Day 16 - Europe 2010

We just had one thing on the agenda today: the Louvre!  I was pretty stoked because this was going to be the mother of all museums.  Besides maybe the British Museum, which I don’t know yet how it compares, the Louvre was going to be the largest and most extensive museum we would visit.

But I was not prepared for just how huge it was.  It makes the Uffizi in Florence look like a shack.  There are three wings, each with four floors, and one floor of one wing takes an hour to go through even if you’re nearly running through each room.  It’s HUGE!  HUGE I TELL YOU!

But I am really excited about this stuff and I did not want to miss anything.  I didn’t know if I could do it but I wanted to try and see it all in the one day and I had planned to go on a day when the Louvre stays open until 9:30pm instead of 6pm.  Well, folks, we did it.  There were a few exhibits closed so that helped make it possible and we were definitely zipping through a few less interesting exhibits in order to leave time for the more interesting ones.  But I would say that we saw a good 85% of the total museum and probably 95% of whatever was open to us on that day.  BAM!

Anyway, there was a lot of cool stuff.  There were lots and lots of sculptures and I especially enjoyed the one of Cupid and Psyche.  I was very excited to see some very famous paintings which turned out to be HUGE, like the Wrath of the Medusa, Liberty Leading the People, and the Oath of the Horatii.  I have always liked the nude woman by Ingres which is probably my favorite reclining nude painting.  Of course there was the Mona Lisa which I had had such low expectations for that I was actually pleasantly surprised to see it larger than I had thought and I did find it interesting.  I can see the appeal of her smirk.

There was also a lot of ancient stuff.  The Egyptian stuff was so extensive I was in awe that so much was even available to display – little trinkets and sculptures and coffins and, of course, the Seated Scribe.  I was fascinated by all the jewelry they have which was very cool and would be fashionable even today.  They had golden necklaces in the shape of leaves and arm bands in the shape of snakes.  There was also a Mesopotamian section and I was so stoked to see the Lamassu, the great guardian statues with the man head and winged ox body!  Oh that was so cool!  I also saw the Code of Hammurabi, our first record of laws.  Sweet!  I love the old stuff!

I would say that as far as paintings, the Uffizi still wins in having a greater collection of famous works.  The Louvre has many more paintings than the Uffizi but it’s collection of the greats seems smaller, although the ones I did see at the Louvre were very enjoyable.  The Louvre, however, is a fantastic place for its artifacts and for its overall variety.  So many places and time periods were represented and I was in awe at the amount of objects for each.  Amazing, and the best 10 bucks I spent in Europe, that’s for sure!  As Napoleon Dynamite says: “That’s like a dollar an hour!”

PHOTOS:

I liked this girl who just got stung by the scorpion.  You can see it hiding in between her legs there.  I don't know, it was just different.

On to the more famous Cupid and Psyche.  I really enjoyed this one except for the fact that it was crowded with people.  I hate the tour groups taking up large amounts of space.

Another famous sculpture, the Venus of Milo.  I wasn't too into her really but I guess she is famous as a Greek original.  Some farmer found him with out in his garden.  Can you imagine?

Also famous, and one of my original favorites, the statue of Nike, the goddess of victory.

This is also famous, the Etruscan sarcophagus with the couple on top.  Cool.

I think Artemis is rad.  If I were a Greek goddess, I would probably be her.  I love this sculpture of her.

This is another Artemis statue that was very cool.  I like her with the animals, especially the two dogs behind her.  And I want her bow.

This is a more modern sculpture and I just loved the movement in it.

Nick said that McDonalds got their idea for Grimace, their big purple guy, from this statue.

The Oath of the Horatii.  Do you recognize it?  I wish I could remember the story but all I do remember is that the three men are brothers and that is their father with the swords.

Naturally, we both started singing Viva la Vida when seeing this picture.  It's pretty awesome.

The Wrath of the Medusa.  Incredible and so big!  That is me by the picture there, lil ol me!  The Medusa was the name of the ship that got wrecked and these are the few survivors after a dozen or so days lost at sea.

Love this picture by Ingres!

And, of course, the Mona Lisa!  Ta da!

On to the ancient stuff, we have the Code of Hammurabi, the first set of laws written, that we know of at least.

Also from the Mesopotamian area, this was a popular pose.  Seemed the thing to do was check your breast size?

This was so rad!  The Lamassu!  Yeah!

Lots of Egyptian hieroglyphs all over the Louvre!  Awesome that so much has survived.

Ancient mirrors, hairpins, and combs from Egypt!  So cool!

It wouldn't be right to be buried without your dog!

And the famous Seated Scribe.  Awesome that we still have the paint job, which was still on many of the ancient Egyptian artifacts.

This is one of the last pictures Nick and I saw so I'll have it be your end of our Louvre tour too.  Imagine all the captions we came up with on this one.

Here we are at the end of our Louvre tour!  It's about 9:30pm but look how light it is!  Goodbye Louvre and thank you!