WTF Wednesday: Louvre opening hours

This week, my husband and I were supposed to be in France. We are not (it is a loooong story, and one which I will share with you later this week). As I was preparing for our visit, I tried to figure out when Rand and I might be able to pop into the Louvre for a few hours. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my travels, it’s that museum opening hours are a fickle mistress. They follow no rhyme or reason and vary from city to city and country to country (hell, they vary within a city).

So I was pleased to find that the Louvre was open on Sundays, which is when we were free! Hooray. But wait … what’s this?

Wait, what?

For reasons I can’t explain, this positively cracked me up. Apparently, even when the Louvre is open, some of the rooms are closed. Fair enough – perhaps they were putting in a new installation? Or maybe it was a security measure?

Nope. None of those things. Instead, the justification absolutely slayed me: “The museum does not have enough staff to keep the entire museum open every day.”

Forgive me, but that is hilarious. I can just imagine the exchange:

“Monsieur! We do not have enough employees to keep all the rooms of the museum staffed!”

“Well, then, close the rooms!”

“Um … Wait, really? Shouldn’t we should simply hire more people?”

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find people with the correct mix of ennui and irreverence to work here? CLOSE THE ROOMS!”

“Oui, Monsieur.”

I love it. I positively LOVE IT.