6/26
It was Louvre day. The weather: crazy hot. Time to get out of the apartment: insanely slow. We arrived at the Louvre around 11:30 and the females wanted to get lunch. So we walked in a 95° heat to find a bakery where they bought sandwiches. Marina and I set off on the odyssey that was the search for tickets. After 50,000 miles we learned that there are no on-site ticket sales.
So then we searched for some hidden internet café. Nope. I found Benji and Ilana and then followed another lead. Finally with free Wi-Fi, we tried to buy tickets online. But the secondary security on my credit card denied us. Erg! By that time all the tickets for the day we’re gone. We’d have to come back another day. But, undeterred, we opted to buy the the exorbitant two day pass €48 each, to get in the Louvre today and Versailles the next day.
Once in the Louvre I was determined to see everything. In the words of Steven Blatt, “we are not leaving until I get my money's worth.
The Mona Lisa was small. Venus to Milo, a bit drab. But the Wings of Victory rocked and the Raft of the Medusa was cool. Rembrandt’s self portrait was cool and we enjoyed a very nice mummy in the Egypt section. The museum itself was quite beautiful. Marina and I blazed around, getting infinitely lost. At one point, trying to find the medieval section, we traversed the Egyptian section full of sarcophagi and sphinxes at least three times.
After three wings, 60 sets of stairs, 9 miles, 3000 paintings, 500 sculptures, and one Maori stone head, we could see no more. We didn’t get home until 9 PM and we still hadn’t eaten dinner. But before we headed home, we strolled through the Tuileries garden, adjacent to the Louvre. It was a beautiful mix of flowers, fountains, sculptures and beautiful architecture.
It was Louvre day. The weather: crazy hot. Time to get out of the apartment: insanely slow. We arrived at the Louvre around 11:30 and the females wanted to get lunch. So we walked in a 95° heat to find a bakery where they bought sandwiches. Marina and I set off on the odyssey that was the search for tickets. After 50,000 miles we learned that there are no on-site ticket sales.
So then we searched for some hidden internet café. Nope. I found Benji and Ilana and then followed another lead. Finally with free Wi-Fi, we tried to buy tickets online. But the secondary security on my credit card denied us. Erg! By that time all the tickets for the day we’re gone. We’d have to come back another day. But, undeterred, we opted to buy the the exorbitant two day pass €48 each, to get in the Louvre today and Versailles the next day.
Once in the Louvre I was determined to see everything. In the words of Steven Blatt, “we are not leaving until I get my money's worth.
The Mona Lisa was small. Venus to Milo, a bit drab. But the Wings of Victory rocked and the Raft of the Medusa was cool. Rembrandt’s self portrait was cool and we enjoyed a very nice mummy in the Egypt section. The museum itself was quite beautiful. Marina and I blazed around, getting infinitely lost. At one point, trying to find the medieval section, we traversed the Egyptian section full of sarcophagi and sphinxes at least three times.
After three wings, 60 sets of stairs, 9 miles, 3000 paintings, 500 sculptures, and one Maori stone head, we could see no more. We didn’t get home until 9 PM and we still hadn’t eaten dinner. But before we headed home, we strolled through the Tuileries garden, adjacent to the Louvre. It was a beautiful mix of flowers, fountains, sculptures and beautiful architecture.
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