Life Lessons from the Mona Lisa

The most famous painting in the world might be the least viewed painting in Louvre.

Yes, my mask has an estimated insurance value of $870 million, too.

Last weekend I took myself on a romantic weekend to Paris. As a friend pointed out, the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself, so, why not? I stayed in a crappy yet charming hotel, roamed sunny streets and boulevards, sauntered through world-famous museums.

I reconnected with an important part of myself: the adventurer.

Musée d’Orsay, the Père Lachaise cemetery, the Grande Mosquée, Sacré Coeur, lazing for hours at Jardin du Luxembourg on Sunday afternoon.

My face hurt from smiling so much.

On Saturday I visited the Louvre for the first time in 30 years. The last time, I was a 13-year-old on a 24-day bus tour of Europe with her family. This form of travel mortified me at the time — it seemed SO uncool to be herded across the continent like a flock of sheep.

In retrospect, I’m off-the-scale grateful for the experience. Seeing the Sistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, Monte Carlo, The Viennese Opera, Pompeii and more was an incredible experience for a kid from country Australia. It left me hungry for more.

This time, my first stop in the Louvre was the Mona Lisa. The painting is over 500 years old, and physically smaller than its place in…