Paris, Day 17: Les Jardins des Tuileries, Le Petit Palais and Le Louvre

Between walking around several major sites in class and visiting exhibitions in the Louvre, this class wins for the most amount of walking our group has done in one day.

We started the morning in class at Pont Neuf, then worked our way through Pont des Arts, Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, le Louvre, les Jardins des Tuileries, la Place de la Concorde, le Petit Palais, and le Grand Palais. We also stopped at the beginning of les Champs-Élysées to talk about l'Arc de Triomphe, but to the relief of our feet, we didn't walk down one of the longest roads in Paris.

Pont Neuf

Pont des Arts

Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois

Le Louvre

Les Jardins des Tuileries

Musée d'Orsay

Pont Alexandre III

Le Petit Palais

Like I had said earlier about Versailles, it's hard to imagine how large some of the museums and monuments are in Paris until you visit them in person.  Because it was my first visit to the Louvre, I decided to wander freely through the exhibitions to fully appreciate the museum--the imagination doesn't quite capture how rich and beautiful every corner of the Louvre is.

Also, there is so much to see that it would be a shame to ruin the spectacle by rushing through everything. I made sure to see the major artifacts and paintings--the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo,etc.--but for the most part, wandering was the best strategy. 



Coming back to the Louvre to see the exhibitions

I would have posted the picture I took of Mona Lisa, but someone else's green flash reflected off the protective glass, so there's a green speck on the picture