mercredi 14 juin 2006

I awoke to the sound of French children playing. And my dad tickling my feet.

Today was quite the day. We had our usual breakfast and then set out for the bus. We were pros at this by now. Today’s destination: La Louvre.

Bryce and I were tired. I, in fact, slept very hard which always results in a headache. I am working the hell out of this trip.

The bus we took stopped at Notre Dame, and we had to walk the rest. The Louvre is the largest art museum in the world, or so I heard. In fact, I’m inclined to believe them. At one point, the Louvre was actually used as a royal place of residence for the King of France.

The security was noticeable (not doubt fear of Da Vinci Code fans who plan on murdering an old man inside the museum), but not really hindering. Then we purchased tickets. Our first stop was the Mona Lisa (by dun dun dunnnn! Leonardo Da Vinci). This was in the Italian and Spanish Painters section (France gets their own hallways), which had photos restricted (no photo). I’ve heard people comment on it, but the Mona Lisa really is much smaller than one imagines. We saw a number of paintings, including The Raft of Medusa, a brilliant piece that I loved from our Art History book. I think that was my favorite painting. It was interesting to see art students learning from the masters. In the foyer for the Italian and Spanish paintings was a sculpture of Nike, which I believe is Holli‘s favorite.

What made the Louvre so fascinating was that, not only are some of the greatest art works in the world there, but the setting (the palace) is made up of some marvellous works, itself.

We also saw the Venus de Milo. No, I didn’t make it; my name is “Miles”. We saw it on the way to the Egyptian Art. Awesome. On our side of the hallway was a room of Greek vases (of which I studied different kinds in ARTH) but the other led to Egyptian art. They had sculptures, sepulchers, documents, tablets, tombs, paintings, and more. Plus, multiple floors!

At around 2ish we met for lunch. This we had at a café place nearby. We almost all got pizza, dessert, and soda. It was good, but messy (just squares of pizza).

Then Dad and Camille went to exchange money. Back inside, I, Bryce, Linds, and Brenna and/or Molly did Islamic art. I have a particular fascination with their descriptive script writing, and so I really enjoyed this part. Also, their works are very intricate. I don’t think Linds wanted to go at first, but I hope everyone found something interesting about it.

We next did Mesopotamian art. This stuff was huge. Most of a large city gate or entrance had been reconstructed on the ground level. We also found the Code of Hammurabi (photo) and lots of cuniform.

This gave way to Roman and Greecian sculpture which was, as always, pretty impressive. During this part I wished I had marked which works in my ARTH books were stored at the Louvre. So I could visit them.
Then we went back to Egyptian, but not before seeing Napolean’s Apartment. It was vaguely interesting. This is the third Napolean, realize, not the original Bonaparte. At Egypt, Bryce chose to propose, and it was great, and they both were kissing alot (bleh!) (photo).

Then we returned for supper, which was chicken and bread and white wine and a strawberry tart. Everyone had to talk about the proposal. No wedding plans are set, yet. Mathilde came over and then she led us to the Seine for our boat ride. The boat ride was nice, but it was raining. i tried to get some pictures, but it was do dark. I got a load of bridge shots, but I don’t know if I’ll keep them.

Then we walked back, had champagne, and showered. Mailed my postcard today and saw a neighbor to our tiny apartment up on the top floor. Now I’m ready for bed.

France – June 06 Flickr set (June 14)