Paris: Day VII

 image from: The Louvre website

The Louvre is a mega-museum. It was raining and chilly when we got there. We looked at the line snaking around the Pyramid and wondered how long the wait would be. We decided to just get in line and see. It probably took 45 minutes to get in, but when we compared it to the wait we saw stacking up behind us, it seemed reasonable. Note for a future visit: GET TICKETS AHEAD OF TIME. DON'T WAIT IN LINE.

As I said, the Louvre is enormous. From Wiki:

the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet).

Once we got inside, we had to 1) buy the tickets and 2) figure out what we wanted to see and how to get there. There were several ticket booths, all with long lines:

(Each large cluster of people is a ticket booth)

We looked at the floor plan to try to figure out which small portion of the museum we wanted to see, knowing that there was no way we would be able to see even a fraction of what's there - also knowing that we are both fairly intense when we are looking at art: we read about each piece, we talk about them, we take our time... So:

We decided to go up to the 2nd floor in the Richlieu wing to see the 15th-17th century Dutch, German, and Flemish paintings. We had to pass some French paintings in the Sully wing on our way to Richlieu. Now, I realize how this sounds: "having to pass the French paintings." It's not that we want to see them, it's just that when you know you'll feel a sensory overload because you can't not stop, look at, admire, read about each one you pass, you want to just rush to get to the thing you've finally decided you wanted to see.

We did stop for a few. I guess I never knew that Monet painted winter scenes:

(Doesn't this look like it could be a snowy road in Vermont?)

After admiring a few rooms of Dutch, German, and Flemish art,

we realized that we'd seen quite a lot of Dutch, German, and Flemish art recently (both here in Vienna and in Amsterdam), so we made a plan to go back downstairs and out of the Richlieu wing over to the Denon wing to see the 13th - 18th century Italian paintings. We consulted the floor plan (again):

We took some breaks to appreciate the view outside.

Here's another thing I didn't know: artists can receive permission to paint copies of the works in the Louvre - in fact, there's quite a long tradition of painters - called "copyists" doing this. Here's an interesting article about this from Smithsonian Magazine.

To get to the Italian paintings, we went through the decorative arts in the Richlieu wing (purple rooms 1 - 7 in the floor plan above). This wasn't our plan, but we got to see some stunning pieces from the Middle Ages.

We passed the Winged Victory of Samothrace:

And got to the Italian paintings:

So very much to see.

I told M that I refused, on some kind of principle, to go with the crowd to see the Mona Lisa. I don't like the idea that one piece gets so much attention. My mother, upon hearing this, exclaimed that it was completely ridiculous to have gone all that way and not to have seen it. I actually did see it, but I was tricked into it. As I was looking at some paintings (after having made my pronouncements about the Mona Lisa), M poked his head from around a corner and said "check this out!" I looked, and there she was. She was exactly as she seems. Hrrrumph.

After the museum, we picked up my skirt that had been altered at Curling and M got me a marvelous gift - a black velvet knee-length coat with gorgeous silvery-gray lining inside and behind the collar. It's stunning. Of course, I didn't open it until Christmas...

We had plans to meet a friend/colleague of M's parents for a drink before dinner. He directs an exchange and homestay program for international students in Paris. He was charming and took us to a terrific little wine bar near our hotel. Our waiter was witty - striking the perfect balance between teasing us and giving us great service. After that, we strolled down to a place we'd seen a few nights before just off Rue Mazarine on Rue de Seine called La Palette. They weren't really serving dinner and we were quite hungry (notice I didn't tell you about lunch? No lunch). A nice Spanish-speaking waiter sent us just across the way to Bistrot Mazarin where we had steak frites and roasted chicken.

On our stroll back to our hotel, we walked by a couple smooching in front of La Coloniale, a small Cambodian restaurant. They yelled their recommendation to us through tipsy giggles: "You must eat here - there's no place like it in Paris!"

We'll see.