How to “Museum” like a BOSS
Whether you steal away for just one day or you’re on the trip of a life time, seeing everything you want to see isn’t always easy. Let’s say you’re going to Paris and wanted to see the Mona Lisa. Did you know the Louvre has 380,000 pieces of art. If you only spent 30 seconds looking at each one, it would take you more than four months to see everything. And the gallery the Mona Lisa is in is about as far from the museum entrance as it can be. But never fear, in this article we will give you the tools to “museum” like a BOSS.
The backstory
In 2018, our youngest daughter was set to graduate high school with honors and we wanted to find a way to reward her for all her hard work. Since she has an adventurous spirit, just like we do, we decided take her and her best friend anywhere in the world they wanted to go. After some discussion, they let us know they decided on London, Paris and Rome.
Paris and the Louvre
This leg of our trip is where we learned the set of skills we want to share with you. Since our guests of honor wanted to see the Mona Lisa, we had to find the best way to make that happen as part of a 3 day itinerary.
Originally built as a fortress to protect the city of Paris, the Louvre looks more like a large parliamentary building than an art space. Not only is it large, it’s full of exhibits and it’s iconic. We knew in advance that we did not want THIS to be our experience:
Our plan of attack
- We found out we could pay a little more to get early entrance. The regular admission price is 17 Euros. For an additional 50 USD per ticket we skipped the line. It’s like a fast pass to works of art.
- We took took time to find out what we really needed to see. Since we couldn’t see everything, I selected 8 very famous pieces of art we had to see.
- We printed off a map of the museum and planned a route. We went to the farthest and most popular exhibit first.
Here was our Mona Lisa experience:
Here are the other things we had to see:
Here are the bonus pieces we saw along the way:
Total time at the Louvre? 2 hours! Like a BOSS!
We have employed these skills at many other amazing places!
The Art Institute of Chicago
What we wanted to avoid:
Number of pieces on display: 300,000!!
What we had to see:
Bonus art:
Total time: 2 hours. Like a BOSS!
The MOMA, New York, NY
Number of pieces on display: 200,000
What we wanted to avoid:
Our Starry Night experience…when you “museum” like a BOSS!
The only other piece of art we HAD to see:
Bonus art:
Total time: 2 hours. Museum-ed like a BOSS!
We plan to use this strategy again when we go back to the Vatican’s museum. Rumor has it, you can go on an exclusive tour with the man who unlocks all the doors in the morning. Imagine…the Sistine Chapel with no tourists!!
Well as Ferris Bueller so aptly said, “Life moves pretty fast. You might miss it if you don’t stop and look around.” Adventure, my friend, but have a plan!! You too can museum like a BOSS!!
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