On our way to Paris to celebrate Christmas, Steve and I started talking about the sights that we wanted to see most while we were there. Since we were only staying for four days, we knew that we wouldn't be able see everything. For me, I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower most. For Steve, it was the Louvre.
As we shared our thoughts about each place, I couldn't understand what Steve's fascination with the Louvre was. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone (especially a guy) be so fascinated in seeing a river?" I kept my opinions to myself at first as I listened to him chatter on and on about how amazing it was going to be to see it and so on and so forth until I couldn't take it anymore. I finally started laughing as I said to him, "What is it with you and this stupid river?"
The look that he gave me was one of complete shock. With eyes open wide he replied, "Please tell me after two years of French in high school that you don't think the Louvre is a river?" I felt really stupid because at that point I realized it wasn't a river but I still had no idea what it was. So I back-pedaled and tried to save face. I said, "Of course I know it isn't a river, I was just joking." I didn't get off that easy. He lifted his eyebrows and said to me, "OK, if it isn't a river, then what is it?" Now I'm in big trouble because I don't have a clue. As I sat there trying to come up with a good answer, he knew I didn't know. So on the rest of our drive to Paris, I got a crash course on the history of the Louvre. How it is only one of the most famous and largest museums in the world. Home to the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and movie set of many Hollywood films including the most recent, "Da Vinci Code".
Since we visited the Eiffel Tower on Christmas Day, the day after Christmas we decided to visit the Louvre. Though I don't particularly care for museums, it was really important to Steve so I tried to keep an open mind. Because it was quite far from our hotel, we had to take the train several stops into the city to get to it.
As soon as we walked out of the train station, we were in the heart of Paris and it was breathtaking. I felt as though we had walked onto a movie set. All of the sights were just like you would see in any of the popular Hollywood films...cars turning on roundabouts, people walking around holding hands, and pigeons flying everywhere. After several pictures, we studied our map and started walking toward what we thought was the Louvre.
We walked around for over an hour and when we found ourselves amongst mobs of people shopping within the city, we realized we were lost. You would think that a landmark as big as the Louvre would be kind of hard to miss yet somehow we managed to walk past it. Even worse was the fact that the more we walked, the farther away we seemed to get.
For me, this was not necessarily a bad thing because on our detour I was able to see some of the most expensive stores in the world...Gucci, Channel, Christian Dior, and my personal favorite, Godiva. In the window of the Godiva store, boxes of chocolates were selling for $150EU or more. That's almost $10EU for one bite of chocolate!
After our four-mile detour of seeing almost everything except what we set out to see, we finally found the Louvre. And it was certainly NOT a river! It was probably the most incredible display of architecture I have ever seen. The museum itself is set up such that when you look at from a distance, you see a backward U shaped building. As you near the entrance, there is a huge stone arch called the Arc du Tromphe du Carrousel. It was absolutely beautiful.
Beyond the arch, you come across a large glass pyramid. This is where you gain access to the Louvre. Once you are inside, you descend to a mezzanine. From there you purchase tickets to the area of the museum you would like to explore. Since Steve and I both enjoy sculptures and paintings, this is the section we chose to tour.
As we walked along looking at the various paintings, we were shocked by how large they were. Some of them were at least twenty feet tall. They were so detailed and lifelike that you felt as though you could walk right into them. Many of the paintings were religious in nature. Several had to do with the crucifixion of Christ, some displayed Mary with Child, and there were a few depicting the Last Supper. Other paintings we saw had to do with cherubs and angels. Most of these paintings had very violent themes with angels hovering above. Again quite religious in nature. We also saw several portraits...mostly of Napoleon.
We walked through the museum for almost two hours gazing upon the magnificent displays of artwork until we finally came upon the infamous "Mona Lisa". There we SO many people standing in front of it that it was nearly impossible to see. Everyone was taking pictures (even though you weren't supposed to) and in order to get mine, I had push my way through the crowd and step on several people's feet to get them out of my way!
Once we saw the Mona Lisa, we quickly escaped from the massive crowds of people and decided to look at some of the sculptures before we left. Many of them were from Greek Mythology and I found them fascinating. A lot of them were of men posing "au natural". Of course I took several pictures and as I was taking a "close up" shot of one of them, Steve started laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he smiled and said, "Do you see that guy with the camera over there? Well, he was just taking a picture of you while you were taking a picture of "THAT"!
By the time we finally left the Louvre, we had been walking for over five hours. We were completely exhausted. Unfortunately, we still had to walk another mile back to the train station to catch a train back to our hotel. Funny thing is, once we arrived near the vicinity of the train stop, we noticed that things were strangely familiar. Sure enough...we got off at the same train stop 6 hours ago. If we had turned left out of the train station instead of right, we would have walked right to the Louvre instead of walking 4 miles all the way around it! In hindsight, we are glad that we got lost because if we hadn't we would have missed out on seeing some of the most interesting sights in Paris.
For someone who initially thought the Louvre was a river, I was amazed by what we saw. For someone who doesn't care for museums all that much, I was really impressed. But what made today really special was the fact that it meant so much to Steve. I'm sure if we ever go back to Paris we will visit the Louvre again considering the fact that we only saw a mere fraction of the 6,000 paintings on display. And if there is a next time...I'll make sure that I'm a little more discreet with my "close-up" pictures of the sculptures there!
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