Knowing how the crowd surges to the popular pieces, we headed straight to the Mona Lisa. There was already a crowd, but we had plenty of space and the opportunity to get a front row view and pics. Compared to the many other works, what struck me most was how small she was - truly like a piece of artwork that was designed for someone's home - not for a museum showpiece. La Gioconda was lovely, but...to my non-trained, non-artistic mind, she looked pretty much like all the many pictures I'd seen of her! If you have any interest in art, the Louvre's website is really wonderful. One of the coolest things is the ability to see many of their most famous works, including the Mona Lisa, in high resolution and to be able to zoom in on various parts. It actually gets you far closer to the works than you can ever get in real life!
I was much more impressed with the other famous work of art with which she shares the room - the Wedding at Cana. I think of this fondly, probably because I had to write a paper on this piece of art in my Art History class. I got a really good grade on it, and the professor told me I should consider Art History as a major. (By this time, I was actually in my last semester of college and was only taking the class to finish out my general ed requirements. But I will take and cling to ego stroking any time I can get it!).
Our general plan for seeing the Louvre was to get an overview of the most famous pieces that were there and to glance at the other things that caught our eye along the way. This ended up being a good strategy, as we were able to cover most of the museum and to see a lot of different styles of art. I was a little surprised that one of the museum's most famous works, the Winged Victory at Samothrace, was in the stairwell!
We spent all morning in the Louvre, checking out all the cool works of art. Rebecca fell asleep, so Ramy and I spent a lot of time carrying her in the stroller up and down the many flights of stairs!
After we'd taken in our fill of culture, we decided to get a snack and then shop at bit at the Louvre galleries. I really liked I.M. Pei's pyramid, as well as the inverted pyramid just outside the Louvre.
I have to say that the Louvre had a lot of really cool kids books that brought the works of art to life in great ways for kids. Rebecca is obsessed with several of the books we bought her there, and she pulls them out for us to read regularly. We decided to get lunch in the Carousel area of the Louvre. They had a McDonalds, so Ramy got lunch for Rebecca there, and mom and I decided to get something else. Crazily, while we were out, there was some kind of fire alarm or terrorist alarm or something, and these enormous steel doors slammed shut. We were totally separated from the area where Ramy was and were completely trapped! For a good 30 minutes, we tried to get out, unsuccessfully! Finally, someone got the doors open and we met back up with them. It was kind of funny but also a little scary. It reminded me how much I love having cell phones!
After our Louvre adventure, we took the opportunity to walk along the Seine and browse the booksellers and artists who sell their wares along the riverbanks.
We walked and walked and enjoyed the view. We passed back over the river, across the Ile de la Cite in front of Notre Dame and decided to take in Sainte Chapelle to end our day. Again, because of our Museum Passes, we sailed right in, bypassing the long line! I was so surprised by how small Sainte Chapelle is! It makes sense, given that it was built just to hold the relics. It was beautiful, even though the altar area was under renovation.
After we left Sainte Chapelle, we were tired and ready to head home. So we got on the bus...only to find that the bus stopped just one stop away and we all had to get off! Because of a huge demonstration going on at Hotel de Ville, all the transportation in that area was shut down! So we walked the length of the right bank to get home! It was pretty cool, because it gave us a better idea of the layout of the Marais. Still, our aching feet couldn't believe we'd done that to them after all the walking we done already that day!
We decided to rest for a short while. Then, while Rebecca and Grammy napped, Ramy and I went out on the town for a little date in the Marais. We walked around and checked out all the nightlife - there are so many restaurants and cafes and bars in the Marais! We also discovered the very busy gay scene in the area! We had dinner at a great Italian restaurant on Rue de Roisiers, and we brought pizza back home to Grammy and Rebecca.
After that day, we all slept WELL!
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