Day Sixty-Nine: The Louvre and the Paris Car Show

Today Rob and I went our separate ways. Not permanently, of course. Rob wanted to go to the Paris Auto Show with more enthusiasm than words can describe, and with the same amount of enthusiasm, I absolutely did not want to go. However, I did want to go to the Louvre, and since Rob had already been, he suggested I go on without him and he’d go to the Auto Show. Rob will be doing his own post on the Paris Auto show, but I'm gonna spend a minute talking about the Louvre. My commute there worked out perfectly, although Rob was very concerned that I would get lost. Which I absolutely didn’t… not until I got in the Louvre, that is. I had always heard how massive the Louvre is, but I didn’t fully realize it until I started walking around!

At first, I had told myself I was going to try to see everything. It’s impossible. If you want to stop and look at things (which, of course, I always do), then there’s no way to see everything in one day. I started on the top floor, and thought I’d work my way down, but I got stuck on the next floor down (after about two and a half hours spent on the top floor) drawing some of the sculptures. Below, I've compiled some of the better, more finished line drawings I did based on some sculptures I was interested in. Although you are allowed to take pictures in the Louvre, I didn't take these pictures, or any other ones, for that matter, because Rob took the camera to the car show. So, on one side is my drawing, and the other side is a photo of the statues from the closest angle I could find to my actual perspective.

1) Eurydice mourante (Dying Eurydice) by Charles-François Leboeuf

2) Suzanne au bain (Suzanne Bathing) by Pierre-Nicolas Beauvallet

3) Jeanne d'Arc écoutant ses voix (Joan of Arc listening to her voices) by François Rude

Rob and I had agreed to meet back at the hotel at about 5:30-6:00 and by 4:45 I realized I hadn’t even gotten to see the Mona Lisa yet. So, I powered my way over there, realizing just how much of the museum I hadn’t even seen yet, and found the Mona Lisa. Highly overrated, in my opinion. There are so many other pieces in that museum that were just as, if not more, beautiful and interesting… The Mona Lisa has been placed behind bullet proof glass and has been cordoned off so that people can't get too close. I understand that it's an icon in it's own right, but people crowd around it like it's going to give them the secret to the meaning of life. Dont' get me wrong, it's beautiful, and it's definitely had an interesting history... but I think that today, the Mona Lisa is only famous because it’s been famous forever. That’s just my opinion, though.

Now, the trouble was, finding my way back out. It seemed that every exit I navigated toward was closed… because something or other was under construction. This is when I started to get lost. And more and more people were flooding in because Friday nights are discounted after 6:00. It took me a while, but I made it out and into the Metro. Rob thought I’d died, of course, because I was more than two hours late getting back. Sorry Rob. He had a good time at the auto show, so that’s good. He showed me his pictures when I got back in the room; so glad I didn’t go, I would’ve been so bored.

Had Italian for dinner and spent some time researching what we’d do tomorrow morning…