Louvre Museum

After staring at the incredible pyramid for a long time, it was time to enter. You have to book your time slot in advance to avoid disappointment. I was impressed immediately. We joined the massive queue, a member of staff came up to us and led us straight in. We went through airport style security then down in the lift to the main concourse. Wheelchair users and their companion get free entry. Since we didn’t want to miss the Mona Lisa, we headed straight there and joined the giant queue. Again a member of staff collected us and let us sit in a cordoned off area in front of the painting, it was a spectacular view of this beautiful priceless painting. We didn’t see much else unfortunately. It was so busy in there and the lifts are confusing, not to mention that no one lets you in the lift so we waited at one for nearly half an hour! Accessible toilets are available but keep in mind waiting times for lifts and to make your way through the crowds. Staff were really helpful but I wish there were staff by the lifts to help wheelchair users. There are beautiful buildings (all part of The Louvre that are worth seeing, around the pyramid and further afield.

We visited to see specific works of art. Wheelchair visitors are not allowed to queue, they are taken straight away to the front of any queue and use a rather grand lift to descend from the top of the Pyramid into the hall below. Entry was free for both myself and my carer. All staff were more than helpful in directing us, simply saying hello and enabling us to see the works we were interested in. Because it is an old building, the internal lift system is terrible - one example being that to get to the floor directly below where we were at that time, we had to go to a lift some distance away, go up two floors, walk to another lift, go down three floors and then walk to our final lift and go up a floor. Very helpfully guided by the staff who apologised that the building dated from the 1700s and they had not thought of good lift design when they built it ! Never-the-less, we walked a long way and saw superb art in a museum where we felt we were welcome.