“No eye contact, no hesitation, no mercy.” Those are the words our tour guide Ambroise said before leading us into the museum. Prior to entry he gave us detailed instructions to get through security and the quickest most efficient way to the Mona Lisa. I have to admit his no mercy line had me chuckling and I liked that his sense of humor, dry and geeky, is similar to mine. I had booked this tour 6 months prior to our visit and I’m so glad I did. I found Ambroise through Airbnb experiences and he guaranteed first entry to the Louvre and access to the Mona Lisa. His reviews were positive and groups limited to 6 so I booked him.
A day before the tour he gave detailed descriptions of where to meet and what not to bring, large bags, water bottles, etc., to get through security quickly. When we met him at 8:30am he had already been there an hour to ensure first in line. When the rope dropped it was game on and we followed our fearless leader into the breach. He moved at a fast clip and at points he had us jogging to keep up with him. As promised he got us into the room as one of the first and the experience of being in a nearly empty room with the most famous painting in the world was worth the price of the tour. The first time I visited over 27 years ago I got no closer than the back of the room because the crowd was so thick. We took our obligatory family photos and Ambroise started his informative and fun tour. The room stayed near empty and quiet for a good 5 minutes before it started to fill quickly and noisily as the hordes started coming in.
As advertised we were led through the museum and given interesting details on the Louvre’s most popular and some lesser known works. His lectures on the three famous ladies of the museum the Mona Lisa, the winged Victory, and Diana made me feel like I was back in my college art history class, among my favorites when I was a student. Lastly I knew Ambroise was special when he was describing a painting of St. Catherine and he asked us who she is the patron saint for and when none of us could answer he started humming a song by Beyoncé and if that wasn’t enough he started doing a little dance. Yes she is the patron saint of unmarried women or as Ambroise so cleverly put it all the single ladies.
The winged victory.
Fourohoh 