Our second day in Paris started at the Louvre. Since the line was so long the first day, we decided to get there early. The Louvre opened at 9:00 so we hailed a cab close to our hotel and got there at about 8:45. The line was already almost as long as it was the day before. The good thing about this time of day is there is no one inside so we would be part of the first wave. We got in line and got some great pictures of the Louvre just after sunrise and with fewer people around. Once we were in we got our tickets and map and decided to head to the Italian gallery, which included the Mona Lisa. We worked our way through the Denon gallery and I was in awe. Not only are all of the paintings impressive, but the building itself is gorgeous. It was built as a fortress and later converted into a museum. This place is unbelievable and overwhelming. There are so many amazing pieces of art that I just felt like I was looking right-left-right-left constantly trying to see as much as possible. Once we got to the first hall of the Italian paintings I couldn't believe the size of some of some of these paintings. Some were enormous. We made our way to the Mona Lisa and it was really cool to see. We got there early enough that the crowds weren't there and we got pretty close to the painting. It is behind a rail that is several feet in front and then several panes of glass covering it. I had heard it is not very big, and it isn't. Ironically though, directly across from the Mona Lisa is one of the largest paintings in the museum. It was huge. It was called "The Wedding at Cana". We continued through the Italian paintings. There were some amazing pieces, and so many of them. We also saw Ancient art, including Egypt and Greek. We then went through the re-creation of the original moat.of the Louvre. We then went back to the main lobby and stopped at the gift shops and took a little break. This place is huge. We had already been there 1.5 hours and only covered about 1/3 of the museum. We then headed out to the other European galleries. We stopped in a courtyard that had some amazing sculptures. The detail was incredible. Then we went to see Napoleon's apartment. Apparently he did not use it but it was designed for him. It was pretty incredible. The detail and ornateness was unreal. We then moved through the European paintings. We saw Renoir, Rembrandt, Rubens, Degas and Monet, among others. It was unreal to see all of these masters together.
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| My Lisa and Mona Lisa |
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| Look how massive these paintings are. That is Lisa in the middle. |
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| The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault (1819) |
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| The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David (1807) |
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| Marie de Medici cycle by Peter Paul Rubens (1621) |
We made our way out of the Louvre because we had to head back to the hotel and then to the train station. We took the Metro back to the train station and met the rest of our group there. The weather in Paris was great. Around 60 degrees and sunny the entire time we were there. Once the train was about half way to La Havre, it started raining. The other 15 members of our group went to Normandy and Mont St Michel while we were in Paris and they said it rained the entire time. We tried not to feel too bad for them.
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| Au revoir hotel |
We spent that night on the ship and the next day was at sea. It was nice to have a break. We slept in and spent some time at the hot tub. The boat was rocking a little and the pool water was more like a wave pool. We took it easy this day to catch up with the pace we had been going. That night we went to a show in one of the lounges and they had a game show that was officers against the passengers. Our friend Justin got selected to participate and won his event. It was entertaining.
Next up, Bordeaux......
