Today I went to the Louvre. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life to date. In the morning we had two classes (French history and civilization), but they ended by noon. I made a quick lunch in my room with the bread I'd stolen from breakfast and by 1pm we were on our way to the Louvre.
Fortunately, because we were going on a scheduled guided tour, we were able to skip the huge lines out front and get straight into the museum. Unfortunately, this meant that we didn't get to go through the traditional entry in I.M. Pei's pyramid. So I don't have any pictures of the outside of the building or the pyramid, but I'll make sure to get some soon.
Our tour guide showed us the highlights in the museum's western art collection, while apologizing profusely for the crowds the entire time. Apparently a fire alarm had gone off earlier causing wings to be shut down and there was now all sorts of confusion several hours later. She also said that the crowds today were some of the biggest she'd ever seen in all her years working at the Louvre. We spent about an hour on the tour and saw paintings by David, Delacroix, Gericault, and da Vinci. We also saw the Greek and Roman sculptures and a large sphinx. Then the tour ended. While it was certainly interesting, it barely skimmed the surface of what the Louvre has to offer.
After our tour ended my entire group left except for one other girl. The two of us then spent the next several hours wandering the exhibits and it was fantastic. We started with the Egyptian art since the Louvre has one of the best collections outside of Egypt itself.
I couldn't believe I actually got to see a mummy! At first it was really cool, but the longer we spent around it, the creepier it got. Eventually we just had to leave the room because hanging out next to a several thousand year old dead body was just plain eerie.
We also saw the Apollo Gallery, which was by far one of the most ornately decorated rooms I've ever seen. Apparently a lot of Versailles looks like this. In that case I can't wait to visit, because this room was gorgeous. It definitely has inspired me to look harder for a prince while I'm here. Or really anyone who can make me a palace like that to live in!
We also looked at a lot of really old Middle Eastern art. The Stele of Hammurabi was there, which I found fascinating. The stele (above) is the oldest written legal code in the world's known history. Though some of its laws are rather archaic (not surprising given the fact that it's almost 4000 years old) it's still a huge step for civilization.
I also found the little lion above in the Middle Eastern art section and though it was just too adorable not to take a picture of. The large Assyrian Lamassu was another very interesting thing we found in the Middle Eastern section.
After this we wandered through the French sculpture courts and exhibits and while we found many things that were pretty, nothing really stood out to us. We then debated going back to look at paintings, but decided not to because they were on the far opposite end of the palace and we'd already been there for quite a few hours. We'd also seen a lot of the paintings, even if only in passing, on our guided tour.
After this we headed home and I spent the night working on homework so that I'm ready for tomorrow. In general I found the Louvre to be amazing. It was everything I'd hoped for (even if it was a bit crowded). The Mona Lisa was less than awe-inspiring, as expected. Especially since we had to wait in line and fight past Asian tour groups to even catch a glimpse of her. The Italian paintings were suitably impressive and colorful, the French paintings were massive and complete with expert compositions and emotional subject matter. The ancient art was stunning, and above all, Nike of Samothrace, also known as Winged Victory, took my breath away. Even surrounded by tourists, missing arms and a head, and in a location that it was near impossible to get a decent picture....she was worth the whole trip alone.
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