A little bit of culture...

Day: 11

Today was a much more cultural day than yesterday and much more calm after the excitment of climbing the Eiffel Tower!

Today was the Museé de Louvre, a boat ride of the Seine and Notré Dame.

First the Louvre Museum.

For all the panicked talk of massive lines and hours of waiting we had been very lucky so far and that luck continued (I think it might be a different story in the summer season). Because we caught the metro to the Louvre there was no wait for tickets and nearly no wait for entry (only about 12 people ahead). Of course the Louvre is massive and so we had to choose what we wanted to see carefully.

I was really interested in the Egyptian wing to see the things that France has taken from Egypt after seeing where they originally came from (Egypt trip, 2010). The Museé de Louvre is much more organised and nicely set out than the Cairo Museum!! They even have handy cards you can pick up with translations of the exhibit descriptions.

As increidble as the exhibits are what I found fascinating was the building itself. The Museé de Louvre was once a palace and some of the features from then have been maintained. From the paintings on the ceiling to the gold embossed doors to the marble work, it is spectacular and almost over shadows the museum peices.

After Egypt we hit the Roman and Greek areas which includes some fantastic sculptures. Paintings I get, I understand how they get the paint from the brush to the canvas and work with shadow and light and colour but sculpture...it never ceases to amaze me. I mean, there is zero room for error and the detail on them is unbelievable!

The Venus De Milo!!

Of course, no trip to the Louvre is complete without the requisite visit to the Mona Lisa so here she is....

 

The people crowded around the painting was amazing. We just did a quick fly-by to say we saw it but some people were crazy, jostling for position, trying to get closer...madness. Especially considering there's a pretty good chance that is only a replica...!?

After we finally made our way out of the museum (not an easy task actually!) we headed for the water for our boat trip on the Seine.

It was on;y a quick trip but was quite nice and relaxing. so relaxing in fact that I drifted off. That's right, I went to sleep. Oops!! Didn't mean to waste the opportunity but it had been a big few days and it was nice just drifting along....

Clodie and I cruising the Seine

The Eiffel Tower , from the water

A side view of the Notre Dame

We alighted from the boat and headed for the Notre Dame.

Notre Dame de Paris (French for Our Lady of Paris), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral or simply Notre Dame, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral and is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in Europe.

The cathedral is impressive from the outside although I expected the famed gargoyles to be bigger and more imposing. They are very high up and you have to really want to see them to make out any detail. The Notre Dame was damaged during the French Revolution with many of its paintings and religious icons etc were destroyed but still the inside is pretty amazing to see. The stained glass and the vaulted ceilings are so detailed. It really makes me wonder how this was all created!

The gargoyles

After a long day of absorbing all that culture Clodie and I decided we deserved a treat so we walked halfway back up to the Sacré-Cœur (not a treat!) to a little cafe in a tiny square we had seen on our previous hike. we stopped in and I had my first real French coffee! And wow was it strong! especially for someone who has only started drinking coffee (and only ocasionally) in the last 8 or so months!

Coffee crazies!