Greetings Steemit friends:

An artist has no home in Europe except in Paris
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Today i'm visiting one of the most famous monuments in Paris - The Louvre Palace. It is of course famous for it's museum which is not only the largest historical monument in Paris, but also in the world. Any trip to Paris, even if it is not the first, would be well spent visiting the Louvre. More than 7 million visitors in 2016 would also agree. So, this is actually not the first time I've visited the Louvre museum and definitely not the last.

Being so large (~782,910sq ft) and with so many exhibits (~38,000), it is quite a challenge just to have a walk through it, let alone spend reasonable time appreciating the exhibits.

It would probably take several books to fully cover everything at the Louvre, as for me, let me take you on a quick picture tour of what I saw on the day.

This is the non river side entrance on rue rivoli.

The courtyards are magnificent and as you can see, there are already a lot of people here.

The Grand Louvre Pyramids themselves are a sight to see.

The main pyramid is the entrance to the museum.

As impressive as the outside appearance of the palace is, the inside is equally as impressive with it's long stone corridoors and beautiful carved sculptures throughout.

Some of the paintings here are as high as the walls which they hang on. It is incredible seeing them that closely for their detail as well as the overwhelming sizes. The paintings command real presence and I realise that only such a place as the Louvre palace can properly put them in the right perspective.

Of course, this is the home of perhaps the most famous painting of all, the Mona Lisa by renaissance painter, Leonardo da Vinci.

This is probably the focal point of many visitors to the Louvre, and of course I was anxious to see it too. The painting is actually quite a fair distance inside the museum. You'll be able to see many amazing pieces of artwork on the way there.

After passing so many paintings the size of entire walls, I was quite surprised to find the Mona Lisa mounted on it's own wall erected in the centre of one of the large rooms.

The painting itself seems very small after all the large paintings I've seen on my way here.
It is only 0.77m x 0.53m in dimension.

It was honestly quite difficult to get a picture with it as there were so many people around it. Alas, I managed to get a quick snap!

The museum closes at 6pm. With so much to see, I would really recommend visiting as early as possible. Especially if you want to see the other galleries.

It's time to leave through the underground exit.

On the way out, there is a reverse pyramid which is a perfect opportunity for some cheesy touristy snaps!

Hope you enjoyed my very condensed tour of the Louvre. More blogs about my travels to Paris and many more to come!