Bill and Jen's Adventures: Laughing through the Louvre

The evening of our first day in Paris, we stopped for a light dinner. We walked just two blocks off the main tourist street and found an amazing little cafe where the staff didn't speak English (much), but were very nice and helpful. We thought we ordered one small glass of red wine (me) and one large glass of white wine (Bill), but we received a small caraf of white and a large caraf of red. Oh, drat! We had to wash all the charcuterie down with something, and all that wine did come in handy! ;-)

Parisian Charcuterie

I had done my research and learned that the Louvre stayed open until 10:00pm on Friday nights. We had decided to visit the Louvre last on Friday (therefore, avoiding the hoards), getting there by 8:00 so we would have two hours in the museum before it closed. Well... After all that wine, we made our way to the Louvre a little after 8:00 and proceeded to take various photos and selfies before making our way inside.

Happiness at the Louvre

Vanna White at the Louvre

Thankfully there was no line to get in to the museum and we made our way through security very quickly, museum passes in hand, after our photo session outside.

Once inside, we got a map and started to figure out the lay of the land. About five minutes later, an automated voice came over the loudspeaker warning us the museum would close at 9:30, which was in 30 minutes.

Oh, drat! We hot-footed it down the hallway, following the signs to the Mona Lisa. Guards helped by pointing us in the right direction as we careened down hallway after hallway, laughing, and then, there she was! Only eight other people were in the whole room, so we got a good look at Mona and took the requisite selfie.

Hangin' with Mona Lisa

"The museum will be closing in 15 minutes" announced the speaker system. Yikes!

"Oú est Venus de Milo?" We asked a guard in the Mona Lisa room, and she pointed farther down the hall and around the corner. Off we ran, priceless works of art flying by, unseen, on the left and right, as we giggled at our poor timing. We turned another corner, and there was the statue we had been trying to find.

Not another soul was in the room, so Bill wasn't sure it was the right statue. I pointed at the statue and said "Um, look at it - it's the Venus de Milo - no arms - see?!?" He laughed and agreed and another photo was taken.

And then the museum had only five minutes until they closed, so we were gently ushered towards the gift shop and exit.