For many travellers, a visit to Paris begins with a list: the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, the Champs-Élysées – and, almost inevitably, the Louvre. It’s easy to assume that without stepping inside the world’s most visited museum, you’ve somehow missed the essence of the city.

My own experience suggests otherwise.

I had already visited Paris five or six times before I finally walked beneath I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid. During those earlier trips, I wasn’t avoiding the Louvre; I simply found myself drawn elsewhere. I spent hours wandering neighbourhoods, discovering cafés, browsing bookshops and walking far beyond the traditional tourist circuit. Those unplanned journeys, often covering more than 30,000 steps in a day, taught me more about Paris than any checklist ever could.

When I eventually visited the Louvre with Nev in December 2021, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Seeing the Mona Lisa in person, exploring the vast galleries and understanding the scale of the museum helped me appreciate why millions of visitors make the pilgrimage every year. Yet it also reinforced something I’d already discovered: the Louvre is an important chapter in the story of Paris, but it is not the whole story.

Today, the museum is embarking on its ambitious Nouvelle Renaissance redevelopment, with plans for a dedicated gallery for the Mona Lisa and improvements designed to make visiting one of the world’s busiest museums a more enjoyable experience. These changes will undoubtedly shape future visits, but they also remind us that Paris is a living city, constantly adapting while preserving its extraordinary heritage.

In this episode of Coffee Pot Conversations, I reflect on what it was like finally visiting the Louvre, why I don’t regret waiting and how becoming a flâneur transformed the way I experience Paris. Whether you’re planning your first visit or returning for the tenth time, I hope this conversation encourages you to look beyond the obvious and discover a city that rewards curiosity just as much as it rewards planning.

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