Louvre Museum
Sunday Sept 19, 2004
On Sunday we woke up super early with the intention of catching the bus to Versailles, but we hade a little trouble finding the bus station. The bus station was somewhere in the vicinity of the Louvre museum, so we decided to catch the museum as it opened. We had the good fortune to be in the Louvre before too many of the big bus tours had a chance to drop off tourists.
We entered into the museum via the giant glass pyramid designed by Chinese-American architect, I. M. Pei. Once inside we had a decision to make - what to see first. We decided to make our way to the Mona Lisa. I wanted to see what all the hubub was about. Yeah, I (Gina) studied the painting in school, but I really needed to see Her in person. Before getting to the Mona Lisa there were other things to encounter along the way. We chose to enter through the Denon wing. As we made our way to the top of the landing what we were met with was the amazing Winged Victory of Samothrace. This giant Greek statue which stands almost 12 feet tall seems even taller because of its positioning atop a huge pedestal. You you can walk all the way around the pedestal to get a view of this impressive piece of workmanship from evey vantage point. I have to admit, we went a little camera crazy. I love digital cameras!!
After taking way too many pictures of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, we decided that before the museum got too crowed,
we should see the Mona Lisa. We made our way down halls of Italian paintings, some dating
all the way back to the 13th Century. Walking further down the long hall of paintings we came across those ropes,
the type you would see outside a club where you are expected to see a que. Lucky for us it's still pretty
early and we made good time through the Italian paintings. There is no waiting to get into the direct area of the
Mona Lisa. The painting was about what I had expected, after all I had heard from friends who had seen this
painting in person. I was, I must admit, still impressed by actually seeing the Mona Lisa even though it was small,
dark, encased within glass, and a little difficult to get a real, good look at.
But this painting is very deep - just read The Da vinci Code and you'll see why...I guess.
After finishing our visit to the Louvre museum, we headed over the Pont du Carrousel to the Musee d'Orsay just on the other side of the river Seine.
