Musée du Louvre and Musée d'Orsay

We braved the rainy weather to explore around the Musée du Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. It is one of my favorite spots, with the beautiful Louvre on one side of the Seine and the Musée d'Orsay on the other. 

The Musée du Louvre is housed in the Palais du Louvre which Philip II began building as a fortress in the 12th century. It officially opened its doors as a museum in 1793, exhibiting 537 paintings. The Louvre is now home to over 35,000 incredible objects of art and history, which means you need to allow plenty of time to look through the collections! If you're interested, you can read more about the 

history of the Louvre here.

The Jardin des Tuileries in front of the Louvre is perfect for a picnic lunch and people watching. I like to sit in the gardens and imagine King Louis XIV and his court taking tea in the gardens surrounding the palace, perhaps playing boules, having their portraits painted (King Louis was a big patron of the arts), or perhaps partaking in some archery or other royal pursuits.

If you walk right to the end of the gardens you will get to the 3,300 year old, and 23m (75ft) high Obelisk, gifted to Paris in 1829 by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the self-proclaimed Khedive of Egypt. You'll also get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

On the other side of the Seine is the Musée d'Orsay, which houses the biggest collection of impressionist paintings in the world including most of my favorites from Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Van Gough.

I recommend heading straight for the impressionists on the fifth floor and working your way down, making sure you stop to admire the view from one of the giant clocks. Musée d'Orsay is housed in an old railway station and is an incredible piece of architecture by itself.

Here's a little video wrap-up, and if you'd like to see more photos head over to @SweetDivergence on Instagram.