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Day Five: March 8, 2000
I woke up this morning feeling much better and rested. Today was the big day that I've been looking forward to most of my life! Finally, we were going to see the Louvre, a museum filled with some of the most beautiful paintings and sculptures in the world. I looked forward to discovering these priceless treasures, but first, I had to discover where breakfast was. MLB, G, and I strolled to the bar, the normal location for breakfast, but nothing was there. Therefore, we searched the entire hotel before we found the dining room in the bowels of the hotel. I discovered the joy of freshly boiled eggs and added that to my routine breakfast. I don't think I've ever drunk so much hot chocolate before in my life!
Because our hotel was five seconds from the Louvre, we walked leisurely with Amale and started our tour in the glass pyramid. The pyramid was very controversial when it was first built in 1981, but now the French people have accepted it as an essential part of Paris. The pyramid houses the elevators, gift shops, restaurants, baggage checks, and information centers for the museum. I believe it provides the perfect entrance to the most beautiful and the largest museum in the world. Sarah and I loved watching the elevator rise up and down. It looked like a futuristic stainless steel flag pole!
We walked throught the tunnels to the oldest branch of the museum. When the tunnels were being dug, they discovered the original moat to the original fortress that was built where the Louvre is today! Now visitors can see the walls of the old castle while walking *in* a moat, unlike any other place in the world. We walked by a huge Sphinx from Egypt, then we went into the Greek sculpture garden to see the Venus di Milo, the perfect woman. A peasant who was looking for marble to build a house found her in the 1850s. A French soldier was staying with him and managed to transport her to France. She's a size 14 and 2 meters tall! Courtney started calling herself Venus jokingly, so throughout the day we said "Venus" instead of "Courtney." Then we saw the Winged Victory, Nike, on the steops. The wind seemed to be truly blowing her off the cliff. Every single detail was perfect, including the shape of her calf under her garment. It's hard to imagine that this ability to carve the human body so realistically was lost until the Renaissance.
Afterwards, we focused on David and Delacroix, with a brief interlude to see the Mona Lisa. MLB loved the Mona Lisa, but I'm afraid I didn't have a spiritual experience while looking at her enigmatic smile. I preferred "The Wedding at Cana" or several of the crucifixions to her mysterious gaze. My favorite David is "Madame Recamier," though she hated her portrait. She was proud of her dark black locks, so when David painted her with chestnut curls, she threw a fit! The colossal "Coronation of Emperor Napoleon and Empress Josephine" was beautiful. The Louvre, has the version with Napoleon's sisters dressed in white. Versailles has the sister version of the painting with one of the girls in pink. (No pun intended) This small difference was a result of one of David's romantic entanglements. We saw Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" which makes an interesting pyramid shape with Liberty at the top. She is leading the people in revolt against tyranny, depicting the struggle of Hugo's Les Miserables. Amale's favorite painting, "Raft of the Medusa," is a violent struggle against hunger, weather, thirst, and sheer hopelessness. Actually, the painting is dying a slow death itself, for the paint is bubbling from a chemical reaction to the lead in the paint.
Naturally, absorbing all of this art history makes one very hungry, so the usual gang went to get a sandwich and ate it outside, in front of one of the many pretty fountains. We met up with the group and headed to the Musee d'Orsay to look at the paintings of the 19th century. We saw "good painters that were accepted by the Academy, such as Ingres, along with many controversial artists like Manet, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Gaugain. I was a bit museumed out, so after the tour, I got myself a cup of hot chocolate and a bowl of ice cream.
Dinner tonight was at Altitude 95, a chic Parisian hangout on the Eiffel Tower. Madame P decided that we needed some time to be loud, so we walked by the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. Besides being a bit chilly, I enjoyed seeing Paris "par pied." I changed my shoes at the base of the Eiffel Tower, then we went upstairs to eat. Dinner was excellent, with foie-gras, chicken, and fabulous bread. Then we went up to the observation tower to see Paris by night. Australians were swarming all over the place, so naturally we talked with them. We exchanged email addresses and waved them goodbye at the bas of the tower. Madame P didn't make us walk back to the hotel, thankfully. We took the R.E.R., then went back home. Needless to say, we all slept very soundly that night.
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