Picking up from getting our Lourve tickets...
We decided that we’d see the Mona Lisa first to “avoid the crowds,” and then immediately walked in the wrong direction and got lost. We ended up near the Napoleonic Apartments, though, which are worth a visit if you are ever there. Napoleon had some opulent taste, that’s for sure. Heavy on the gold and chandeliers.
Then we found the Winged Victory, which was honestly what I wanted to see the most out of the whole museum. It was stupidly crowded but she was majestic just the same. What an incredibly elegant sculpture.
If you haven’t seen the documentary The Rape of Europa, about the Nazi bombing and looting of artwork during World War II and the efforts put forth to protect them, it’s a really incredible film. The part about moving the Winged Victory is particularly interesting. It’s on Amazon Prime to watch for free!
At this point Kate decided to go off on her own for awhile as she had already seen the Mona Lisa. Stuart and I battled the crowd to see it, and it was such a dense crowd that my claustrophobia wouldn’t allow me to stay for long. She is a remarkable portrait, it’s true, but it seems like they could time entry into her area or something to make it more accessible. (We all agreed in general that the Louvre could be run a bit better, but that is another discussion.) I did catch a moment where I could see the whole portrait, but most of the experience was like this:
Side note: does anyone else remember the movie Ever After: A Cinderella Story, with Drew Barrymore? Am I making it up, or is it implied in that film that Leonardo daVinci painted the Mona Lisa based on Cinderella? I mean obviously it’s not an historically accurate film, but I’m wondering if my brain is failing me.
Stu and I also found the Venus de Milo, after wandering through a lot of Roman and Greek sculptures. She is a nice sculpture, but I don’t quite get what’s so great about her. Stu looked it up and apparently it has a lot to do with France having to return antiquities and needing to make a statement about their art possessions, so they built her up when she was discovered. Makes sense.
We were all pretty beat by that point- the Louvre is HUGE- so even though we had just barely scratched the surface, we decided to leave. What an amazing place though. Even just the palace itself is unbelievable, with the statuary on the facade. I can’t wait to go back.
Some other Louvre favorites:
Casual head-stabbing
The ceiling detail was incredible in almost every room.
This guy is on a walk adjoining the Mona Lisa and looks quite disgruntled at all the attention she is getting.
I couldn’t find a plaque for this, but it’s huge and clearly done to fit this space. If anyone knows what it is, I’d love to know. It was beautiful.
From the Louvre, we walked up the Seine and over to an island, where Kate has been given a restaurant recommendation. The restaurant was very old inside, as though it hadn’t been updated since the Renaissance (aside from the addition of beer taps and electricity). I had French onion soup, Kate veal and cabbage, and Stu lamb stew. Stu for stew. The bathroom in this place was great, very old fashioned. I wish I had a better picture so I could show you.
At this point my camera battery was dying (the horror!) and Kate and I both wanted to change shoes, so we decided to go back to the apartment- but not before we went to Notre Dame, which was only a few blocks from the restaurant. We didn’t have time t climb the towers, which I would have loved to do, but I’m very glad we went. I love the detail put into European cathedral facades. So many figures, and they are all different! I always feel like I wish I knew on whim they were based, especially the obscure ones that are not clearly saints. Anyway, we went inside the cathedral and a service was happening. I lit a candle and said a prayer for Vivian, my cousin’s 3.5 year old who has brain cancer (www.vivianrosedipg.org), which felt good. I don’t know much about religion, but I figure things like that can’t hurt, right?
When we went back outside and were ogling the building again (and I got to use my 11-16mm zoom that I rented for the trip), a procession of bishops and priests came out of the church singing, carrying a statue. Apparently it was Whit Monday, a holy day associated with the Pentecost. Who knew? It was pretty cool to see though, all these old guys in white robes chanting. Kind of a unique little bit of our visit.
16mm shot of Notre Dame
We caught a cab right near Notre Dame and were whisked back to our Airbnb, where we spent half an hour or so before getting on the subway to the Eiffel Tower. We spent quite awhile in the area of the tower, in both daylight and night, and it is beautiful no matter how you look at it. I felt like I could have stayed all day and stared at it. Stu took this photo of Kate and me, looking like we are having a very romantic weekend:
We went to dinner just up the hill from the tower, and when we came back it was dark and we tried to walk underneath the tower, but it was closed off from our side. It was getting very late at this point and I had to get ready for my flight, so we decided to head “home.” We watched the light show on the tower first though, where it gets all lit up and sparkly. So pretty. I felt like a little kid looking at a magical object.
When we got back to the Airbnb I packed, and we fell asleep late, around 1:15am. I then got up at 2:30 to get to the train station and take a bus to the airport- but that is for another post, which I will hopefully wrote tonight.
For now, I’ll just say that even though I only barely made a dent in the Paris experiences I hope to have in my life, I really felt like I got a taste of the city. Staying near Montmartre in the 9th Arrondismont was lovely, and the more grand areas near the Seine were beautiful in a very different way. I can’t wait to go back.
Cameron
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