Really? When I was there.... can't remember when. 90s sometime... I saw the Mona Lisa and there were no guards or crowds, but just a very small painting. And all the French folk were perfectly lovely to us.

Totally different experience. Even the guy we went to Paris to visit at IRCAM in the Pompidou facility was 3 hours late and terribly condescending to the Japanese Executive I was with! Remember a guard each side of the painting and a large crowd, so getting close was hard.