Just got back from a delightful week in Paris. I%26#39;ve *never* had a bad time in one of my favourite cities in the world.This trip was no different.
That being said I thought that I%26#39;d mention this little hiccup...and maybe save fellow TA%26#39;s a little trouble and a few Euro.
Herself and I were all primed to hit a few museums, using the Museum Pass. Well, late nights, food, red wine, and the inevitable sleep-in mornings got in the way, and we found ourselves bumping up against New Years and New Years day to the point that the Pass didint make any sense.
No prob...we%26#39;ll hit a couple of our top ten and just pay the entrance fee. First off, the Louvre
We get there and its PACKED. I dont mean a wee bit crowded....its a teeming mass of humanity. Dozens of those really annoying tour groups blocking stairwells, corridors and any possibility of examining anything worthwhile. *Thousands * of others rushing from the Mona to the Winged Victory to the next must see
No prob...we%26#39;ll hread over to the L%26#39;Orangerie--same thing. D%26#39;Orsay same same. Gee--how about that cafe?? Perfect!
So evidently Xmas week is not the week to visit museums. My point is--had we coughed for a couple of museum passes, we would have been*very* dissapointed--not only that the museums were, for all intents and purposes uninhabitable--but we would have spent money on passes that we couldnt really use.
Just a thought.
Oh..one last thing. New Years Eve we ended up in a bar on Rue Mouffetard. The place was jumping--everybody was well into the evening--including the staff.
So much so, they completely missed midnight...at about 20 after the owner looked at the clock and shouted Mon Dieu!!! But by that time everybody was hammered and didnt care.
I love this city!!!!!!
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I%26#39;ll chime in here too and agree you did the right thing with the pass - in my opinion.
Lines are short if you arrive first thing when the museums open, but who wants to be a slave to that? I personally pay up for the convenience of the pass when I go to Paris. I was there Christmas week as well and it%26#39;s always busy then with locals and tourists on holiday.
Slight side note regarding the Louvre - if you%26#39;re not overly interested in attempting a peek at the %26quot;biggies%26quot;: Mona Lisa, Winged Vic and Venus...avoid the marked pathways to them and visit the wings where they%26#39;re not. Much more palatable of a trip. Although I%26#39;m pleased more folks hit museums, I miss the relative quiet of 20-30 years ago. You might have had to deal with one or two others in your line of sight. I recall having the Winged Victory all to myself one afternoon. Sigh.
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We just arrived back today as well, we were there from Dec 29-Jan 6. I will try to do a trip report shortly but will comment of museums now.
We decided to buy passes for Jan 2 and 3 and then see some of the free ones on Jan 4.
December 30, it was horrible, rain and hail. So we went to the Cite des Sciences and that place was mayhem. They do limit the amount of people in some exhibits, but buying tickets was hard. We decided to take the kids to see the light and shadows exhibit in the end.
Dec 31 - Carnavalet which is free for the permanent exhibits. No crowd issue, just manpower. They didn%26#39;t have all galleries open and closed some at different times.
We bought our passes on Jan 1 at the Pompidou and were not pleased that they went up by 2E to E32 without any notice. The Museum was open but we didn%26#39;t do that part.
Jan 2 - we went to Notre Dame, the line was long and the tower was closed for bad weather. We did the Cathedral and a lot of walking around, had lunch etc. At Saint Chapelle, the church was closed for security, but we could go in and walk around the outside so we did. The Concergerie had a bad line so we skipped it. We went to the Arc de Triomphe and shipped the line with our passes. She did want us to line up to get free tickets for the kids but waived that part. We then went to the Louvre. The lineup wasn%26#39;t bad. It was after 2pm and we were able to move around fine, but of course there were crowds in from the the biggies. I found the spaciousness of the galleries nice. We were there for about 3 hours and there was a line to get coats at the end. It was staying open late that night. We tried to make a quick visit to the L%26#39;Orangerie as the info from the pass said it is normally open until 7 and is open late on Fridays. It turned out to be incorrect, it closed at 6pm, so we never got in.
January 3 - back to Tour de Notre Dame. It was open and we lined up for about an hour - well DH did, I amused the kids, took them for crepes it. We didn%26#39;t get to the very top though, I guess the upper part was still closed. So we got along the rails with the gargoyles and up into the bell tower etc. Sainte Chapelle was also open but had a huge line, none at the Concergerie so we went there. We also went to the Cluny, Pantheon and Napoleons tomb without issue. It was 4:45pm by this time so we didn%26#39;t see more of the museum.
January 4 - free museum day. Arrived at the d%26#39;Orsay close to 10am. There was alot of people waiting. After waiting a few minutes, the man checking the line sent us to the advance tickets door as we had kids. He did this to a few other people before dividing the line up and sending 1/2 to the other door. It was busy but ok. The upstairs galleries didn%26#39;t seem as spacious as the Louvre. We saw most things except the Picasso exhibit. We then walked to l%26#39;Orangerie where there was a small line, less than 10 minutes. I didn%26#39;t find it crowded though. We then went to the Rodin. The inside part was a little crowded where the rooms are quite small. It was only 3:15pm when we finished but we went back are rested as we were going out to dinner. As an aside, no line at Chartier that night at 7pm but there was as we were leaving.
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Hi --
I have noticed over the years that many Europeans are a little slow to get started in the morning so anyplace that is opened by or before 9:30, is a good place to start the day. Be in line as soon after 9:00 as possible and then stop for coffee and a pastry at about 10:30 when the crowds are gathering like storm clouds.
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Actually, you did the wrong thing. We were there from 12/26-12/31, and bought the pass. The pass gets you in without having to wait in line for the most part. We walked right into the Louvre, right past the hoards (yes, it was a sea of humanity). Same thing at L%26#39;Orangerie. A bit of a line at D%26#39;Orsay, but not too bad. Waltzed right past the 2 block long line at the Pompideau Centre. Arc D%26#39;Triomphe- same. The pass is worth it if only to not have to waste time in line. It also allowed us to come back to the Louvre later that day and get an almost private audience with Mona Lisa at closing time.
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I agree......just pay the money for the museum pass and be done with it!
We were at the Louvre on Wednesday the 31st (along with the rest of Paris). We already had tickets, but the security line was almost 2 hours long. When we got up there, the guards were getting frustrated and announced that the only people who had to go through security were the people with bags. (I hope the bad guys don%26#39;t figure this out). People were very frustrated because they closed down the automatic ticket machine, but they were selling tickets at a little candy shop downstairs.
With no kids in winter sports this year I was so excited to finally go on a family vacation over the Christmas break that I just wasn%26#39;t thinking about potential crowds. But......we had a great time and made a ton of family memories.
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owlyn...
Been there done that, many times.
The point I was making is, that even with the pass, it only would have gotten you into a short, express line into a museum teeming with visitors.
We got to the Louvre right at opening, only took us 5 mins or so to get our tixs..but within 20 minutes or so the L looked liked the Normandy Beaches.
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I had visitors that week and we were crowded, hot and grumpy after being herded thru the Louvre. Never did get in Orsay, the MP line was easily 50 strong. But we did see St. Denis and Chateau Vincennes almost to ourselves.
Note to those wanting to see Paris at Christmas: book early, it was crowded this year.
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Babba,
%26quot;Teeming%26quot; and %26quot;Normandy Beaches%26quot; are great descriptions. I think maybe only the Metro may have been more sardine-like.
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This was back in March 2008 and our group went to the Louvre, my word the place was a zoo! The lines were awful (sorry I was with the group who hold up everything) it took us forever to get in. The food court was nuts. They ran out of chicken at one of the restaurants and French or no French the people were PO%26#39;D.
Don%26#39;t even get me started on the day before at Versailles. That place is a joke (I know say what you will) I will never go back there again. Talk about unorganized and line jumping and plain out of control. HORRIBLE. And that was my second time there. I hated it.
I%26#39;m hoping to go alone to Paris this Oct. I can%26#39;t wait to walk around and do my own thing.
I love this city too!
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Agree with the teeming masses statement. We were in Paris from Dec 29 - Jan 5. (Trip report to follow.) We tried to visit the Orsay on Tuesday, 12/30 at 10:30. Ha! There were hundreds (and I do not exaggerate) people in the Museum Pass line. We got smart and arrived 45 minutes before it opened the next day. We were 14th, 15th, and 16th in the MP line, respectively. We did the same thing for the Louvre. The smaller museums weren%26#39;t as bad. There was a huge line for L%26#39;Orangerie, but only 2 other people in the MP line, so we got in after about 10 minutes. We walked right into the Rodin around 3:45 (that is one of my new favorites).
I adore both the Louvre and Orsay, but now that my husband has seen them both, I look forward to sticking to the smaller, less croweded museums on our next trip. Going to the Louvre is kind of like going into battle - with the crowds, the stairs, the length from one wing to the other. I%26#39;m getting tired just thinking about it...Winged Victory and Raft of the Medusa are totally worth it, though.
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