Our 3 Miracles: France

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Paris Day 6: Le Louvre, Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur, Pompidou, Seine cruise

Last full day in Paris! U's step count was 22,449 with 61 flights of stairs.

First up was the Louvre. We had a 10 am reservation and so wandered through the Tuileries Garden a bit before going in.

Me, Matthew and Megan

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel built to commemorate some of Napoleon's military victories.

Megan in the Tuileries Garden with the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Matthew, U and Megan with Grand Bassin Rond (where the Olympic cauldron was during the Olympics) and le Musée d'Orsay behind them.

U and Megan

Matthew, Megan, Me and U with the Louvre including the glass pyramid

The Louvre was initially a fortress and then a palace where the royal family lived until Louis XIV moved to Versailles in the late 17th Century. In 1793, the Louvre became a museum to display the nation's masterpieces. It is HUGE! It is the largest museum in the world with almost 800,000 square feet (almost 73,000 m2) of exhibition space and between 8.5-10 miles of corridors. It is also the most visited museum in the world. In general, Me is pretty with good directions and can navigate us where we need to go with ease. The one exception has been cars in the parking lot which for some reason seem to elude her. However, the Louvre must now be added to the list of places Me struggles with navigation. The maps are confusing, the rooms are not well-marked and even if rooms are shown as being on the same floor, there may be stairs between them. So how is anyone to find their way around?!? (It should be noted that the British Museum is not that much smaller and was quite easy to navigate.)

We waited in line to go in through the pyramid entrance.

Inside the pyramid.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Fancy ceilings.

Couple pictures of the Mona Lisa. Matthew was very helpful getting good photos as he can make his way to the front of crowds more easily and he takes nice pictures.

Me, Megan and U with the Mona Lisa. It was very crowded. While the painting is small, it is bigger than Me remembered.

Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Caliari

Look up!

Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix

Megan and Me in the Apollo Gallery

Dragon pin. They added the body of a dragon to a pearl.

Some of the crown jewels

A couple of dragon serving vessels

Megan and Hestia

A couple photos of Venus de Milo

Old games

Sphinx

Cool friezes

Parapet with a volute pattern from the palace of Darius I from around 500 BC

Frieze of lions from the palace of Darius I

Many different types of weapons

Jewelry

The Inverted Pyramid (Pyramide Inversée)

We grabbed some pastries, headed through the Tuileries Garden and then rode the metro to Montmartre.

Me, Megan and Matthew rode the funicular while U climbed the stairs.

Me with le Sacré-Cœur

Megan and Matthew got these interesting looking hot dogs.

Matthew, Me, Megan and U with le Sacré-Cœur

View of Paris. The Pompidou Centre definitely stands out (to the right of the top of the lamppost).

Megan and U with le Sacré-Cœur

We then headed to the Pompidou Centre. It is always cool to ride the escalators on the outside of the building.

View of le Sacré-Cœur. The views of Paris were quite good from Pompidou.

Pigeon city.

Another view of the city with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The church a bit right of center is Saint-Eustache church and we could see it well from Montmartre as well.

We looked at some of the art. Some of it is easier to appreciate than other. For instance, I do not appreciate the completely blue canvas or the yellow and white sheet. Matthew's observation on seeing those is that anyone could do modern art.

Rythme by Sonia Delaunay

Le Poète Philippe Soupault by Robert Delaunay

Florentinisches Villen Viertel by Paul Klee. We saw a lot of Klee's work at L'Orangerie.

Un Tissu de mensonges by Max Ernst

This may look like a fun gym for toddlers but it is actually a piece of artwork.

Geometric painting by Kazys Varndis

After grabbing some savory crêpes for dinner, we went on a Seine rive cruise. I learned a lot. Like the short bridge between Île de la Cité and the left bank has collapsed 11 times, although none in the last few hundred years. The Pont Concorde was built with stones from the Bastille prison. Pont Alexandre III was built honoring the relationship between France and Russia and is the only bridge that does not have internal pillars. There is a matching bridge in St. Petersburg, Russia. Pont Des Invalides is close to Napoleon's tomb. He had it built to show his dominance: There is something representing his dominance on land on one side and sea on the other. There is a man/statue on one bridge that they use as a gauge for the river level. If the water is to his feet, the river is closed for boats. Earlier this year, it was to his knees. Once, it was up to his neck! Me could understand the commentary in both French and English and did pick up some interesting tidbits that way. For instance, the Eiffel Tower took 2 years and 2 strikes to build. The narrator only said the strike part in French and said something about strikes being the French way. Can't disagree with that!