Louvre Museum with Audio Guide

Right now there is a special exhibit at the Louvre- theDaVinci collection minus the Mona Lisa. She is in her usual place in the Denon Wing. DaVinci’s other two masterpieces - St. Ann and John the Baptist are in the special exhibit. These are also master pieces not to be missed. It was great that on one day I could visit all three of DaVinci’s great paintings. I learned that he only completed 15 paintings in his lifetime including the Last Supper which is painted on the wall of an old abbey in Milan. I have also seen that so I am blessed. The best part of theDaVinci visit was that I bought my tickets online and that entitled me to gain entry to the Louvre ahead of the mobs of people awaiting entry to the Louvre. Also buy the audio guide online as we were able to proceed right to that desk without waiting. The audio guide is a must as it is the only way for you to learn about the works of art without a personal tour guide. A visit to Paris is not complete without stopping by the Louvre. This was my third time there and I still saw new pieces of art that I missed on my two previous tours.

The Louvre is awesome and overwhelming! It takes 5 full days if you want to see everything which you probably don't. We focused on the paintings and there is plenty to see. Recommend the audio guide or a paid tour. Half of the work you don't know what you're looking at without an expert's help. The main pieces are awesome to see. The sheer size of some leaves you in awe. It can get crowded, VERY crowded. If you want to visit on the weekend buy a skip the line ticket or you'll have to get there an hour before opening to avoid huge lines. Taking the metro entrance may be a little better than the main entrance through the pyramid. There are many tour options available online. I recommend one for the best experience.

Great works badly presented and terribly managed. Apparently this exhibition was 10 years in the making - well I’m guessing that was 9 years and 11 months gathering the many wonderful works and barely any time working out how to get lots of people around the exhibits and even less time thinking what information to provide in explanation. Timed entry was good, but once in you need to queue to get a ticket for an audio guide, then take the ticket to queue for the handset and headphone. But don’t skip the audio guide you need it if you are to learn anything as you shuffle around. The exhibits are numbered and people follow the numbers... makes sense until the sequence has a hiccup. The audio guide picks on v few exhibits and then insists on a moment or two of French before going to your chosen language - which sets the atmosphere initially but is annoying after a few (and hey Leonardo was Italian!). Some of the guide numbers are wrong so the audio is irrelevant. Despite the greatness of the works you are not drawn in and learn little of the man himself. Few of the classic engineering works. Very disappointing overall.