Thursday at the Louvre

Gwyneth and I had to get up early to be on the 8AM train. (8AM was when the reduced fares started). So we managed to get up and out of the house by 7:30AM for the walk to the train station. Here is the apartment kitty (Olympus) in the morning. He really likes the windows. In the kitchen the window has a ledge which he likes to go out and sit on. It is a bit nerve wracking! Veronique told us that when he was kitty had actually fell off the ledge. I guess he was okay as he is here today.




The train ride was uneventful and we quickly made the change from train to Metro this time as we already had tickets and we knew where we were going. We had to change Metro lines, but total it was only 8 stops and I think we were at the Louvre by 9:50AM. This picture (self portrait) was actually taken in the afternoon, so there are quite a few people there. In the morning this courtyard was quite empty. So it looks like the early bird gets the worm in Paris. You enter the Louvre through the glass pyramid and go down a level to the underground entrance center. It cost me 9 euros ($13?) to get in and Gwyneth was free. We had absolutely no waiting for security or the tickets.


We decided to get some audio devices which turned out to be quite clever. (More on that later). Anyway, we spent another 7 euros. We decided to make a bee line for the Mona Lisa and then for the Venus de Milo and then see where we are. The Louvre is a dizzying maze of rooms and corridors. Luckily to get the Mona Lisa there were clearly marked signs. You can see one on the right of this photo. Anyway, along the way we stumbled cross this magnificent statue: The Winged Victory of Samothrace. Notice that the base looks like a boat. The statue dates to 190BC.










Next stop Mona. Here is Gwyneth with her. We had to muscle our way to front a little bit but we managed. There were a TON of people in this room. I had read that flash photography wasn't allowed in the Louvre but clearly there were flashes going off everywhere. And I saw that throughout the day - but the Louvre employees were not trying to enforce the rules at all. So I played along too and used the flash on my camera when needed. We stayed a while and then decided to move on the next stop: The Venus De Milo. We had to retrace some steps and got to see a few more paintings. (It would turn out to be our last big look at paintings as later in the day we concentrated on "antiquities".) Anyway, we saw several people set up with their aisles trying to "copy the masters". How they could concentrate with all of the people I don't know.






On the way to the Venus de Milo we stopped for a little tour of this fantastic room which held the coronation crown of Louis XIV (if I remember correctly). It gave me my palace fix for the trip. I had been thinking of trying to take the kids to a palace/castle but I think that this will do.















Here is the Venus de Milo (or Aphrodite). Again it was crowded with people jockeying for position to take a photo in front of it. The statue dates to the late 2nd century BC. By this time it was 11:30AM and we were a bit hungry. So we decided to get some food and then afterwards take one of the "tours" that were pre-programmed into our audio guide. Since it was before noon the cafe was empty and we found a table easily. By the time were were finished tables were at a premium, as there were not too many at this cafe. We had 2 croque monsieurs, 2 chips, and 2 cokes. I think it cost $30. The sandwiches weren't great so a bit of a disappointment on that score!









The audio guides came pre-programmed with 4 tours. French masterpieces, Antiquities, the Palace, and maybe Italian Masterpieces. We decided to do the Antiquities tour through Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and more. The guide had a video screen with a map of the museum that you followed. Along the tour you could press on circles that would tell you about the different pieces. You could pick which ones that you wanted to listen to. The guide said the tour would take 2 hours. It started from the entrance area, and here it is looking a little more crowded in the afternoon.




At the beginning we were listening to all of the commentary, everything was so interesting. Here is Gwyneth looking at 3 Egyptian statues. The wife is on the left and the husband is represented twice on the right. They weren't sure why he was represented twice. In the same room they had the statue of a Pharaoh who was represented as an old man, which was interesting, as Egyptian art usually shows people in this ideal state of beauty. There were so many cool things I couldn't write it all here. I can say that the audio tour took us 4 hours (rather than the advertised 2 hours). This was after we had started skipping some of the commentaries because we realized that it was taking so long and also because after a while one statue started to look like another.



After our tour we decided to turn in the audio guides (around 4PM). I had hoped to maybe do another tour but there was no way that our legs or minds were going to take it. Gwyneth was terrific the whole day, she was really interested in looking at things and didn't complain once about anything. I think having the interactive guide may have helped with that. In any case we decided to get some coffee and have a little break out in the courtyard. We found a Starbucks and so I am sure that I have made my mom proud and disappointed Alvaro all with one purchase. It cost about $14 for my white mocha and Gwyneth's frappachino.



We were waiting for a 7PM train from Gare du Nord (that was when the reduced fares started again). We had to be on he Metro by 6PM to get back to the train station. That was more than enough time, but I didn't want to be late! Gwyneth wasn't up for walking around outside. I had thought that if we had taken a walk in nearby Jardin de Tuileries we maybe could catch a glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe, but she was tired. So we opted for going back in to the museum to see a few things that we had missed. One was the excavated medieval castle/moat from around 1100AD and that was sitting beneath the Louvre. We also walked by the nice Sphinx which we had seen before but now no one was there and we could get a decent photo. We also wandered around a few gift shops and you can see the evidence in Gwyneth's hands.





At 6PM we walked to the nearby Metro. The Louvre closed at 6PM too. Here is Gwyneth in the station near the Louvre. Again, it was 8 stops back to the train station with one change. The only time we had to squeeze in like sardines was for our last stop where we had to change lines and go from the Gare de L'est to the Gare du Nord. I didn't want to think about what it would have been like with Ethan. The train ride home was uneventful and we were there about 8PM. Nic thought we might be able to pick us up with the car (it turned out Ethan was asleep) but we didn't see him and took the 20 minute walk home. Gwyneth was quite energized and excited. Nic remarked that it didn't sound like his first trip to the Louvre with his parents. He remembered walking back and forth from one painting to the next. I think the interactive audio guides may have improved things for us! All it all, it was a great today. However, now I am hungry for more. I think I need to go back and look at some paintings now.