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| The Louvre |
As I left Saint Germaine for Paris
late in the morning for the hotel, it was cloudy and cool. As usual, Monica
drove me to the Metro and we bid a fond farewell. I arrived at my hotel in the Marais area of Paris about noon, was able to check in and stash my
luggage, and headed back out for the Louvre. I wanted to get there in time to
sign up for a 90-minute guided tour in English that would cover the
Masterpieces of the Louvre, which are spread out in several areas of the
expansive museum.
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| Metro entertainment of a different kind |
On the Metro that morning, instead of an accordion player,
commuters were entertained by a quartet of rap musicians on one line, and a
brass duo on another. I enjoyed the novelty, but most Parisians seem to take
little interest.
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| Venus di Milo |
On the short guided tour, we learned about the history of
the museum and its beginnings as a fortress to protect Paris
against Viking raids in the 1200’s. We then made the rounds to see, among other
items, Venus di Milo, Winged Victory,
and of course, the Mona Lisa. Women seemed to be featured in many of the world's masterpieces.
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| Winged Victory |
Da Vinci's most famous work is a small painting, under glass, and the room is continually swamped with
visitors. It's impossible to get close to it.
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| Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci |
In a nearby room there are other, less famous paintings by Leonardo
da Vinci, but few people were paying attention to them. One of them had recently been restored and returned to public view in March of this year. Surprisingly, taking
photos without a flash is allowed in the Louvre, whereas taking photos in most
of the other art museums I went to in Paris
was strictly forbidden.
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| The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, by Leonardo da Vinci |
An article about the painting's controversial restoration can be viewed here:
There were several sculptures by Michelangelo on display at the Louvre.
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| Dying Slave, Michelangelo, Louvre |
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Once the tour was over, I headed down to the new exhibit, Islamic Art, which just opened a few weeks ago. This is where I spent most of the afternoon. Instead of
paintings, there were ceramics, tiles, carved wooden doors, and woven rugs: a
wonderland of art that has rarely been seen in the Western world.
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| Islamic Art, painted tiles |
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| Islamic Art, ceramics |
Next, I headed back to the exhibit of Italian paintings,
which are featured in a long hall of the Denon wing of the museum, where I
spent most of my time. By late afternoon, I was weary from walking and viewing,
but I still wanted to see the work of Vermeer and other northern European
painters. They were located in another wing, up three flights of escalators,
and when I arrived, it was practically empty. I wandered around, but didn’t
find what I was looking for, and realized that I was too worn out to look any
further.
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| The Marais on a rainy day |
I headed back to the hotel, and after a short rest, went out
to check out the Marais neighborhood where I was staying, a working class area
of Paris. Oddly enough, I found an
Italian restaurant down the street and decided to have dinner there. It was
dark, cold and rainy, and I was tired: something familiar felt comforting. I
ordered
spaghetti al pesto and a glass of red wine from Montepulciano. The pasta was fine, but
much too plentiful, and I ate less than half of it, to the dismay of the
waitress.
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| Gare de Lyon |
The hotel was fine, a bit pricey for me, but cheap for Paris.
Its main asset was being near Gare de Lyon, the train station where I’d catch
my train to Torino in the morning. All in all, my time
in Paris was well spent. I saw
everything that I’d hoped to see, and had a wonderful stay with my friends as
well.
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