Burkarskis Do Europe 2023 - Musée Du Louvre

Overview

Rating	🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨
Year Traveled	2023
Length of Trip	2 Weeks
Locations Visited	Paris, France

We made our reservations for Louvre back before we left home in the US, so we knew where we had to be at 12:30. So we were able to have a relaxing morning and go to a café in our hotel’s neighborhood for breakfast. Saint Pearl was a French coffee shop and bistro with a Korean twist. Michael got “Seoul Toast” which was a loaded French toast and I got an avocado toast. Between the two of us, this is our fourth avocado toast in Europe. Which made me ask, “where are avocados sold in Europe grown?” The answer is The Netherlands! Who knew?

As it’s still a weekday, it was too early for any of the shops in the neighborhood to be open. So we did some window shopping instead. The designer of my favorite Uniqlo dress, Ines de la Fressange, has a shop. Nothing caught my eye, though. We also took a shady rest in a little courtyard park.

And soon it was time to make our way to Le Musée du Louvre. I thought we’d have more of a chance to walk the grounds but we were allowed to join the line for our 12:30 reservation right at noon. So in line we stood.

The museum is ginormous and overwhelming. I know most people go for the Mona Lisa but I was not interested in navigating tight crowds. Instead, we started with the furniture and belongings of the French court from Louis XIV to XVI. My favorite was a gilded blue and white living room setup from Louis XV. Our dining room back at home is painted that same shade of blue with white trim! I need to get gilding and add pearls, crystals, and a sash to our chandelier!

We then moved on to the halls with French paintings. And I found the self portrait of my meme hero: Joseph Ducreux. Instruct me how to Douglas.

I also took a shine to any weird paintings of cats and monkeys.

To better imagine Michael and me touring the Louvre, please see the Beyoncé and Jay-Z video for “Apeshit.” Yes, we did look that fabulous.

We accidentally ended up in a traffic jam caused by the Italian master’s section. There’s a reason we avoided it! On to antiquities: Greek, Roman, and Egyptian.

Oil paintings get climate control, but antiquities? Stone statues thousands of years old? Not so much. In an even lower level of antiquities (floor -1) I found an AC vent on the floor. I made Michael stand next to me over the long grate. Looking stunning like Bey and Jay.

Getting around the Louvre is difficult because it’s so large and a bit maze-like. But exiting was much more difficult than I thought. To exit you must get all the way to floor -2. Ground floor, street level, floor 0? Nope. The exit floor has the kind of obstacles you might expect before you leave, like group reception areas and a lot of gift shop. But you’re not out yet! Now you’re in an underground mall. They’ve got a department store, Olympics tourist supply shop, McDonalds… it’s a whole mall! I can’t believe we even made it out!!!

Finally reunited with daylight, we walked through the Jardin du Carrousel. It’s too early for dinner but we never had lunch. So we got to a brasserie right across the Rue de Rivoli. I finally order a Saint Germaine cocktail; we’d been staying in the neighborhood so I was inspired. This is another time when I was trying to use my language skills only to have the waiter always respond to me in English and mimic the way I said, “merci.” “Je voudrai… une tasse… d’espresso.” “You want an expresso?”

Trying, yet again to eat light (did you see how loaded my avocado toast was?) I order a salad. Then menu says it will come with cheese. It was little toasts with a big hunk of melted brie on each, and a little honey drizzled on top. France has all my most favorite foods and my body is not letting me eat them!

We stop at a tourist supply shop next door after our lunch because I saw they sold berets for 5€ and I wasn’t about to leave France without one. We tour the Jardin des Tuleries before returning to the hotel for daily siesta. We scoped out the big Ferris wheel but as expected, a ride ticket seemed unnecessarily exorbitant. I did discover some bee houses and a pollinator garden.

We don’t have much of a plan or idea for dinner or the rest of the evening. I remembered where a bartender from the cocktail bar told me there was a rooftop bar open on Thursdays. We walked there but it was the kind of bar with a bouncer and line out the door. Even though it was still fairly early in the evening, like 7? Eight at the latest. While standing in line Michael looks up other options and finds that the Paris Hashers have an event called “Thursday Night Drinking Club” at a riverside patio bar. On on!

Naturally, there are a lot of fellow Eurohashers joining us. A large contingent from Aloha H3 out of Hawaii. One of their members present used to live in Kittery and hash with Seacoast! He sent me home with an extra patch for our GM. And the Melissa fan from Brazil came and was showing off a model I’d never seen. More blanche/blonde beers were had. And I took home so many patches. I didn’t bring anything to share nor did I have my necklace!

With the patio meetup over, we wander through the Quartier Latin neighborhood. (I’m trying to learn, but as far as I can tell, the Latin Quarter is not one of the official four quarters of the 5th arr.; its within the Quartier de la Sorbonne. What is it a quarter of?) We pick at tavern that has a menu that looks like I can get something light (a grain bowl!) but also good beers. I did the unthinkable. I ordered an IPA. A FRENCH IPA. But it was a Blanche IPA. I’m here to say the Sainte Cru White Rabbit Blanche IPA was very pleasant. My first good IPA since Boston Logan airport! They also had a live jazz guitar duo to help set the mood. The only negative was all the cigarette smoke. That is the one thing I will not miss when I’m at home.

Another day of vacation well-spent, we head back to our hotel and chill the remaining wine from the night before. It’s our last night in France.