Paris, Day 3, Glass pyramids, quirky grins, and panoramic water paintings…

Today, we decided would be the first of our two days to visit museums.

 We were able to pick up a nice museum pass which allowed us into quite a number of art galleries and museums, as long as it was within two consecutive days.  So we choose which ones we wanted to try and see within those two days, had breakfast, and headed out.
Considering how many museums, art galleries, and general places to look at stuff, that were in Paris, we knew there was no way in a very warm place that we were going to see every single museum, art gallery, and place to look at stuff.  So, we had to be selective in where we were to go.  Thankfully, we only had a select number of places that we actually wanted to go see, so we were able to work it out well.  The first place we had to go see (Kathleen wanting to go there since she was knee high to a grasshopper) was the Louvre.

 An arch along the boulevardes of Paris

 detail of the Arch

The Louvre is bloody big.  It has four levels of artworks, sculptures, and pretty stuff to look at.  It has been said that if you were to walk through every room and look at every piece on display, it would take you well over a month.  A century or so ago it was actually bigger, being joined on to a palace.  Then one point a group of unhappy people (unhappy as in rebellious, and people as in Paris), burnt the palace down.  Thankfully, the whole place didn’t go up, and now the Louvre has a lovely view of the gardens of the Tuileries.
Since we weren’t going to be here for over a month, we wouldn’t be able to see everything, but luckily, we only had a select number of things we wanted to see.  The first of those being the Mona Lisa.
The Mona Lisa needs no introduction, everyone knows it, and everyone was there to see it.  It took us almost an hour to get even close to the painting, waiting for the crowds to gradually flow through.  I had my fill of the crowd about 15 minutes in, and ducked out to look at the outer wall paintings of the room, while Kathleen braved the crowd to get right up close.
After the Lady with the cheeky smirk, getting to the other exhibits we wanted to see was a piece of cake.  The only thing we had to watch out for was the little guide-women with little wands for pointing, and their guide-groups.  Some were quite rude to anyone that didn’t get out of their way. Personally, I wanted to tell them where they could stick their wands, but to keep good French-Aussie relations, I bit my tongue.  Besides, there was enough room for all of us.

 The other exhibits we aimed to see were the Madonna of the Rocks, Victory of Samothrace (sometimes known as the Winged Victory), and the Venus de Milo.  Winged Victory is easy to find, being at the top of the main stairs into the Denon wing, the Madonna of the Rocks is on a wall just outside of the Salle des Etats, the room housing the Mona Lisa. The Venus de Milo, on the other hand, requires us to pass through a reasonable part of the Louvre in order to see it.  Not a big hassle, as we were there to see the art anyway.  After seeing the armless lady, we wandered through the french area, and then we headed out, choosing to go via the inverted pyramid.  If you believe the ‘Da Vinci Code’, Mary Magdalene is currently buried there, though the Priory has probably moved her again by now.
While you all try to figure out where they could have hidden her, have a look at our pictures.

 The glass Pyramid of the Louvre

 Closer

 One of the small Pyramids

 The Louvre

 The buses actually drive through there

 The Arch that use to have a palace behind it

 Statue outside the Louvre

 The girl with the grin

 Maddy that rocks

 One part of the Louvre’s roof

 another part of the roof

 Nice

 Winged Victory

 from the front

 Venus de Milo (gotta be made of…)

 The Denon wing floor near the Mona Lisa

 Just for all you “Da Vinci code’ buffs

 Kathleen insisted

 The inverted Pyramid

 The baby pyramid

 wasn’t sure if I should have knelt or not.

The next location on our list for today was the Musee de l’Orangerie. Its located at the end of the gardens that the Louvre overlooks.   While having a range of artworks on display, L’orangerie is world re-known for its collection of Monet’s works.  Kathleen is a huge fan of Monet, and has always wanted to come here. The works that L’orangerie was designed for specifically was his grand continuous painting, ‘Nymphéas’.  Its basically two paintings of a 360 degree view of the famous, beautiful, lilly-filled pond/lake.  By building L’Orangerie, with its two oval rooms on the top floor, Monet’s paintings would be displayed as he intended.  I should note that when he first presented ‘Nymphéas’, a lot of critics didn’t like it.  Personally, I don’t know what they were on about.  I think its nice.

 One of the curved walls showing ‘Nymphéas’

 another

 Its such a calming picture

 Sort of reminds me of when I don’t wear my glasses

 Round and round she goes

 One of the long sides

 it would be nice to have a room like this.

 Outside the L’orangerie

 A bust

After that, we were starting to run out of day, so we thought we end the day with a climb up the Arc de Triomphe.  I didn’t actually know you could climb up the thing, until we saw people on top of it.  Thankfully, our wonderful little museum pass allowed us up there as well, so up we climbed.  Because of the design of Paris, a good number of streets star out from the Arc, so you get some lovely views (and you get to watch the chaos of the roundabout).
While we were there, they must have had some sort of ceremony, because there were quite a number of fully kitted up soldiers, and some rather older looking ones, doing something at the Paris grave of the unknown soldier.

 Some of the views from the Arc

 Towards the centre of Paris

 more of the road

 Pretty

 Some of the names remembered on the Arc

 lest we forget

 Some of the detail on the Arc

 Some more

 quite impressive

 Quite a lot of detail

 You don’t realise how detailed it is

 until you try to picture it all

 some of the boys in green (Kathleen wanted to get a picture from the front, but was concerned she might get arrested)

 The eternal flame

 The grave of the Unknown Soldier

 The shield at the foot of the grave

 The grave

By now, it was getting a bit late, and we were hungry.  Kathleen thought it would be nice to go back up to to the Place de Tertre, and check out the various cafes and restaurants available there.  We got up there by a small road train (similar to the ones you see at carnivals giving children rides), which also gives you a brief tour guide of the local area.  If I thought driving in a car through the streets was fun, I thought differently after this train.  Not that the driver drove erratically or anything like that, he was quite good.  Just bouncing along the cobbled roads with just a rope between you and said cobbled roads, made me a little nervous.  Anyway, we made it alive, and found a nice restaurant.  I should mention that France only had restrictions on smoking in public buildings and structures, while they are more than welcome to smoke in public, restaurants and cafes.  This was a bit of a worry for us, not being too fond of smoking.  It was rather hard to find restaurants that didn’t have smoking, and unfortunately, this one was no different. We did get to enjoy a nice plate of snails and pasta, while being entertained by a wacky accordion player, before we had to quickly end our meal, or else succumb to cigarette smoke.  Despite the smoking, we really enjoyed our dinner, mainly because of our entertainment.  We told him we were Australian, and he automatically broke into a tune of Waltzing Matilda.  Never thought something so stereotypical could be so fun.

  The windmill with the lights on

 The little train

 He was fantastic

I should add that, while the french are a lovely people, they don’t seem very fond of the English (probably due to historical reasons, I don’t know).  Once we assured them that we were Australia, (whom they absolutely LOVE), we got on swell.

Well, that pretty well wraps up this day.  Until next time, with more Museums and art.
Love you all, really, really miss you,

Kathleen and Keith