Paris: Louvre & Notre Dame

Today was a misty day in Paris. A day fit for ducks…

…and tourists who weren’t letting a little water stop them from enjoying the sights and sounds of Paris.
We decided to walk from our hotel to the Louvre for some indoor sight-seeing. From the Tuileries looking back towards the Place de la Concorde I noticed an obelisk that was just screaming to be pinched.

Upon our arrival at the museum, I discover they’ve installed this pyramid that is begging for the pinch treatment.

You enter the pyramid and descend to the ticket counter.

Once you have your tickets you are free to roam. The last time the missus was here, she jokes that she and her traveling companion did the Louvre on roller skates. We will not repeat that feat. I love statues, sculpture, and works in stone. I am in heaven.

I could spend hours studying the detail in this relief of Adam and Eve.

Or this bust of Antinous.

It’s hard to maintain a serious demeanor when you are on vacation. Sometimes you just have to let life imitate art.

This place is huge and after yesterday’s climb up l’Arc our legs and feet are a little out of sorts. In fact, our feet hurt. We collapse on a bench and our heads fall back and WHOA! Look at that freaking ceiling. Not only is this place packed to the rafters with art, it IS art.

Everywhere there are signs to beware of pick pockets and other thieves. This poor guy is on his way to security. Seems someone stole his cell phone…while he was still using it.

In the Apollo Gallery, where there is an awesome Zodiac on the ceiling, I discover they were a little more advanced in the late 1700’s than I’d originally thought. Who knew they had email?

In the section that hosts many Da Vinci’s, I tried to imagine the dialogue between the painter and the subject.

Subject: Hey Leonardo, did you know I have a roof leak?
Leo: No, I did not.
Subject: Yeah, it’s right up there.
Leo: Don’t move; the light is perfect right here.

Did you know the Louvre had a moat?

Or an extensive Egyptian collection? Here is a little known work called Pharaoh Pharted.

I enjoyed the vice room but I think the dice were loaded.

There was much, much more to the Louvre and I took many more pictures. Sometimes the light just didn’t cut it and the opportunities to use the flash were few and far between. I have way too many pictures to post here and then what would you have to look forward to on your own trip? We actually ran out of time and had to leave. Fortunately we were able to catch Mass at Notre Dame, where I lit a candle for my brother.