Thursday, September 12, 2024 – The Louvre

Travel Blog 2 Minutes
The Pyramids at the Louvre.

I decided to shake up things a little and instead of a croissant for breakfast I got a cinnamon babka.

The babka was good but very dense and doughy. I think I’ll stick to croissants. 🥐

I enjoyed the clear blue skies and brisk fall weather as I walked along the Seine on my way to the Louvre this morning.

The French Institute and the Eiffel Tower.
The French Institute is in charge of preserving and protecting the culture of France. The Institute is very big on preserving French food, language and wine. Thanks to the watchdogs at the French Institute you can’t call a sparkling wine Champagne unless it is produced in the Champagne region of France.

I got to the Louvre at 9:45 and met the tour guide for the skip the line tour that I booked a couple of weeks ago.

This is tour guide Nadia.

We had a total of six people on the tour. A couple from New York and a father and his two twenty something sons from Connecticut. The tour covered the highlights of the Louvre and lasted three hours.

The Venus De Milo. One of the most famous examples of ancient Greek sculpture. The Greeks want it returned to Greece. It was a madhouse around this statue.
This is a bronze of Mercury. Notice that he is standing on a man’s head and the man is blowing him aloft.
The famous statue of Nike called Winged Victory.
The crowd in front of the Mona Lisa was like a mosh pit, everybody pushing, shoving and jostling to get a view of this famous painting.
This is Liberty Leading the People. Marianne is the name of the woman holding the flag and rallying the troops during the French Revolution. Marianne has come to symbolize the cornerstones of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
This huge painting is on the wall opposite the Mona Lisa. It depicts the Biblical account of the wedding where Jesus turned water into wine. It is the biggest painting in the Louvre but nobody notices it because they are too busy fighting through the crowd to see the Mona Lisa.

This is where the tour ended. Nadia was a very knowledgeable tour guide but her Russian accent, think Natasha Fatale from the Bullwinkle cartoons, and her rapid fire delivery occasionally made it hard for me to follow her narration.

Nadia led the rest of the tour group out of the Museum and I stayed to continue my tour.

Beautiful depiction of Mary with baby Jesus and baby John the Baptist.
The paintings on the ceiling of this long gallery were amazing.
The colors are so vibrant.
The Louvre has a massive collection of Egyptian artifacts. Egypt wants them back. The Louvre said they bought them fair and square and they are not returning them.
There was a whole wing of Art Objects.

At about 5:00 I ran across this guy.

Notice the knife to the temple. I know how he feels. Too much art for one day. If I don’t get out of here soon I will put a knife through my temple.

I finally escaped and made my way back to the hotel. I was so tired that I stoped by the place I ate last night and had a quick bulgogi burger and a beer and a side order of spiral fries.

Spiral fries.

It was very good and quick. I am beat and have to catch a train at 8:20 tomorrow morning for a day trip to Reims.

That’s it from Paris. I hope you are having a great day wherever you are.

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Published by abeandmarkonthecamino

I've been retired from the Union Pacific Railroad since 2017. I've been planning to walk the Camino for about 6 months and can't wait to get started.

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