Sunday at the Louvre

Mika, Mindy, and David. The exploreres of the Louvre undergrounds.

After a disapointing result last night in our French Cup game (more on this in my next post), Mindy and I decided we needed a little culture and decided to take advantage of the free entrance to the Louvre offered on the first Sunday of every month. Mika decided that he was in need of a cultural experience as well, and thus we became three.

For those of you who have never been to the Louvre before, let me first explain how amazingly huge the place is. Nearly 35,000 pieces are displayed in about 15,000 acres of floor space. You could spend weeks in the place and still not be able to fully appreciate the tremendous amounts of art and artifacts that fill the hallways, not to mention the ceilings and moldings that only add to the atmosphere.

We arrived early as we knew that the crowds would only grow as the day wore on and made our way to the Louvre's most famous exhibit, Leonardo's Mona Lisa. It's hard to believe this is the most valuable piece of art in the world considering it's size and simplicity. Mindy believes that the lady in the Mona Lisa is actually much more beautiful when you see the painting in real-life as opposed to in a book, as it truly captures the essence of how much Da Vinci loved the woman that he painted. I was much more impressed with the painting that actually hangs opposite the Mona Lisa, Gericault's The Wedding Feast at Cana.

Mindy meets Mona.

After wandering the Denon wing of the museum and inspecting the french, italian, and spanish art, we made our way to the Sully wing where we toured the halls filled with Greek ceramics and ancient Egyptian artifacts. Some of the pieces were quite stunning and it was hard to imagine that they had been created more than 4,000 years ago.

This statue was made around 1300 BC and features the god Amon protecting King Tut.

By this time, it was approaching mid-morning and we had been walking for a couple of hours. Mindy decided that a Starbucks break was in order, and low and behold, the Louvre just happened to have a Starbucks. Chocolate chip frappaciunos have a way of invigorating the legs and mind when combined with some baguette and Nutella that I brought for us from home.

After our coffee break, it was time to check out some french sculptures and the Napoleon III Apartments in the Richelieu wing. This was probably the most impressive part of our tour as the sculptures featured in the Cours Marly are incredibly imposing and the grandness of the Napoleon Aprtments was a real treat to see. Don't worry, a video tour of the Louvre is being produced and will be available shortly for your viewing pleasure.

Stealing a kiss under an arch in the Richelieu wing.

After three and half hours of the Louvre we needed to eat, but as residents of Paris, there was no way we were going to subject ourselves to the tourist prices at the Louvre. So we headed to the Latin Quarter across Pont Neuf where Mika took us to a little greek kebab restaurant that serves huge portions for very few euros. As promised the food was fantastic and we left feeling slightly more than full, ready for the quick walk around the Notre Dame and the Rive Droit before the Metro ride home.

On our way to the Latin Quarter, we stopped for a photo outside the Louvre entrace.

Time for a well earned meal.