Of course you hear how huge The Louvre is, and how it would take forever to see everything...but I don't think that sunk in until I saw it. It truly is massive - we spent the morning there and only made it down one Hall. We, of course, hit some of the highlights - Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo - but I could have sat and stared and continued listening to the history lesson on my audio guide (which was a Nintendo DS, quite interesting to dangle around your neck) in the French and Italian Renaissance Hall for many more hours. Amazing.
I hate when Michael takes dumb looking candid pictures of me, but this picture kind of makes me laugh. Maybe it is because I am not a 12 yr old boy, but that Nintendo kept confusing me and getting me lost. We walked back and forth through this hallway several times as it kept "rerouting" us. This picture captures my confusion appropriately. :)
The DS led me through the Italian hall and into this large room and began talking about this amazingly large painting in the room - the largest one in The Louvre. I was surprised the room was so crowded. I stood there staring at The Wedding at Cana, this amazing painting of a wedding feast with Jesus in attendance, and listened to the description of every aspect of the painting...and, I am sure this is yet another thing I shouldn't admit at the risk of making me sound even more stupid, but I didn't even realize the Mona Lisa was behind me. I say that mainly bc it was the most unassuming piece of art in the whole room - minus the 200 Asian tourists fighting to take a front row picture.
One of the things that stood out to me while we were there was how many field trips were coming through - we are talking young elementary school age kids, 5 and 6 yr olds. It is truly amazing that these little French children have access to so much culture at such a young age and can grow up appreciating it. Our children are so removed from it, taking it in through books...and going to the Coke Museum for field trips. It was also impressive how well-behaved they all were. It seemed like there was one teacher with a herd of 10-15 young children, and they all just seemed to follow behind and listen to their teacher explain each piece of art to them. And no giggling and all the nudity! I can't imagine signing a permission slip for my kids to go to The Louvre!
View of The Lourve from across the river...
After our morning at the Louvre, we made our way to Sainte Chapelle. This is the 13th century gothic chapel where St Louis kept the Passion of the Christ relics, including the Crown of Thorns (which apparently is now at Notre Dame and is brought out once a week for viewing...wish I had know that and planned better). It is small but so impressive. The amount of stain glass - that tells the entire story of the Old and New Testaments - is incredible. This is one that pictures just won't do justice.
Then we grabbed a late lunch - street crepes.
Parisian drinking fountain...
Our next stop was Musee d'Orsay. Not the most efficient order of events, but it was nice to keep to a church, museum order to break it up! The d'Orsay was filled with iconic impressionist paintings and sculptures - it was like walking through my high school art book.
I loved the view over the river through the clock tower...you can faintly see le Sacre Couer on the hill in the distance beyond the monstrosity of the Louvre...
After that, we had one more stop...Les Invalides and Napoleon's Tomb.
After a long day of site seeing, we bid adieu to The Smiths, changed in to dinner clothes and met The Pavloffs and The Luskins at Bateaux Mouches for a dinner cruise along le Seine. Unfortunately, it was a rainy evening but it was still beautiful seeing the city from the river and an amazing setting for dinner with friends!
And then I got my first glimpse of tour eiffel...the light show at night is magical.
It was a long, packed day...so, after a brief stop at a cafe for a night cap, we all headed to our respective homes to rest up for another full day.
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