Monday 23rd September 2013

After a late night we had a sluggish morning ... but we managed to Skype Melanie and Michael and the kids which was great.  Olivia and Connor were obviously excited to hear from us - it's one of the few occasions we've been able to get a half decent connection via Skype so we had a bit of fun!

Then we headed off to the Louvre by the met.  We've become very adept at manoeuvring around via the subway here in Paris, it's really quite simple, and when compared with Melbourne's subway - it's far, far superior, hard to believe when you compare the years in which they were built.  The Paris subways have layer upon layer - it's a bit like a Sarah Lee cake.  On the way, I stopped at a shoe store, I know, quite unbelievable, but true and bought a pair of shoes.  Onwards we went towards the Louvre, and when we turned the corner ... WOW!!!

The Louvre Museum

At the Pyramid - the main entrance

The Louvre is all it's cracked up to be ... spectacular architecture, brilliant layout, amazing works of art ... it's all I thought it would be and more ...

A corner of the ceiling in the Rez-de-Chaussee

It's not possible to see it all of course, particularly in one day, or in just five hours, but it's a start.  As we say, you've got to leave something to come back to!  We did enjoy the Roman Empire exhibitions and the Greek and Etruscan antiquities.


The Mona Lisa by Leonardo de Vinci

The Mona Lisa was a struggle to photograph. There was a huge crowd around her and people were pushing and shoving - we weren't sure whether it was just the throng of the hustle and bustle or the Romanian urchins.  There were many messages given over the PA system to watch out for pick-pockets and we were surprised - we didn't think they'd have any problems in the Louvre, but we learnt afterwards that the staff of the Louvre recently went on strike due to the problem with pickpockets. But we were resilient - and we got our piccies of the lady!

We departed the Louvre after about five hours (there's always next time) and walked through the Tuileries Garden, the oldest and largest public garden in Paris, which is now part of the Louvre Museum.  The Gardens connect to the Musee De L'Orangerie.  Here we enjoyed the masters, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso.  There were others too ... but these were our favourites.

Monet's Water Lilies

Monet designed the vestibule where these works are displayed to create a space between the "hustle and bustle of the city and his works" and donated the Water Lilies to France after the First World War.

The brochure from the Museum states that Monet wrote, "Nerves strained by work would relax in its presence, following the restful example of its stagnant waters, and for he who would live in it, this room would offer a refuge for peaceful meditation in the midst of a flowering aquarium."

We were thrilled to see Renoirs works ... they are simply exquisite.

Renoir's "Two Fillies" c1890
(at least that what I think it's called)

From here we walked along the pavement and watched some locals enjoying a game of petanque.  I enquired as to whether it was petanque, boules or bocce, but of course we're in France so it was petanque. A woman was playing against four men and we enjoyed a bit of banter; in the end she lost and I claimed responsibility for "putting her off her game".  They all enjoyed that and some koalas were given as 'gifts' which they appreciated.  (Lame, I know, but they all seem to love receiving them.)

Then out of the blue, as we were enjoying some time looking at the Seine River a woman approached and said she'd found a ring that we'd dropped.  Here we go again!  We said, "No, merci".  But she persisted and wouldn't go away.  So I told her that she was a "bad woman" and told her to go away.  She slapped her bum, mocking punishment, and continued provoke us more and more, so in the end I yelled out to everyone that she was a pick-pocket.  She and her "mates" exposed their bums to us and made out like they were dogs peeing! They're classy these pick pockets! We continued to warn people but made sure they didn't upset out time there, along that beautiful part of the world.

We had some icecream at a vendor - exquisitely made to look like tulips.

"Tulip" icecreams at Tuileries Gardens

We then we made our way back to the hotel via Gare Saint-Lazare Restaurant for a cleansing beer or two.  The maitre'd remembered us from two days ago (we were very concerned then for two young women from the States who were not feeling any pain.) Anyway, as time was passing us by - we decided to have a meal there and an early night.