The Louvre

When we were off in Paris living this experience, I wasn’t thinking about a trip report. In fact, it wasn’t until we returned home and I started editing photos that I even considered the idea of one. So there are chunks here and there that I don’t have any images to represent. I’m a bit rusty - hard to believe it’s been nearly a decade! Anyway… after sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast in our hotel, we made our way down to the Seine so we could board a boat to the heart of Paris.

Me: Can I take a quick photo of you here?
Them: Super hero battle work for you, mom?!
Me: Mmm… no, not really.
Them: Cool! Check this out.

When researching transportation options around Paris, we knew we wanted to utilize a boat at some point. I found BatoBus, which is essentially a hop on/hop off option with stops at all the major monuments along the Seine. We were going to buy a one day family pass, but ended up adding a few extra euros to get the two day pass. I think, all told it was around $70 for all four of us to have unlimited access to the boats for two days. And it was an easy online purchase from their website with digital tickets we simply had to tap to board.

The batobus is glass covered, but also has outdoor space on the back. It was never overly crowded and proved to be a really good option for seeing the sights and getting a good handle on the landscape/layout of the city. Especially considering we were only there for a few days. It allowed us to see some places that we likely wouldn’t have seen otherwise, like Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle, from the water.

Instead of staying on the boat until it’s official stop at the Louvre, we got off at the Musee d’Orsay and walked across the bridge to get there. This was definitely faster and not really an inconvenience at all.

In the above photo, you can see where we walked up from the river (the boat we debarked is still there at the bottom of the ramp in front of the Musee d’Orsay), as well as another Batobus passing under the bridge in the foreground. There were a lot of them on the water and I don’t think we ever waited more than 5-7 minutes for a boat.

Onward to the Louvre…

Lucas was really excited for the Louvre. I’ll probably talk about it more in a later portion of the trip, but one of his favorite book series is Mac B. Kid Spy. I’d say he started reading it in first or second grade and we still love them today. Mac B is a pretty cool kid, he spies for the Queen of England, has his very own gameboy, and travels the world with a corgi named Freddie. Highly recommend it for all ages. Anyway, I digress.

Bonus points to the Louvre for having a huge coat check with large clear complimentary lockers. It was so nice not having to carry coats and manage gear while exploring the exhibits.

I have to give my kids a lot of credit here. When planning our trip we looked into doing some sort of scavenger hunt at the Louvre to keep them interested (we toyed around with the idea of purchasing one or even doing it ourselves), but in the end we decided to wing it instead. The Louvre is huge and we knew there was no way we were even going to scratch the surface of it, so Brett and I chose to prioritize a handful of things and then simply check out anything that piqued our interest along the way. Our goal was to stay as long as they remained engaged and interested. I didn’t want their only memory of the Louvre to be of their parents dragging them from exhibit to exhibit while they trudged along hating life.

By far, my favorite piece was the Winged Victory of Samothrace. It was sitting atop the main staircase with multiple glass skylights above. The room itself lent so much to the piece, which had me thinking quite a bit about that alone. How something is presented goes so far in determining how it is received and perceived.

The gallery with the Mona Lisa was overwhelming. It was packed with people and the entire center of the room was queued up to get closer to it. However when you got to the front of the queue it felt like a mosh pit because no one was policing how many people could move forward from the queue into the open area. And then you had to kind of push your way through the crowd to get out of the open area, but only when a docent opened it up at one end. People were more interested in taking selfies in front of the artwork than in experiencing it.

While standing in line for the Mona Lisa we had a little fun recreating the art on the walls around us, though it didn’t feel appropriate to go all in on this one. ;)

I also really loved the Venus de Milo exhibit. It was more understated than the Winged Victory, but still impactful.

We knew when it was time to go…

Brett and I could have stayed all afternoon, and would both probably rank the Louvre pretty high on our list of places we most want to return to in Paris. All in all, it was a really fantastic morning and I feel like the kids walked away from this experience with a better understanding and appreciation for art.

Somewhat random sidenote: we introduced the kids to Annie (the 1982 version) over the weekend and Lucas quickly pointed out that ol’ Daddy Warbucks has a Winged Victory (properly positioned at the top of his opulent staircase) and a Venus de Milo, among other recognizable art, in his mansion. And it felt like a win because this is the kind of thing I was hoping for in taking our kids to the Louvre, helping them to see and recognize art in their daily life.

Up next… lunch and a stroll to the Luxembourg Gardens.

Shoebox Full of Memories: A Paris and London Trip Report - March 2023 (Day 2 Part 1: The Louvre)