Day 27 – Paris IV

We learned our lesson waiting in line at the Musee D’Orsay for over an hour. We knew that Le Palais de Louvre would only be worse.  We were determined to GET THERE EARLY.  It opened at nine, so we lined up at 8:45 along with the other early birds, all sporting pre-bought billets in hand.

Pete even skipped his compulsory morning cup of café to avoid the madding crowd.

Looking up through the glass pyramid, designed by I.M. Pei, we were ready to tackle the enormity of the Louvre.

As soon as the doors opened, people rushed like race horses @ the gate to be the first to shoot pics of the “Mona Lisa.”  Up and UP and UP, no one even stopped to look at “Winged Victory.”  We also were of the mindset that we had better catch the old gal (or guy?) later, not that we are big fans of Da Vinci’s mysterious lady, but the sooner we got to it, the fewer people we would have to fight off.

A dapper British gent took our picture in front of it.  We returned the favor.

There she, or he, is.  Some modern historians theorize that this lady is really Da Vinci in drag.  It is the only picture for which no actual model was documented.  Using computer imaging, they superimposed a picture of the artist onto old Mona and voilà, the bone structure matched.

Here is the crowd at 9 in front of the painting.

We toured the hall of Italian painters first.  A copy of Da Vinci’s “La Vierge aux Rochers,’ hangs in our room @ L’Hotel Da Vinci.

The ceilings of the Italian gallery attract the eye, too.

An artist was painting the people in the Italian gallery.  He forgot to paint all the tourists taking selfies.

A luminescent painting by Filippo Lippi — “Maitre de la Nativite de Castello.”  All that glitters is gold in this case.

Ok, “Winged Victory,” it’s time for your close up.  Smile.  Whoops, sorry about that.

The Louvre has an extensive Egyptian section with rooms that seem to go on forever.

We saw many sculptures of regal Egyptian families.

The “Seated Scribe” is undoubtedly the masterpiece of the Egyptian collection.  Discovered in the 19th century by a French archeologist, the piece has amazing detail, such as the scribe’s fine finger nails and striking eyes made of rock crystal and magnetite.

Next we looked at the furnishings of Louis Quatorze through Louis Seize (XIV-XIV).

A music room with harpsicord

The opulent pocket watches

The gold jewelry case.

Entire sets of dishware

A gilded writing room shows the excess of the nobility.  And then came the French Revolution.  The commoners were taxed to death to pay for the opulent lifestyle of the aristocracy, so they got their heads together in private and began the revolution and then the reign of terror.  Les Aristos?  Off with their heads!

The next rooms were examples of  furnishings during the reign of the Napoleons, well after the revolution.  The rooms are starting to become more symmetrical.

The symmetrical dining hall

Napoleon in all his splendor. Check out the ballerina slippers on the warrior king.

The courtyard.  We agreed before we arrived that we would not try to see the entire museum on this particular trip, so we left at this point to get something to eat.  The crowds had become unbearable.

Pete returned to the Louvre in the evening to take some night shots.

Ramses Verenkoff in front of his pyramid

After the Louvre we took the Metro to the Latin Quartier to get something to eat that is not French cuisine.

We wandered the streets: Just about every type of ethnic food is served on these streets.

We settled on some Vietnamese pho.

When we finished lunch, a hospital strike was going on, which created huge crowds and lots of congestion. Apparently hospital workers aren’t happy as they chanted loudly in the streets of the Latin Quarter.

Escaping those on strike, we walked over to Notre Dame and took some quick shots.

The poppies around the cathedral were so striking.

These lover locks are soon to come off, much to the dismay of countless lovers, past and present.  The weight of the locks had caused a part of the railing to collapse, so the French government has decided to end the tradition.

A view of the flying buttresses from le pont (the bridge).

Notre Dame is still a gorgeous cathedral after all these years and still does the spirits of Victor Hugo’s Quasimodo & Esmeralda justice.

We have heard mainly American classic rock music throughout Paris (and throughout France for that matter).

MYTH NUMBER TWO: Parisians always dress up. Jeans (especially blue) are popular everywhere, especially with a black top or jacket and a scarf.  Dress up, of course, if you are going to a fine dining restaurant with lots of stars and dollar signs associated with it.

We wanted to see the Eiffel Tower light up and twinkle at night, so we made late reservations at a trendy restaurant in the Trocadero, La Coincidence, full of attractive, well-dressed and well-coiffed young Parisians.  We had a delicious meal there.

Right next door to the restaurant, an art gallery was having a champagne reception.  Champagne glasses were everywhere.

At eleven, we finally saw the tower lights put on a show, quite magical. Pete has a great video of the twinkling lights.

Ciao,

P&J