The Louvre Part 2

I made it back for round two. So far the scorecard read Ryan 0-- Louvre 1. My attempt at mapless adventure had gotten the better of me. I ended up seeing the same things three times without seeing the stuff right next door that I actually wanted to see.

Day two started with a trip to the information desk for a map. I spent the better part of 20 minutes studying and realizing what I had seen; but more so on what I hadn't seen. Just to put it into perspective for those who have never been there: there are 4 floors and three wings. All but one of the wings have all four floors. In addition, the louvre was constructed over hundreds of years and so not all of the wings, floors, hallways match up; making for somewhat complicated navigation.

I had my plan and I was ready to start. I conquered the Asian and Middle East antiques, the decorative art including Napolean's Apartments, and then onto the French Paintings. I thought I would end the day with the Mona Lisa and the Medieval Louvre and the history of the louvre.

All things considered I enjoyed the Louvre. Some things were disapointing (the english paintings) others blew my mind (large form French Paintings). The mona lisa was not smaller than I expected (one of its biggest criticisms) although the wall that it is mounted on looks like it would stop a tank from going through it!

I left the special exhibit for another day. I had had enough museum and art for a weekend.

11 Hours later, I had seen every room in the Louvre. Those at which are open to the public at least. I made a point of setting foot into every room. Be it 10 seconds to realize I wasn't interested, or 10 minutes to absorb great works of art.

The got what I expected out of the louvre from the Large Scale french paintings. The halls were packed with hundreds of people. I never saw a guided tour in the ancient iranian pottery exhibit, but about 20 infront of Eugène Delacroix's, La liberté guidant le peuple. This was one of my favorite pieces.

This coming Saturday I bought a ticket to Roland Garros (French Open). My ticket is for the 10 outdoor courts, not in one of the three main stadiums. The stadium tickets are expensive and sold out, or at least for the ones i can afford.

I ended the day with a serenading from a 12 pieced string band playing in the courtyard just outside the Louvre.

Tomorrow I am going to walk around Les Invalides. If anything of note is there I will blog, otherwise I imagine the French Open will be a point of note.

The "Manny"