Hacker News Reader

Comment by troupo | Hacker News Reader

It's impossible to overstate how cheap this is, but I think you have to actually go The Louvre to understand that. It's enormous.

(In comparison Versaille is absolute bullshit that everyone should just skip. IMO).

View on HN

I really enjoyed the garden there - we spent hours happily. And we don't have a lot of palaces where I'm from.

And I didn't really enjoy the Louvre, especially compared to Musée d'Orsay and Centre Pompidou.

Louvre get sort of boring, since the time period they cover stops at the time when art gets more and more interesting (mid 1800s). Before that every painting is basically Jesus or boobs.

Still well worth a visit definitely.

This year they made a brilliant thing: they put haute couture one-off fashion items on display throughout the royal wing.

Who knew Loubutin and Alexander MacQueen shoes or Dior and Gucci handbags would feel so absolutely natural among the dresses and tapestries and jewellery :)

But then you have all the Egyptian wing no?

Yep, lots of stuff from different periods until the 1800s. Interesting, but surprisingly kind of repetitive.

> especially compared to Musée d'Orsay and Centre Pompidou.

Next time on my list, definitely.

I dunno... I really enjoyed walking through the Hall of Mirrors. Obviously that experience alone is no where near the entirety of the Louvre, and I wouldn't suggest heading out to Versailles if you're only in Paris for say a 5 day trip, but I'm glad I went on my 11 day trip a couple years back.

We somehow managed to get to it with relatively few people. The rest was 100 people per square centimeter, multiple tourist groups fighting for the same spots, more crowded than a Tokyo subway in peak hour.

Though I've heard it's much better if you manage to get there at opening time.

TBH the most interesting thing in Louvre is that crowd in front of Mona Lisa, which is an art performance by itself.

I had idea that was a 'thing' in the Louvre when a went a couple years back. Was wild competing for space at the front of the line with a half dozen kids taking selfies.

And best thing is? It's interactive! You can be a part of the performance, too :)

As far as French palaces go, I liked Fontainebleau way more.

Yeah I made that mistake when visiting Paris for the first time: budgeted half a day for the Louvre and an entire day for Versailles. Should the other way around or as you say, skip the Versailles.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com