Gratuit Dimanche

6 January 2008- Today was the first Sunday of the month. This means some of the museums and monuments are free or gratuit admission today. I chose the Louvre. Our metro goes right there and the bus across the street as well. We entered through the glass pyramid which is usually ultra crowded but I guess the queues had already been released. The funniest part of the entry was the two guys in rubber boots drudging through the fountains. Looking for change? Not sure.
We had only planned on staying until we got tired or it got crowded. We saw the early Roman and Greek collections, most of the Egyptian collection (the second largest outside of Cairo) and some of the Arabic art. Of course we saw the Winged Victory (Nike of Sathromaki), Venus de Milo (in her huge salon) and the Mona Lisa. The pictures of the group of the people are in front of her. You can only get so close in front but fairly close on the side. The other huge painting throng was in front of the "Madonna of the Rocks", God bless Dan Brown and his "Da Vinci Code" for making at least two paintings that much bigger. It is quite humorous that such a small painting Mona Lisa(real size is not that big) and opposite wall is home to some of the largest canvas paintings I have ever seen. Huge huge huge. The best piece that Chad and I both agreed upon was the statue with a veil (picture 4). All marble, but looks as if just a lace veil. Fantastique! Bravo! Tres bien!
The Louvre itself is amazing. Quite palatial as that was its original purpose by Phillippe Auguste in the 1100's. The lighting is perfect, no flash allowed or even necessary. The ceilings are still gilded in some areas and the paintings on the walls often must compete with the ceilings with paintings, moldings and sculpture. If you want to visit, we will have to pick and choose unless you want to spend all of your days here. Easily a month to do it right plus all the exhibits, concerts, etc. Quite the place to visit.
We left after just a few hours, crowds started in. Plus the annoying people can't read the DO NOT TOUCH signs translated in several languages and kept touching the statutes. When do you ever get to touch anything in a musuem? Reminds me of several years ago in San Francisco with the tourists who have never been on public transportation trying to ride a street car with a 20 dollar bill, no change. You don't do this often do you? We left for the Tuilleries garden and a quick bite to eat. Plus a hot wine, hey it was outside and a bit chilly. The sky clouded up so it was time for siesta back at home. I shared my cold with Chad so now is his turn to drain the Nyquil and Puffs plus stashes from the USA. A cold and art watching, no wonder he was so tired.