Paris, Day 3

It's hard to believe it's already our third day in Paris!  Our plan for today was very simple--we would head straight to Louvre and stay there as long as Andy would endure.  Afterwards, we would just "wing it" depending on how much time would be left for the day.

I was a slow poke this morning, so Geoff and Andy left for breakfast without me.  Even though Geoff was nice enough to grab a yogurt for me, by the time we made our way to Louvre, I was ravenous.  After we got a museum map, I decided we should head straight to cafeteria first.  I figured while I ate my food, Geoff and Andy could figure out what they would like to see.  By the time I finished eating, we had a general plan and route:  We'd head directly to the first floor of Denon wing first since that's where Mona Lisa and other Italian Renaissance masterpieces were displayed.  On the way there, we would encounter Winged Victory of Samothrace, one of my favorite sculpture in Louvre.  After that, we would move to the ground floor of Denon wing to see Italian sculptures from 15th - 16th centuries.  Among other things displayed there, I couldn't wait to see Michaelangelo's two slaves, Canova's Psyche and Eros, and a sculpture of a veiled lady (I couldn't remember the artist's name) again.  After that, we would make our way back upstairs to the back of the Denon wing to see Venus di Milo.  Also I suggested we should stop by the "Apollo Gallary" also located at the back of the Denon wing--that's where the crown jewels were displayed.  Finally, I was hoping that we could see Napoleon's apartment this time since Geoff and I didn't get to see it last time we were in Louvre 5 years ago.

Once we were making our way to the exhibitions, Andy was very excited--poor guy, he had to contain his eagerness to see Mona Lisa since yesterday!  As we were approaching the entrance to the Denon wing, the first thing we saw was the Winged Victory of Samothrace in her full glory!  I had explained to Andy before that I've always loved this sculpture, even more so than Venus di Milo.  When Andy saw her in person, he was awed too.  He loved how she's standing at the bow of her ship, with her wings spread out and wind blowing through her body.  Even though her head is missing, she's still magnificent!  We took our time around her admiring her from different angles.  Andy took out his camera again and took pictures of the Victory from different positions.  I came to realize giving kids digital camera to use was a great idea--it encourages them to take closer looks at things, and unlike those disposable cameras, they could see what they captured immediately--if it's not good, they could always delete it and try again!

After the Winged Victory, we continued to move towards Mona Lisa.  But before we can get to her, we walked past many other masterpieces.  Geoff was delighted to see some of the works by his favorite painters, namely Lippi, and Botticelli.  I was glad to see Leonardo's "Virgin of the Rocks" again--I especially loved the ethereal beauty of the Angel from that painting.  Andy had not seen many Renaissance paintings before, and he never attended any Sunday schools.  So after seeing many artworks depicting the crucifixion, he was shocked to learn it was nails instead of ropes that kept Christ on the cross!

It wasn't hard at all to find Mona Lisa.  Aside of the many arrows that pointed to her, all we had to do was following the crowd.  We did just that, and before long we ended up in the room where she was displayed.  Andy took off once he found out where she was, Geoff and I approached her at a much slower pace.  There were a lot of guards in front of the painting, admonishing people from taking pictures.  Geoff wanted to sneak in some camera shots, but Andy was my "Lee child"--he's not a rule breaker.  Once he saw his dad's intention, Andy shouted aloud "Hey Daddy, cameras are not allowed!"

We spent a good half hour in front of Mona Lisa.  The guards allowed kids to walk much closer to the painting (in front of all the adults) for a closer look.  In the beginning, Andy was reluctant to do so because he thought it was against the rules.  Once he was assured that it's perfectly fine for him to get upfront, he went for it.  On our way to Louvre, I jokingly asked Andy to find out what Mona Lisa is smiling about when he sees the painting in person.  Little did I know Andy would take my joke to heart!  He came up to me after studying the painting for a while and said he still couldn't figure out what made her smile.  Uhm, think--quickly!  "Maybe she's smiling because she's a celebrity?!"  Hehe, kids are so easy to deal with sometimes!

We finally moved away from Da Vinci's masterpiece.  Andy was still basking in the excitement of seeing the painting in person.  He claimed that when he moved around to different angles, Mona Lisa's eyes seemed to follow him around, and at one time he even imagined she "winked" at him!  ::roll eyes::  I'm sure they discussed the painting at length in class at school.

Next, we were trying to make our way downstairs to see the sculptures according to our plan.  But we sort of went a bit too far and ended up in the Spanish painters section.  So we stopped for a little bit to admire some works by Goya there.  Then we found a staircase and walked downstairs.

We ended up in the exhibition that includes some African artifacts.  Andy loved it and we ended up spending some time there wandering about and snapping pictures.  It was here we understood the rule that apparently cameras were allowed around sculptures.  Andy particularly liked this big stone head (he said it reminded him of the statues of Easter Island), so Geoff took a nice picture of him in front of it that I really liked.

It took us a little while to figure out from the African exhibition, we had to go back upstairs and backtrack a little bit to get to another set of stairs to get down to the Italian Sculptures.  Eventually, we did find our way there, and my eyes immediately fell on the "Dying Slave" by Michaelangelo.  Next to it was the "Rebelling Slave"--these are my two favorite slaves from the artist's slave series.  So I took some time lingering in front of them.  When I was admiring the slaves, Andy came rushing toward me saying he wanted to show me something.  He dragged me toward the other end of the hall, and pointed to this ugly thing around a sculpture and asked me what was that?!  Huh?!  What WAS that?!  I walked up close, and realized it was a piece of modern art added onto the "Veiled Lady" I so admired last time I was here!  The stony lady was encased in messy copper colored thick wires seemingly poured from a bucket hang above her.  Among the wires, there were bits and pieces of rocks.  This was a real atrocity  IMHO, and I was totally annoyed by it!  I avoided looking at it for the rest of the time I was there.

I moved onto the Psyche and Eros at one end of the hall.  Fortunately, they are as lovely as they've always been!  I explained to Andy that this is one of the very few artwork that depicted Eros/Cupid as a grownup.  Every time I laid my eyes on the sculpture, I always get enthralled by the tenderness of their kiss.

By the time we finished with the Italian sculptures, we were all pretty tired.  But we couldn't leave Louvre without seeing Venus di Milo!  We quickly headed to where she's located.  Surprisingly there was hardly any people when we first got there.  But while we were snapping pictures, the room was quickly filled up!  Apparently there were groups of people right behind our heels!  I don't think Andy was as impressed with Venus as he was with Winged Victory, but he still took out his camera and snapped some pictures.

There were too many people huddled around Venus so we decided to leave.  On our way back, I noticed Gallery of Apollo, so we went in to take a quick peek at the crown jewels.  Aside from Louis XV's Coronation Crown, we also saw other jewels including Josephine's emerald and diamond crown.  The drawback for the Apollo gallery is that there is no seat or benches.  Geoff claimed his back was killing him, and my feet were killing me, so we decided to call it a day.  Not bad, the only thing we didn't do according to our plan was visiting Napolean's apartment.  Maybe we'd come back here tomorrow to see that!

By the time we left Louvre, it was already after 6:00 p.m.  We had spent our entire day in Louvre!  We were all very hungry, and this time, Geoff decided we should go to our favorite restaurant from our last visit--Le Petit Zinc in Saint-Germain district.

We rode the subway to Saint-Germain.  I was nervous if we could find the restaurant again.  But as we exited the subway station, Geoff took a look at the surroundings and remembered exactly where everything was!  The restaurant wasn't too far away from the subway.  Apparently it's well known for its seafood.  I ordered a "plate" of raw seafood.  The "plate" turned out to be a "basket", but the food was delicious.  The only thing was toward the end of our meal, I was literally falling asleep right there at the table!  Even two cup full of espressoes couldn't keep me awake.  I barely made it back to my hotel room.  The bed never felt so good when I crashed on it!

( See picture collage behind the cut... )