Day 10 - Paris

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It’s going to be a hot one in Paris today, around 32 degrees Celsius, so we headed out early to go up the Eiffel Tower. The views are spectacular and well worth the 1 and a half hour wait in line. Unfortunately, there were signs indicating the top was closed top for some reason, but the view from the second level/platform was good.

After lots of photos we headed down and decided to head towards the Louvre where we planned to avoid the afternoon sun. One the way we got off the train by the Palace of Invalides and walked across the Pont Alexandre III bridge with wonderful sculptured columns topped with gold sculptures, and over looked by the Grand Palais. We walked along the Seine and over the Cleopatra’s Needle which was originally in Egypt. The hieroglyphs on this are incredible.

After a baggett in the shade for lunch we walked towards the Louvre through a garden of marble statues and into the famous glass pyramid. I expected an entry fee of 20 to 30 Euro and was pleasantly surprised at only 8 Euro each entry fee.

The Louvre seems endless. We looked at the map and decided we would not be able to see everything so we headed (with most everyone else) to the Italian Painters halls to see the Mona Lisa. The Louvre itself is worth a visit just for the ornate ceilings, floors and architecture of the place. Some of the halls are works of art in themselves. The Italian gallery is full of wonderful works of art. I don’t know much about art and what makes a good paining, but they all looked pretty good to me.

The Mona Lisa sits in a room off to the side of the main hall and has a wall to itself with a barrier keeping everyone 3 or 4 metres back, which is good because it has people crowd 6 deep around it. The no cameras rule is forgotten in the whole Museum so there are flashes going off everywhere. I don’t know if it was just my camera, but the glass in front of the Mona Lisa seemed to ensure a slightly out of focus image. Maybe a clever trick by the curator or it could also have been the photographer. :-)

My first impressions of the “Mona Lisa” were it was bigger than I expected. Everyone kept saying it was small and compared to the 10m x 8m massive painting on the opposite wall it is, but it was not as small as I imagined. It is a masterpiece and worth taking a moment to just stand, and look at it...whilst being jostled and blinded but the flash photography.

Once we had seen all the paintings we wanted to see in this gallery we headed to another must see exhibit, the “Venus De Milo”, this was at the end of a gallery on its own, and again was larger than I expected. To look at this sculpture which is dated at being over 2000 years old is amazing.
Once we had had our fill of the Venus we proceeded beyond towards the Egyptian exhibit. The Louvre has a very large Egyptian collection and is well worth taking the time to wander through this area. The age of some items makes the Venus seem new.

We then proceeded to try to find the exit as our feet were getting sore from all the walking. We walked through the seemingly endless Middle East exhibit and finally found the way out. I am certain we only saw a tiny portion of what the Louvre had to offer, this place is huge.
We finally found the entrance and decided to walk over to the inverted pyramid made famous in the Da Vinci Code movie only to find we had left the Museum and were in a neighbouring shopping arcade which was a bit of a surprise.

In the evening we decided to take a boat rode on the Seine which gives a different perspective of Paris. Many people live on boats moored along the river which I was not expecting in the middle of the city. We got off the boat near Notre Dame, found a Cafe, and enjoyed a lovely meal overlooking Notre Dame watching the people go by. As night fell Notre Dame was floodlit; which made for a spectacular display. In the courtyard in front of the cathedral crowds gathered around street performers including trick blade skaters and fire dancers.

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