Louvre with Kids
For me, no Paris trip is complete without a visit to the Louvre. Unfortunately, Bunky didn’t have much desire to visit it. As much as I would like for her to love the art as much as I do, she has not developed a deep appreciation for it yet. So I took an alternative approach to our visit – I let Bunky be in charge of what we see (and don’t see).
At first, I thought I would create a scavenger hunt to keep Bunky engaged but in end I have decided just to use the official Louvre map. The plan was to let her pick an art piece and then let her find the way to it with the minimal help from me, and it worked great – we had an amazing time exploring the Louvre together.
We only had three hours to spend at the Louvre which was perfect since it was enough time for her to get acquainted with the museum and not get overwhelmed by it. But it also meant that I had to make sure we don’t waste time waiting in lines to get in. These three tips really helped us accomplish to this:
- Buy your tickets online. Kids under 18 are free!
- Arrive early. We arrived about 10-15 minutes before the opening and we were able to get in just few minutes after the museum opened and that considering we went on a Saturday in June.
- Use Le Carrousel du Louvre entrance. The “main” entrance be the Pyramids has the longest lines so avoid this one. There is another less busy Porte de Lions entrance that used to be for groups only, however, I read that starting mid-2018 it is available for individuals as well. I do not have an experience using it – I have only used Le Carrousel du Louvre entrance.
Our first stop was Mona Lisa of course. Since we were one of the first few visitors in the museum, we had no problem getting close to the painting.
Mona Lisa is pretty easy to find as they are multiple signs pointing in the right direction. Just note that most of the signs refer to her as La Joconde.
Then Bunky chose to lead us to room 503 to find Virgin and Child of Jeanne d’Evreux and Napoleon III apartments in room 544 after that impressing security guards with her map reading skills along the way.
Next stop – sculptures on the floor 0. We have discovered an absolutely secluded set of staircases on the way there. Being in the busiest museum in the world and not having a single person near us was absolutely amazing!
Then Bunky decided to head to Egyptian art but we didn’t quite make it there as we stumbled upon the Café Richelieu-Angelina and we just had to swing by for a quick pit stop. It is very small and I can imagine it gets very busy as the day progresses. As most of the visitors were still admiring the art, we had no problem getting seated right away.
The café’s setting is magnificent and it offers the view of the Pyramid. Fun fact: it used to be the office of French Minister of Finance.
This was the best way to end our visit to the Louvre.
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