Eurotrip 2023: Day 13 – Le musée du Louvre et l’Arc de triomphe

While we had been around Louvre twice already in our last few days in Paris, we had our tickets only towards the end of our stay. It was exciting to finally see in person some of the most famous artworks in the world.Papa, on the other hand, was more than happy to stay back at the AirBnB. We had to remind him not to cook at all, rather just use the microwave to warm the food we got him from Le Merci the night before.

He’d watch Netflix the whole time, anyway.

Our timed entry for the Louvre is at exactly 10:00 am, and we got there at around 9:51 am. We just hoped we’d have enough time to queue. The line, however, was long as soon as we got out of the walkway.

We heard we could enter by the Carrousel, but we had no time to walk all the way there. Besides, the line was moving relatively quickly. In about 10 minutes, we were already inside. That was not too bas after all.

We got a couple of maps (I got French, English and Italian — yes, some would be souvenirs). We frankly had no battle plan whatsoever, as to how we’d approach the vast collection.

We ended up at the Salle du Manège instead. It houses a collection of sculptures, some of which were Roman in origin. Mama even recognized a marble bathtub similar to a one we have seen from the Vatican Museums a week before.

Despite the vast collection at Salle du Manège, it was the small bust of Antinous Mondragone that caught my attention. He was the teenage lover of Emperor Hadrian who had died before he even turned 20.

Hadrian was very fond of Antinous more than anyone else, and had loved him that upon the latter’s death, he was deified by the emperor.

I recall just looking straight into the hollow eyes of Antinous, wondering where those eyes may have been by now.

This particular bust used to be displayed at Villa Mondragone near Rome, and was donated to the Louvre by the Borghese family.

From the Salle du Manège, we then headed to the Daru staircase leading to the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

While my most favorite from Uffizi was Botticelli’s ‘Primavera’, and undoubtedly ‘David’ from Galleria dell’Accademia, it was easily the Winged Victory for me at the Louvre.

Even from afar, you could already see the imposing statue beckoning you to come, gaze at the delicate marble covering her lithe body. It has been at the Louvre since 1884.

It was a busy area, yet I managed to just stare at it for several minutes. The most astonishing was to see those wings attached to its body, with (I found out much later) how such span was supported by that marble because of the unknown sculptor’s clever use of various pieces of marbles..

We turned the corner from the Daru staircase and reached the Denon Wing where a lot famous paintings are located.

While the Uffizi houses Sandro Botticelli’s most famous artwork (i.e. Primavera and the Birth of Venus), there were two Botticelli frescoes at the Louvre. One of which is the “Venus and the Graces Offering Gifts to a Young Girl” from 1484.

It may not look big in the photo below, but it was huge at almost 3 meters x 2 meters. It depicts a young woman with Venus and the three Graces handing gifts to her. Cupid was also at the feet of the woman.

From there, we walked a bit more and saw (amidst a bit of difficulty) was Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’ (or ‘Vergine delle rocce’). This also meant that Mona Lisa was just around the corner once we spotted our first Leonardo.

Now, there are 2 versions of this painting, one in the Louvre, while the other is at the National Gallery in London. The Louvre version was believed to be the first one made. It was also the considered to be the first perfect example of his sfumato technique.

And from the Virgin of the Rocks, you can already hear a buzzing of a crowd from the distance. It could only be due to one reason: La Joconde.

The temperature inside the Louvre was not too warm. The same thing could not be said as you enter the Salle des États. It was hot inside that you’d immediately fan yourself with the map with the change in temperature.

That, however, was not enough to deter Mona Lisa’s visitors, us included, from having a glimpse of one of the most, if not the most famous painting in the world. If visitors had limited time to go around the Louvre and visiting the museum for the first time, it is usually on the top of their list.

Eek! The queue to be close to the Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa’s first trip to France was back in 1518 (three years the Ferdinand Magellan ended up in our shores in 1521), when Leonardo Da Vinci personally presented to King François I and has been a property of the France ever since.

The line to get close was insanely long. And you even reach the front, you would hardly have a minute to look at it, before the visitors behind and beside you attempt to get a close look themselves.

I wonder how much a personal viewing of this painting would cost?

On the other hand, it was easy to ignore the other great work inside the Salle des États. As most visitors enter the room, they’d immediately move towards the line to reach Mona Lisa. At the other end of the room, however, was ‘The Wedding Feast at Cana’. 

It was ironic that the biggest painting in the Louvre (at around 6 meters x 10 meters) was easily shadowed by the museum’s superstar.

Mama immediately recognized Paolo Veronese’s subject, and immediately mentioned it was the wedding at Cana (which she repeated as one of the luminous mysteries  of the rosary). Of course she had to take a picture with it.

A little of walking around and we eventually reached Les Salles Rouges. I had my mind set on seeing Eugène Delacroix’s ‘Liberty Leading the People’, a quintessential painting in our French textbooks.

Most wrongly thought to be a depiction of the French Revolution, it was in fact inspired by the ‘Three Glorious Days’ of the July 1830 Revolution against King Charles X.

I was most surprised, though, that Delacroix’s ‘The Barque of Dante’ was hung next to Liberty. It depicts Dante and Virgil in the River Styx with the poor souls as decribed in Dante’s Inferno.

We walked and walked around the museum, and saw the nude wooden sculpture of Saint Mary Magdalene by Erhart. Its pose was very reminiscent of the Venus Pudica we have seen in the Venus de Medici and Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’, both in the Uffizi.

We also went down the Islamic Art section, which, to no surprise, would not depict any human forms. I have learned about it way back in graduate school (West Asia course), and that the one of the highest forms of reverence to a higher power was through geometry.

We had the opportunity to rest here, as we also found a wheel chair for Mama for free. It could get tiring even for those with no mobility issues. There was also a section in that area where we could connect to the WiFi. Perhaps because of the thick walls or the number of people, it was difficult to have a proper data signal inside the Louvre.

Our last stop inside the Louvre was the Greek section. Mon was most inside to be there, as he was a big fan of Greek mythology. While Mama and Ikle did not move much in this area, given we did not want to accidentally knock off the exhibit with the wheelcair.

Mon, on the other hand, enjoyed looking around even for a couple of minutes. He loved the most an ornate Greek vase depicting the lion skin-clad Heracles and the two-headed Cerberus, as the former tried to enter the gates of Hades.

Near the arched walkway was a marble statue. It was reportedly that the subject of the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke poem  ‘Archaic Torso of Apollo‘, when he visited the Louvre in 1901. He managed to extrapolate the person in the statue despite its missing parts.

Right after this section, we decided to leave the museum, knowing very well that we have missed a lot of important artworks. We just could not stay the whole day unfortunately.

To exit the Louvre, we headed to the direction of the inverted pyramid, which functions as a skylight of the Carrousel of Louvre. Of course for some Dan Brown fans, Mary Magdalene was at a sarcophagus on the submerged other half. =))

Instead of finding a place to eat around the Louvre (where restaurant would likely charge and arm and a leg), we took the train instead.

Ikle suggested that to eat lunch at Chatelet instead. After leaving the metro, we walked around a bit more and found a resto called ‘Le Mistral‘. It was already 1:30 pm.

While we did not have to worry about Papa being annoyed as he was just at the AirBnB, we thought it would still be best to have lunch and go home so Mama could already take her afternoon nap.

From where we were seated, we had a small yet unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower. I knew it was too far from this area of Paris yet it was a surprise to see it from that side of Paris. Mon and Mama had pasta, while Ikle and I had some steak with potatoes. We were so hungry that we finished eating in only around 30 minutes.

And then we headed back to the AirBnB so we could rest.

But there was no time for us to rest. We had to immediately step out to do two things: one was to do some last minute souvenir shopping at Galeries Lafayette; and the other, to meet Kitty in Paris!

I have not seen her since our graduation more than a decade ago, and she agreed to travel to Paris all the way from the suburbs to meet us. We initially agreed to meet at 3:30 pm, then 4:00 pm. And in true Kitty fashion, she arrived at 4:15 pm. We were still very happy to see her regardless.

We went around Centre Pompidou area to look for a café. It was difficult to find a place that had a table for five people. We found one all the way at Le Marais. I almost strangled her because she asked us to walk all the way from rue Poissonnière to Centre Pompidou, only to have coffee at Le Marais.

We had a great time reminiscing the stupid things we did back in college, especially for our French class projects. We even laughed at the most inane things we usually bicker about. It was the best one-hour catch-up.

From Le Marais, we went back to the Opéra area, so we could go all the way to the Galeries Lafayette to buy souvenirs.

Near the rooftop, we bought some cookies, boxes of teas, additional packs of chocolates and ref magnet to bring back to Manila. Mon took a particular liking to the Eiffel Tower tin can container, yet hesitated to buy it.

In the end, he conceded. I just hoped that would fit in nicely into his check-in luggage.

After paying for our purchases, we then went up the rooftop to have a good view of Paris. At 6:15 pm, it was a bit crowded. We managed to squeeze on a spot with a good view of the Eiffel. The non-Chanel covered side of the Opéra Garnier was likewise visible from the rooftop.

After observing a bit the Parisian skyline, we then went back to the ground floor. Mon had planned the first time we were at the Galeries Lafayette (i.e. when we bought those Zara jackets) that he’d have a look at the Longchamp.

He had no bags in mind as souvenirs from Paris for his mom and one of her sisters. After looking for a considerable time, he eventually bought those mini Le Pliage bags with a long, adjustable strap.

He seemed very pleased with with purchases.

We got back at Bonne Nouvelle at 7:00 pm, which meant Mama and Papa had already substantially rested before we head out for the evening. We only had Arc de Triomphe planned for the evening.

To have a bit of change of the usual areas we have dinner, we walked towards the direction of rue Montorgueil. Mama and Papa also have not been in this area, except at the corner where we disembarked from the bus after our FreeNow driver mishap after a night around the Seine.

I had no idea where they wanted to eat, but I took cues from Papa on what his craving was that evening.

He wanted to have Italian, so he had dinner from Bianco at rue Montorgueil. It looked quite hip and a little less traditional than most places we ate at in Paris.

After that, we walked a bit around more Les Halles so Papa and Mama can see that lively area at that time of the day. They particularly adored those establishments with cascading plants on their facade (most of these plants looked fake, though, I bet).

And after about 30 minutes of walking around, we then rode the train at Les Halles to the Arc de Triomphe.

Getting out of the metro, the Arc de Triomphe immediately greeted us. Mama did ask last time where Porte Saint-Denis was the arc, but she was not ready when she saw the actual Arc de Triomphe for the first time. The sizes could not have been starkly different. It was massive.

It was a busy roundabout, both for vehicles and the various tourists who had the varying crazy ideas of how to take a photo with the arc.

Most of the younger ones were very daring, running at the very middle of the street for the perfect Instagram photos. Some would even run from the edge of the roundabout right to Arc. I was not sure if the motorists were used to the shenanigans, as most of them seemed unfazed.

It was already 10:00 pm, but the sun has barely set. We decided to have some late night coffee at Café de Paris at avenue du Friedland to wait out the arc lit up.

With its very close distance to Place Charles de Gaulle, one could argue that it is a tourist trap. I even checked Google Reviews and it has 3.9/5 stars at the time we were there. On the other hand, we’d rather not stray too far from the arc as it would be difficult for Mama and Papa to walk back.

To my surprise, it was not too bad. The coffee and desserts we had were quite good, and perfect for the already cold temperature. Mama expectedly got some hot choco, and like the coffee connoisseuse she eventually became in Europe, she still had Fusion Café in Laterano, Rome at the top of her list.

After 30 minutes, we decided to head back one last time at the Arc de Triomphe. Mama and Papa were excited to see not only the arc, but also Champs-Élysées lit up.

The number of visitors also increased twofold, as everybody wanted to have a piece of such an iconic landmark lit up for their photos (us included).

As much as we wanted to walk the entire length of Champs-Élysées, it was impossible to do so. We just strolled for only around 300 meters, only to return to the metro station. Mon, on the other hand, still wanted to have a photo in the island next to the pedestrian lane (no crazy photos!).

At around 11:00 pm, we decided to go back to the AirBnB. While relatively a short day for Papa, it had been a long day for the others.

The following day would also be our last full day in Paris, and we had to make sure we started packing all our bags. We did not want to rush the day we leave Paris.

Steps: 17,019