The Louve

We hopped on the train and rode into town from the Papes house where we had stayed that first night. The Louve was our first stop on our second day in Paris. It was way more impressive than we had anticipated. (Not to mention way more crowded) We got there fairly early and we still began our line-waiting clear out into the mall. We just happened to be there for the first Sunday of the month when the museums are free. Luckily that saved us a few Euros but I'm sure there were a few more people than usual--although we were told that it is always a madhouse anyway.

This is a view from inside the museum---Check out the line now. It weaves all the way around the courtyard then down into and through the entire mall. CRAZY!

The kids informed us that we were not allowed to come home until we had taken a picture of the pyramid at the Louve, ridden up the Eiffel tower and checked out the Arc de Triomphe.

Check 1!

Here is the Masterpiece depicting the crowning of Napolean and Josephine. I include this here with me included to give you some idea as to the IMMENSE scope of this painting. There is a smaller one at Versaille that we thought was monstrously huge but this one is just massive!

The next two are just two of my favorites. I couldn't resist including them just so that I can remember them more often.

What young girl doesn't love the drama of the Lady of Shallot

There you have it! The infamous Mona Lisa!

She looks so peaceful up there on that wall all by herself doesn't she?

There is just no way that you can take a good picture of the Mona Lisa now that they have it covered with the thick sheet of glass...

...But these people sure tried!

It was an absolute madhouse!
Even now, I start laughing to myself remembering all of those people shoving and pushing up to get a glimpse of Her. Don't get me wrong, it's a great painting, but really a little underwhelming in our opinion.

This on the other hand was thoroughly impressive. The detail work on this sculpture was so delicate and ornate that it quite took my breath away. It was simply beautiful. If you can zoom in on the lace collar and all of the detail work on the dress you can see what I mean. It boggles the mind that someone can create that out of a blank stone.

The crown jewels of France: On the left you have the crown of the Emperor Napolean and on the right I think you have the crown of Louis XIV or XV. I can't remember whose exact sword but it might be the coronation sword of most of the later French Kings.

Not quite sure what this piece is trying to tell us... but I'm pretty sure it was one of Jeff's faves--or at least that's what he tells me. lol

Seriously! What is with this guy? (The Roman, not Jeff)

There was so much to the Louve that we didn't even get to see the whole thing. You could literally spend a week just visiting the Louve and you'd still probably miss stuff. All in all, we enjoyed the time we did spend there. We had fun seeing Venus De Milo as well as Winged Victory. We checked out the ancient fortress that the Louve is built upon--including the dungeon down below. We oogled the Michaelangelos which are always impressive and had plenty of time to meander and take in all of the architecture of the building itself. After all, it was the royal palace before they moved to Versaille.