"Secrets of the Louvre"

Well since the title was..."Secrets of the Louvre" I wanted to give some special information that I discovered on my last trip to Paris In Feb 2001.

Quick Tips:

The 1st secret is on the 1st Sunday of the Month the Louvre is free.
The second and most important secret is the entrance. Don't use the main entrance under the pyramid, get off the Metro at the Louvre-Palias Royal, this gives you an entrance thru a new shopping arcade and we zipped right into the museum.
We looked out the window at the Glass Pyramid and couldn't see the end of that line.
I would take this entrance on any day not even the free Sunday.

Best Way To Get Around:

The metro by far in the city.
My last secret is from the airport. Take the Air France Bus. 65F direct to Arc de Triumphe. Runs every 15 minutes from door 34 in terminal 1 outside of arrivals.
Since I take United we come into term 1. If you take AF they come to Terminal 2.
Please see the cover of the new U2 CD for a picture of AF Terminal 2.

Again we stayed here last year and liked the location.
The Rooms are small but clean and adequate and the bathrooms are nice. Some have shower and some have tubs and showers also.
The problem is the bed. For some reason our backs were killing us when we woke up. I think the bed was to soft.
But the location can''t be beat. Minutes from the Eiffel Tower and right next the the Rue Cler and wonderful street of food and veggie markets and a few restaurants.
The hotel serves a cont breakfast for an extra charge but we usually head to a cafe in the area for breakfast.

Again this was a place we found walking around the Latin Quarter. There are a number of Greek restaurants and the menus are pretty much the same.
We had a price fixed dinner.
55F per person, included salad or appetizer entree and dessert. I had greek salad my husband had stuffed grape leaves for app and we had moussaka and dessert with bottle of wine the cost was 159.00F

The Latin Quarter is a great place to find a good and inexpensive meal.
There are lots of Greek, French and Seafood Restaurants.
They all have signs out front posting price fixed dinners.
Now this is usually 55.00-85.00F includes salad or appetizer main meal and dessert.
Often you must ask for the special menus because they will give you an ala-carte menu.
We have eaten in a number of places and never had a bad meal.
After eating its nice to just walk around here. See the pictures.
I don't think I would stay here thought as it seems to be loud late into the night.

The Louvre is the largest museum in the world and you can't see everything in one day thats for sure.
The normal cost is 46F. Hours are 9am-6pm. Note closed on Tuesdays.
There are 5 restaurants in the Louvre.
Le Grand Louvre-under the pyramid. Serves tradition food.
2 cafes and one cafeteria located throughout the museum. We enjoyed coffee and a scone at the cafe on the mezzanine level.
There are 3 floors.
The ground floor has mostly sculptures. From early French and Italian to Iran antiquities.
The lower ground floor has more sculptures and Egyptian Antiquities.
I usually head up for the 1st Floor before I get to tired. The collections include:
The Mona Lisa:
The Raft of the Medusa:
Some Renaissance Paintings and a number of French large paintings.

I really enjoy a walk down the Rue Cler.
It is about 4 or 5 blocks of meat, poultry and 2 very fancy cheese shops. There are a few restaurants also.
Looking in the shops is half the fun. The merchandise is all very fresh, no doubt about that. One shop also has caviar and smoked salmon.
You can stop and get a nice fresh panini sandwich and a bottle of wine and take it back to you hotel or depending on the weather find a table and enjoy!!!
Even if you don't plan on shopping just come and look.