Le Louvre.

9 Novembre

Bonjour! Well, here it is, my second post. Yey! Everything is still terrific. So let me begin where I left off...

Friday morning I woke up with a bit of a headache and hangover from the evening before. :( But it was ok since I had such a great time. Work went smoothly and I had to finally go to le dejeuner (lunch) alone and make my first purchase while not intoxicated. It went well. When entering a business here in Paris, it is respectful and common to greet the owner when entering with: Bonjour Madame, Monsieur. So I did. So far, so good. I went to the same Bagel shop once again since it was familiar and less intimidating. "Deux Grand Central, s'il vous plait", I said. I ordered 2 so that I also had some dinner waiting for me for later:) Mister prepared! After work I locked up and headed home with a couple red beers from Belgium. I just sat at home played some guitar and drank. Very relaxing and enjoyable:)

Here are some bikes for rent in the city. It is a cool concept:





10 Novembre

I awoke at about 8:30 and made some coffee and began to plan out the day a bit. I picked up my copy of the Lonely Planet's Guide to Paris and began reading. I settled on Le Louvre for the days activities. Walking seemed like a good way to learn a bit about the city, so I did just that. I did in fact learn something, Paris seems to have a lack of street signs. LOL. After a little exploring and map searching, I was able to come across the street that I needed and proceeded on my way.

Along the road to Le Louvre, I came across many interesting sights. For instance, I came across this example of how NOT to lock up a bike, or maybe where to not lock one up?



Look, they also have Midas!



I also wondered through this staple of Paris called the Place de L'Hotel de Ville. It was beautiful. Take a look:











All of the architecture here is very detailed and refined. I have not seen one building that didn't make me look twice. Which means that I have a lot to see:)

After snapping a few photos at L'Hotel de Ville I stayed on track towards Le Louvre. The road to Le Louvre from my flat is along La Seine (the river that flows through Paris). This made for a beautiful walk during a fridged autumn day. All along the riverbank were small booths selling different second-hand merchandise such as books, small furniture and artwork. It is almost like sensory overload for a foreigner like myself. So much to see, hear and smell all at once.

Which brings me to the next fun fact, chestnuts. Haha, what, you ask... Yes! Chestnuts or at least what I believe to be chestnuts. Upon crossing the road to Le Louvre, I spot this guy standing next to a shopping cart. From my previous experience, I regard him as just a homeless guy asking for change, but as I get closer I realize he is selling, what appear to be, chestnuts. Yes, he has his cart setup with a tray sitting on the top and he is offering roasted chestnuts for sale. Very interesting. Since this first encounter, I have run across numerous other "Chestnut" vendors throughout the city. Gotta love new things:)

Here is what they look like:



So I enter Le Louvre's exterior wall and here is what I see:







It is massive. It is said that it would take 9 months to glance at every piece of artwork within these walls. That is just crazy. Good thing I got an early start:) Once inside the museum, everything was pretty much par for the course as far as museums are concerned. Don't get me wrong though, this place used to be used as a Palace before being repurposed as a museum in 1793. So the building itself is as much a work of art as the pieces held within.

The security here was no joke either.



I must admit that the Roman religious artwork was, to me, the most moving. I have, for some time now, had an interest in this type of artwork. It is very beautiful and was usually created by the master's of the time. The church always had the money to pay for the best...

Anyway, instead of me going on and on about art, I will just show some of my favorite pieces and some of the most popular. Take a look for yourself:































Venus de Milo:



The Mona Lisa was quite popular:





Some Egyptian works:







OK that is enough for now! More to come this post:)

PS: Here is a random walkthrough of the city:



Au revoir