Jalan-jalan ke Museum Louvre di Paris (Tips dan Trik!)

Halo semuanya! Saya selalu ingin mengunjungi museum Louvre di Paris sejak saya di SMA dan sebenernya saya juga masih gak percaya bahwa saya sudah mengunjungi kota Paris dengan mata saya sendiri, melihat menara Eiffel dan bangunan-bangunan indah dari dulu yang berdiri sampai sekarang di Paris.

Sebelum saya mengunjungi museum ini saya melakukan research di internet untuk mencari tips dan trik agar tidak ngantri panjang dan lama di museum ini. Museum Louvre adalah museum terbesar dan teramai di dunia karna setiap hari nya saja ada beratus ribu orang mengunjungi museum ini. Untuk masuk ke museum ini selain bisa masuk dari pintu utama, kalian bisa masuk dari beberapa pintu masuk yang tersedia. Mulai dari pintu masuk mall dan pintu masuk utama di Pyramid besar. Dan saya akan berbagi tips dan trik jika kamu ingin mengunjungi Museum Louvre.

•  Datang pagi-pagi sebelum ramai

Arti dari pagi-pagi sih maksudnya bukan berarti ngantri dari subuh tapi pagian kayak pas museum buka mungkin sekitar jam 9 pagi atau 10 pagi. Dari pengalaman saya, waktu itu saya mengunjungi Carousel mall (salah satu pintu masuk ke Louvre) sekitar jam 10 pagi itu antrian untuk ke security check masih sepi banget sementara di depan Pyramid udah mulai banyak orang ngantri. Dan disaat saya balik lagi sekitar pukul jam 2 siang untuk masuk ke museum di tempat yang sama di pintu masuk mall, itu ngantri nya panjang banget banget. Ngantri nya sekitar 100-150m dari security check tapi tetap jalan sih dan cepet juga. Jadi kurang lebih itu 15-30 menit saya nunggu sampai akhirnya selesai security check udah bisa langsung masuk ke museum kalau sudah punya ticket atau bisa beli ticket dulu dan antrien tiket di dalem setelah security check sebenarnya sepi dan tidak sepanjang pas security check.

                    

•    Masuk dari pintu masuk alternatif

Louvre ini museum terbesar dan teramai di dunia dan pengunjung nya perhari pun banyak banget. Kalau kalian masuk dari pintu utama yaitu di Pyramid nya itu biasanya ngantri panjang dan bahkan dari kejauhan pun kalian bisa liat orang ngantri. Kalau kalian ingin mengunjungi di high season which is summer holiday di bulan juni – agustus itu emang bakalan ramai dan pasti ngantri panjang dan  lama banget di Pyramid nya. Louvre ini punya beberapa pintu masuk alternative selain di pintu utama:

1.   Carrousel entrance

Nah ini adalah pintu masuk yang saya lalui untuk masuk ke Louvre. Kalau kalian ke Louvre nya melalui Metro dan turun di Palais Royal Musée du Louvre itu gampang banget tinggal nyebrang ke arah Louvre dan liat ada tanda pintu masuk ke Carousel (kayak ada terpal merah bacaan Carousel) dan ikut turun elevator dan ikutin tanda panah menuju Louvre.

    

     2.    Porte Des Lions

Nah pintu masuk ini itu di bagian kanan nya pyramid kalau berdirinya di Arc de Triomphe du Carousel ya. Tapi kayaknya untuk sementara ini pintu masuk nya lagi di tutup dulu jadi pilihan cuman ada di Carousel atau ya pintu utama.

•        Beli tiket in advance

Untuk ini emang penting banget menurut saya untuk lebih hemat waktu. Kamu bisa beli tiket sebelum pergi ke Paris dan print di rumah tiketnya. Bisa langsung beli tiket di website museum Louvre nya atau bisa lewat website viator.com atau tiqets.com. Kalau saya karena website official louvre nya error mulu disaat saya mau beli jadi saya lewat tiqets.com dan itu mudah banget. Kalian bisa reservasi tiket nya dan bisa bayar pake credit card atau paypal nah abis itu bakal dapet confirmasi dan barcode buat ambil tiket di tempat pengambilan di paris. Lebih mudahnya lagi, buat nuker tiket nya itu letaknya di sebrang museum atau di dekat tempat keluar metro Palais Royal Musée du Louvre di took kecil yang jualan newspaper and magazine dan bentuknya kecil warna ijo itu. Setelah itu orang penjual akan kasih tiket ke kamu dan beres deh kalian bisa langsung masuk ke museum setelah security check langsung ke wings yang kalian tuju!

•       Plan mau liat apa dan di mana letaknya

Seperti yang sudah saya bilang sebelumnya bahwa Louvre itu museum yang sangat besar dan bahkan untuk kalian mengelilingi semua wings dan melihat SEMUA patung/lukisan di Louvre itu bisa sebulan baru beres. Tips nya adalah research dulu tempat mana yang ingin kamu kunjungi, lukisan apa yang kamu ingin liat dan sebagainya. Untuk saya sendiri, saya ingin melihat lukisan dari pelukis italia dan perancis, contohnya Monalisa dan itu ada di denon wings semua. Dan saya juga mengunjungi apartment Napoleon ke 3 di Richeliu wings dan total keliling itu ada sekitar 2.5-3 jam habis. Bahkan keliling nya itu banyak banget saya skip lukisan, ga sempet baca deskripsinya dll, jadi sebenernya kalo mau puas mungkin seharian penuh di Louvre juga udah cukup. Jadi di Louvre itu di bagi 3 bagian atau 3 gedung:

a.   Denon Wings

Nah ini pusat nya lukisan-lukisan terkenal semua, termasuk Mona Lisa karya dari Leonardo Da Vinci. Rata-rata lukisan terkenal semuanya ada di Grand Galerie dan itu luas dan panjang banget kayak gak selesai-selesai jalannya. Disini juga terdapat Galerie d’apollon, salah satu peninggalan dari jaman raja dulu dan ini salah satu tempat favorit saya di Louvre. Galerie d’apollon ini adalah model untuk Hall of Mirrors di Istana Versailles jadi kalo kalian bandingin foto antara kedua tempat itu mirip banget. Isi di dalam ruangan ini berbagai peninggalan kerajaan mulai dari mahkota dan lukisan/gambar raja Louis ke 14 dan juga lukisan para arsitek/pelukis yang meng-design ruangan ini.

b.   Sully Wings

Disini kalian bisa nemu patung2 atau benda-benda antik dari jaman Yunani, Egypt dan bahkan Islamic antiques. Menurut saya sih ini agak sepi pengunjung liat karena mostly mereka langsung ke Denon wings. Di sini yang saya suka adalah Greek sculptures yang indah banget cuman sayangnya saya ga sempet melihat Venus de Milo atau patung Aphrodite yang terkenal itu karena waktunya udah mepet banget jadi saya harus langsung pergi ke Richeliu.

c.    Richeliu Wings

Disini kalian bisa ke Apartment Napoleon ke 3/ peninggalan kerajaan atau liat lukisan-lukisan dari pelukis Perancis. Saya cuman ada waktu untuk melihat apartment Napoleon ke 3 dan itu bener-bener indah, mewah banget diliat. Berasa langsung balik ke masa jaman dulu disaat mereka masih hidup rasanya gimana ya tinggal disana. Mulai dari ruang tamu, ruang makan, bahkan tempat tidur pun ada disitu.

  

•        Pake sepatu/baju yang nyaman

Last but not least, simple but important. Ini bener banget sih pake sepatu yang nyaman tuh berarti banget karena kamu bakalan jauh kesana kesini tiap wings dan itu jauuuuh banget untuk kesana kesini nya. Saya waktu itu pake boots sih karena cuaca juga masih musim dingin dan agak capek dan pegel juga kakinya. Makanya saya sarankan sih lebih baik pake walking shoes atau comfy sneakers biar enak kamu jalan kesana-sini nya.

Sekian tips dan trik dari saya semoga membantu kamu yang ingin mengunjungi Museum Louvre di Paris. Have a nice day, merci!

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh Review

Title: The Wrath and The Dawn
Author : Renee Ahdieh
My rating:  4.3/5

This book was inspired by One Thousands and One Night's tale or Arabian Night where once upon a time there was a king who was betrayed by his wife because he found that she was cheating on him. So he punished her by killing her at dawn then he swore to himself that he will marry virgins only for every dawn he will kill them, But then one girl, just the night before she was supposed to die she told some stories to the king and when the stories is not finished yet it is already dawn and the king still wants her to continue the stories and then it begins until 1,001 nights.

" A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all "

I love this book, the story, the characters and everything. What I love from this book is it's quite different than other fantasy books I have read before. It involves with the Arabian kingdom and some Arabic terms so it's really new to me. It was a vengeance the reason Shahrzad volunteered as the next bride of the King. It was because of her best friend since childhood who died because of the Caliph of Khorasan. But what she didn't realized is that the reason why the king has to kill every new bride for every dawn. It's all in the book the reason why Khalid has to do that but he can't kill Shazi because she was different. It's like he just found his emotional tether.Shazi is smart, fearless and pretty good at archery. She eventually falling in love with the king she was supposed to kill and trust me all the moments when they were together are so oh, very romantic if I must say. I think it's because they needed each other and they can't just be apart. Anyway, I just love this book so much. Every words from this story are just beautiful. I love how the author choosing her words on this book. So as always, I will put my favorite quotes and some extra a photo edits I found from Tumblr. I really recommend this book if you guys like a fantasy book. A different kind of fantasy book.

"I know my words only carry a certain weight with the worlds, but I do know enough to realize you cannot control the actions of others. You can only control what you do with yourself afterward."

"Some things exist in our lives for but a brief moment. And we must let them go on to light another sky."

"In my life, the one thing I have learned above all is that no individual can reach the height of their potential without the love of others. We are not meant to be alone, Shahrzad. The more a person pushes others away, the clearer it becomes he is in need of love the most."

 

 Khalid's letter to Shazi. This is so sweet and sad. Credits: tumblr

 Shazi's aesthetics.

Khalid's and Shazi's aesthetics.

Norwegian Wood

So I just finished reading and watching this book and the only thing I complained to myself is that I didn't understand the ending or the ending was not what I expect it would be. Overall, I like the book and this is my Murakami's first book ever and I think he left me with a good impression so it's good enough for me to want to read his another masterpiece. Mostly I think this book about growing up, living in the 20s and how to deal with death-suicide. 

Toru Watanabe is the main character in this story. He moved to Tokyo from Kobe because his bestfriend (Kizuki) just killed himself just right after Toru was playing with him. The thing is that Toru didn't understand is why Kizuki killed himself because he didn't show anything to him his weakness or even his problems and just one day he decided to kill himself. Toru was pretty devastated like he said in the book, it feels like he's just lost one of his souls taken away. It's not that Toru that have an impact after Kizuki's death but also Kizuki's girlfriend-bestfriend since childhood and Naoko is also Toru's first love. I think Naoko was really depressed since Kizuki's death I mean, who can deal with that kind of situation? But Naoko has Toru on her side to help her and he loves her to death I guess. 

Then the story is actually involved on Toru's life like how he didn't have any friend because mostly he enjoyed solitude and then one day he became friend with Nagasawa (a rich kid) just because he saw Toru reads The Great Gatsby. Nagasawa has some charisma like all girls will like him straightaway when he starts to talk. So Nagasawa also teachs Toru how to get a girl etc like at that and let me tell you this book has a lot of mature contents as in a lot. Anyway, they became good friend and one thing that I don't like from the movie is that they didn't show that Nagasawa book in the movie. I mean sure the person who play Nagasawa has some that charisma but the lines or conversation between Nagasawa is not enough.Toru meets Midori, a very quirky girl, short hair and has a boyfriend. She actually on the same class with him in drama class. I actually like this Midori character because she's weird, innocent nad yet she likes to tell the truth or is like she likes to say what's on her head. Toru spends his sunday almost with her and it came to the moment when he has to choose either Naoko or Midori.

Naoko, Toru and Midori in Norwegian Wood movie (2011)

One thing that I appreciate this book more than the movie adaptation (as always book always way better than the movie) is that the movie didn't really give each characters enough lines to speak or maybe it's just me that I don't really understand how a japanese movie what it is like. Anyway, I like every casts who plays Toru, Naoko (they have perfect cast on this two person) but for Midori, Nagasawa and Reiko, I don't think they have that enough lines to speak that makes those characters are a bit different than in book. I thought Midori is going to be really weird and quirky girl, I mean Kiko Mizuhara as Midori is a perfect option but I don't it's enough to say that the movie Midori is equal to book Midori. Anyway, I like this book, it's like one of those books that will give you lessons of life and down here I will put my favorite quotes from this book.

" What did I want? And what did others want from me? But I could never find the answers. "

" I don't know, sometimes I think I've got this hard kernel in my heart and nothing much can get inside. "

" It's stupid being 20, I'm just not ready. It feels weird. Like somebody's pushing me from behind."

"It's because I hated the place so much, I wasn't going to let it beat me. If I'd let it get to me once I'd be finished."

"You're normal, I've got tons of things I don't understand about myself. We're both normal: Ordinary."

"It's ok letting out of feelings. The scary thing is not being able to do that. When your feelings build up and harden and die inside, then you're in big trouble." 

 "I didn't have much to say to anybody but kept to myself and my books. With my eyes closed. I would touch a familiar book and draw it's fragrance deep inside me. This was enough to make me happy."

Laneway Festival, Singapore 2016 (Pt.2 with CHVRCHES, THE 1975, GRIMES, BEACH HOUSE)

Just exactly one day before the festival, @lanewayfestsg tweeted to me that I won the meet and greet with CHVRCHES. The funny thing was that I found out about it when I was in airport just waiting for boarding so I was literally freaking out and probably people saw me and thought 'what is wrong this gurl' hahaha. I'm so happy like really happy I didn't expect that I would win because I know  there are so many entries about people who also wants to meet and greet with CHVRCHES. I put my entry like two weeks before the d-day. They sent to my email that the MnG will be at 7pm and I can bring one friend to the MnG so I decided to asked one of my friends (who I met up via twitter). The good thing about Laneway fest is that they have MnG session which was really good. Three of us (there are 5 of us) were waiting in line for THE 1975 MnG but just minutes before they supposed to have the session sadly they cancelled and there were already fans waiting in line like in a long line just for this meet n greet including my friends and I. One of the good thing and a bad thing about winning MnG with CHVRCHES was that the time for MnG clashed with THE 1975 performs and I was so sad but excited at the same time because I will miss few songs when THE 1975 performed but I will get to see CHVRCHES in person, how amazing is that. I will talk about this more for each band I watched at Laneway and I will put my videos of CHVRCHES, THE 1975 and Beach House (sorry if it's a bit shaky).

East India Youth

He was actually really good but I couldn't stay long because hell thanks to the hot weather I was burning and I just couldn't stand the heat while standing so I can't enjoy the music at all, then we decided to just sitting on the grass, chilling and strolling around the venue, buy some merchandise and I bought CHVRCHES cds for my friends because they want to get the signed cd so I bought for them.

THE 1975

They started exactly at 7.05pm and I get to see them performed two songs: Love Me and Heart Out before I have to go to the MnG stall. They were amazing super super amazing. I love their stage with that classic square light which will turn either to pink, green, blue or pink. The first song was Love Me so the stage was lit with pink color which was really cool. After I finished meet and greet with CHVRCHES, I was running so fast as possible to get to the stage and they were playing Robbers which is my favorite song ever from THE 1975. I only recorded the last part of Robbers on my phone but it's ok i guess at least I can finally hear my favorite song live. So I get to see the last three songs which are Girls, Chocolate and Sex! Yippie. I'm happy at least finally I watched them live and hopefully I will get to see them real soon. 

 The stage was lit in pink!

 LOVE ME!

 Why don't you take my heart out?

 Really digging this new The 1975 pink (but kinda miss the 1975 black and white too)

Matty!!

Beach House

Beach house performed around at 8pm on Garden Stage. To be honest, I only know two songs from beach house which are Take Care and Myth and I get to see Myth live and they were really good! Just as same as the song. 

Beach House performing Myth live.

Grimes

I actually only know one song from Grimes but what I didn't expect when saw her live was that her amazing live show! It was so powerful, energetic and full of dancing! I really enjoyed throughout her performance. One of the main highlight for Laneway Singapore is where Grimes didn't sing at all and invite Chinese rapper and screamed, it was really cool and like woah I mean even Grimes joined to scream with the rapper haha. Such an unique show.

Credit to: Instagram

CHVRCHES (Meet&Greet + Show)

As you know that CHVRCHES meet and greet was clash with THE 1975 show and I only get the first two songs and the last 4 songs to watch so the other songs I only get to hear it backstage. When I went to the MnG tent I saw a long line for people who also wants to meet CHVRCHES but luckily the winner just can cut the line so it's more like a vip access. But one thing I noticed when I arrived at the tent was a note saying "CHVRCHES meet and greet cancelled" and I was thinking whether this is the same thing that happened when I was lining up to meet THE 1975 and they cancelled it. The staff said the artist was tired to do a meet and greet, probably because the long lines so only the winner gets to see the artist and guess what? WE WENT TO THE BACKSTAGE! 

This is actually my first experience coming to the backstage in a huge festival like this and I didn't expect this at all so this is like my lucky day, big opportunity for me and I get to see what artists normally do before their performs. I saw GRIMES and say hi to her (can't take a pic with her because the staffs only allowed us to take pics with the artist we chose) and I saw the singer of Beach House too! It was really cool to see how the backstage is really like. 

The manager of CHVRCHES asked which one of us who come alone all the way from Jakarta just to see them and I said 'that would be me' and she said 'you really come alone?" 'yeah i did come alone from jakarta' haha. 

After a few mins (and I was jamming and singing while THE 1975 performs in the background) finally the band came to us, and I speak to Lauren, Iain, and Martin. I asked them sign a few things like cds and tshirt i just bought at merchandise store. Lauren Mayberry is really cute and she is just the same height as me, I told her that I love the new album and my favorite is Bury It and she said 'Aw that's nice' and then we only have maximum 10 mins so we take pictures and selfies and then we're done. It was really nice to meet them in person and they were all really nice! I hope to get to see them again soon, hopefully they will come to Indonesia or Malaysia again. Fingerscrossed!

With CHVRCHES! I'm beyond happy. Look at that big smile on me.

 Here are the stuffs they were signed and 3 of it are for my friends

Lauren signing my t-shirt yay!

After GRIMES finished, I was in second row and trying to get the front row for CHVRCHES and I got the front row and I am so happy. I like to be in the front row during concert because you get to see your favorite artist closer than ever and the best thing is you don't feel squeezed because maybe someone in the back pushed you and you get free air than people in the back (if you know what I mean). They started with Never Ending Circles and I was enjoying, dancing, singing along throughout their show and it was really really fun. Lauren is always great and she has incredible voice, great presence and CHVRCHES is just a fantastic group. Their live version is the same as in the digital song. My favorite part from their show are: Never Ending Circles, Leave A Trace, Bury it, Recover. 

 They were freaking amaaaaaaazing! Hope to see them again real soon.

CHVRCHES set list via laneway instagram

So I think that's all, I only saw Flume for 20 mins because I have to leave asap due to the last train mrt was around 11.50pm and his show started at 11pm. It was really an amazing festival and this is my new experience as I come alone and met my internet friends for real. I really hope we can see each other again in another festival or another concert! Thank you for Laneway festival for made the meet n greet possible and I still can't believe that I get to the backstaage and met CHVRCHES in person. Thank you!