Still doing my research...and, it's fun!
Has anyone visited Hotel de la Marine?
Has anyone had a culinary experience at Maxims?
Thinking that taking the guided tour provided by the Louvre - well, of course, you have to pay for it - might be a very good use of our time. What was your experience?
Many thanks!
I
q 1 - no
q2 - no
q3 - haven't but I'm sure you're right
You made me laugh! Thank you!
I'm not a big fan of guided tours in museums. Most I've taken have been disappointing - stopping at exhibits that weren't that interesting to me, often rushing past things I'd have liked to look at and know more about. The Louvre's website has a section of self-guided tours called "trails" that focus on different themes. You can print them out. I've enjoyed them a lot. I found the Louvre's audio guide to be very good as well. The "trails" don't give a lot of info on each bit, but they do provide a good route, so augmenting with the audio guide worked well for me.
Thank you for reinforcing that idea.
I did spend quite a bit of time on the Louvre website - identifying what we wanted to see - just wondering if a tour would work better - but I think I will go with my original plan.
I am interested in seeing any original elements from the Louvre’s time as a fortress and then a palace .. I understand the basement has some of the original fortress walls in evidence and that there is a balcony in a room that was originally a ballroom - have you seen either of these artifacts ..?
We don't do tours. YMMV.
We went to the Hotel de La Marine last fall. If you go be sure to get the whole route -- not just the short public rooms route as the most interesting parts were the private rooms. It is an interesting chateau -- I have seen so many chateaux in France that they all seem pretty much the same to me.
Over the years have done both guided tours and independent museum wandering. In the British Museum, years ago, the tour guide was an art historian who knew how to read Egyptian hieroglyphics and could thus translate the Rosetta Stone; 35 years later, I still remember that tour. I haven’t had a bad experience ever with a tour guide and find they often bring works to life in ways I might have missed. With large collections like the Louvre, coming away feeling that I had a new in depth appreciation for 10-12 pieces was quite wonderful. After, we wander to see pieces not covered by the tour.
We are planning to go to Hotel de La Marine when we are in Paris next month.
I looked at the new improved website, and the thematic trails have gone. You might get some ideas from this page, though.
Many thanks for everyone's insightful and informative responses to my questions!
Can't give you any help with 1 and 2 but perhaps for the Louvre you might be interested in a private guide. We hired a guide through ToursByLocals and she was wonderful. We communicated before the trip about our interests and also asked a lot of questions as we went about our preferences. If you're going to do a guide, this is the way to do it. We got so much more out of it than we would have on our own.
https://www.toursbylocals.com/parisprivatetourlouvre
What a wonderful idea!
I think we will do this -- I have created a list of the things I would like to see - this plan will work!
This plan will work!
Back when the Louvre had a large educational program, I did dozens of tours and short classes. The art historians working for the Louvre are top-notch. I recommend their introductory tour.
