Who goes to Paris but skips the Louvre?
Well, me.
When I visited Paris back in 2003, I didn’t know what to see or do. I was new to international travel, didn’t have a guidebook, and had never taken French in school, so nearly all I knew about the city came from history classes, that seemed like an eternity ago. The one thing I did know about Paris was that I was supposed to visit the Musée du Louvre. The Louvre is one of the largest museums in the world, and with more than 8 million visitors a year, it’s the most-visited museum in the world. Most travelers go there to catch a glimpse of the famous Leonardo da Vinci portrait, the Mona Lisa.
Our Camembert-fueled days in the city were flying by, and on the last day before we were scheduled to return to London, my friends decided it was time to hit the most famous of Paris museums. I was dreading our departure, and realized that there was one more thing I wanted to do in the city: I wanted to go record shopping.
For more than a year before, I’d been exchanging mix CDs by mail with a French friend I met at the hostel I worked at in Los Angeles. Pierre would send me mixes of his favorite music from France, and I would send him what I was listening to in the US. I came to Paris with a list of artists that I liked the most so that I could find more of their work. I also looked up a list of new and used record stores in the city that I wanted to check out.
But the week was near over and I had only visited one of the stores that we happened to pass on our way to somewhere else. I knew I’d regret it if I missed out scouring these markets, as I was known to do back home–I spent nearly every dime I made in my early 20’s on CDs and concerts. So I made the choice, to skip the historic and cultural treasures at the Louvre and rummage through dusty bins at Paris’ used record stores.
This adventure was one of the most memorable of my trip.
I got to practice the few phrases I knew in French, shyly chatting up shaggy-haired boys that worked at the shops. At the time, that was really important to me.
I got lost a few times in dodgy areas of the city. I asked a lot of people for directions. I remember a very elderly lady that didn’t speak a word of English, taking me by the hand and hobbling an entire block with me to lead me to the correct Metro station. She spoke to me kindly, but rapidly, in French the entire time. I didn’t understand a word.
At the end of the day, I returned to the hostel with a stack of albums that included songs like this one:
this one:
this one:
and this one (explicit lyrics):
These and the other CDs I picked up that day are some of my most treasured souvenirs, and listening to these songs always takes me back to that trip over a decade ago.
To this day I have no regrets over having missed the Louvre. I recall thinking, “Meh… the Louvre will be there next time.”
And it is.
On the cusp of another trip to the City of Light, I’m considering stopping there next week.
But we’ll see, I might have some shopping to do.
Have you ever skipped out on something you were “supposed” to do when you travel? Let me know in the comments…
Photo Credit: Flickr/josefstuefer
Good for you! If you had skipped the Louvre just to be stubborn, I think that would have been one thing, but since you actually had other things you really wanted to do while in town, I think your sentiment that “the Louvre will always be there” is exactly right. People should spend the time doing the things they want when traveling, and rushing around seeing thing simply because they are on lists is silly if you have no underlying interest in them. It’s far healthier to acknowledge that you can only see & do so much on any trip and the key is to prioritize. So long as you do the things that you really want and are most important to you, then you can proudly say “Je ne regrette rien!”
We’re in Vietnam right now and it felt like the one thing we HAD to do while we were here was visit Halong Bay. And yet, everyone we talked to about it seemed really underwhelmed by it, and in 8 months in Asia, we’ve already seen our fair share of limestone karst bays. Plus, don’t even get me started on trying to pick a tour from all the scammy operators in Hanoi. So in the end, we decided that actually, we didn’t really care if we saw HB or not and chose to skip it and went and on some other outings instead. While I think HB is changing far more rapidly than the Louvre, the truth was that our funds are not infinite and we knew that if we went, it would only be so we could tell other people we had, not for ourselves. That didn’t seem like a good enough reason for us, and ultimately, I’m glad we skipped it!
For the record, this time, she has to go… Because I wanna go! 🙂
Thanks for your great comments as usual Steph! I’m glad you agree, especially as we finally made it to Paris and my knee is throbbing –I have IT band issues when I run or walk a lot. I’m feeling guilty about laying low, but I know it’s what I need right now. We are thinking of going to the Louvre later in the week after Kevin gets off work. We read it is open late a few nights and we expect the crowd late in the day to be smaller!
I’m sorry to hear Halong Bay is disappointing, it’s someplace I’ve always wanted to see, though I’m sure I’d make the same decision as you if I were hearing such things on the road. It looks so beautiful in the photos, but perhaps because they always crop out the throngs of tourists and the hawkers selling all kinds of junk. But smart move, you’re traveling for yourself, not for anyone else’s bucketlist 🙂
We actually really enjoyed Halong Bay, but we got a good operator and a good group of people on our boat, and went in the off season. It was packed enough then so hate to imagine what the crush of summer crowds is like.
That’s really good to know — I’ve heard some bad things about how crazy that Bay is, it may have been from people who were there at in peak season!
kifer, is that where the “iku” cd came from? “alouet” anybody?
I don’t believe you remember that, Larry! It was Icu, and I found a sample of it–this brings back memories! http://www.allmusic.com/album/chotto-matte-a-moment-mw0000044523
You can also swing by the Legion of Honor in SF for some of the exhibits we borrowed from the Louvre!
I’ve never been there, maybe it’s time! 🙂
Good for you. Hope you made it there this time, though. I have a funny story about visiting the Louvre with my parents that I should write up as a post someday. Suffice it to say that I deserve a do-over as it was not especially enjoyable.
When I was in Dublin last year I didn’t bother with the Guinness Storehouse. Although I was there for two whole weeks, there were other things I wanted to do more, and I just wasn’t into doing the Guinness thing by myself, especially when I don’t even like beer!
Good call, that’s funny that that’s one of the main tourist draws in Dublin! It’s certainly not for everyone. And for a beer nerd like myself, I would guess that there are even better beers in Ireland than Guiness… so that’s what I’d go looking for 🙂
You are heading back to Ireland soon, right?
Cool music discoveries…sometimes skipping the big things creates better experiences! Ahhh, Paris….hope you guys have a blast this time! My Paris experience involved taking 1 photo to prove I was there (of the Eiffel Tower), buying tickets to Moulin Rouge and a River Cruise (which I never used) and having the worst veal meal ever. Me and cities just don’t mix well, I need nature. My favourite thing in Paris was watching the constant war between people and pigeons around the Champ de Mars.
Thanks, Red! They are great bands. I actually met up with this music-swap friend, Pierre, last week and asked him about what he’s been listening to lately. Like me, he’s still listening to the same stuff he was 10 years ago. We’re old and stuck in our ways 🙂
I had a really great time, we just got back last night. We stayed in a neighborhood where no tourists ever go and that was the best thing we could have done. I love exploring cities as I do the natural world, but there are only so many ‘attractions’ I can take before I want to scream. I’m much more happy just wandering the streets and shopping in food markets and grocery stores, the same stuff I like to do at home. The city has beautiful sprawling parks and some big immigrant neighborhoods (Algerian, West African, and Sri Lankan) that are worth checking out. You should give it another try one day 🙂
I regularly skip the Louvre. Musee D’Orsay is lovely, and the right size. And then musee de L’Orangerie is lovely. In fact, I have been in Paris many times and have yet to go to the Louvre, other than the outside courtyard which is lovely.
enjoy!
S
We just returned home from Paris last night Sunita, and we had a fantastic time! We went to the Louvre on Monday morning I did enjoy it a lot, though I was tapped out after about three hours.
We planned to go to the Orsay on Sunday, but because we forgot to get the tickets in advance, the lines were long and we decided to skip it. Again, it’ll be there next time.
On your recommendation, we then went over to the L’Orangerie which had a surprisingly nice collection of Impressionist works and it was just the right size! So thank you for that! We also visited Patrick Roger which was quite a sight for the chocolate art and his unique flavor combinations (we tried a citrus-basil chocolate!). But frankly, they had such strong flavors added I couldn’t tell whether or not the chocolate was any good. It seemed it was made for the art and the experience, rather than the taste. Oh well, I know where to find good chocolate at home 🙂
Oh, delighted you went to l’Orangerie! I love that museum. It has been so many years since I have been. Patrick Roger has some delightful confections, but agreed, confections in Paris tend to be more about the overall delivery experience of flavors, and less about the chocolate itself. I see the Europeans as excelling in the area of confectionery, while the American makers are becoming the microbatch, super flavorful chocolate makers, coaxing out all the intricate flavors a skilled person can coax out of cacao.
See you again soon!
Sunita
Have a few skips over the years. Some deliberate, some totally accidental.
Back in 1991, my sister and I were on a school trip to London and due to an accidental misread of a watch, we left Buckingham Palace to meet the rest of our group an hour earlier than we were supposed to and missed the changing of the guard. Over 20 years later, we’ve both been back to London a few more times, but never together, so we’ve both held off on the changing the the guard until we eventually have a chance to read the watch right. I also realize I’ve still never been inside Westminster Abbey. I keep arriving after they close for the day!
Similarly, due to time constraints, the first time Erin and I were in Paris together, we missed going in to Notre Dame. We’ve been back many times since then, and yet still, she’s never been inside.
Brett, that’s so sweet you are holding off on seeing this until you are with your sister! Great memory! I did a similar thing recently, I misread the times on our Galapagos cruise schedule and missed out on the chance to visiting Charles Darwin Center, the top research center and wildlife sanctuary on the islands. I was pretty bummed about that.
And while we did finally get to the Louvre when we were there last week, we also didn’t go inside the Notre Dame (we settled for some great photos outside at night) but I would love to go up the tower to capture the famous photo with a gargoyle in the foreground. You guys should do that when you next visit! The great thing about Paris and London is that it’s easy to get back there again in the future, so it’s on my list for next time 🙂
We went to the Louvre, but we got in for free as under 26s and not sure if we would have paid for it. Didn’t get into Notre Dame because the lines were crazy and we didn’t want to wait.
Didn’t visit Pompeii, Pisa, the war museum in Hanoi, the Killing Fields, go up the Empire State, and the list goes on… The only thing we did pay for and wish we’d skipped was the London Eye.
Yes, we didn’t go in the Notre Dame this time because the lines were crazy, though taking a photo from the tower of the gargoyles up close with the city in the distance is on my photography bucket list. 🙂
I would highly recommend walking down by the Seine, from behind Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris. If you are approaching the NDdP, you should be on the left side, and walking along there gives you the most lovely view of the Cathedal from behind, so much more beautiful (in many ways, in my opinion) than the front. Esp as you come out from under the bridge overpasses, and get a framed view of the cathedral… one of my favorite self-taken pictures of Paris.
I love Paris. One day, when my kids are older, we will visit Paris and I will share the magic of Paris with them.
Sunita
Hi Sunita, I know what you are talking about! Is this the view (5th photo from the top)?: https://everintransit.com/paris-at-night/ This is my favorite view, too. So magical!