Is That Art?

Lucky for us, this was the closest thing we saw to modern art in the Louvre, so we didn't need to rack our brains on deep questions like: what is art? There's no doubt that the architecture of the historic buildings (the museum opened in 1793) is definitely art with amazing details and beautiful paintings on the ceilings. We weren't impressed, however, with the maps on the walls because we found ourselves lost multiple times. Eventually, we'd seen enough and it was time to venture outside for a ride on the ferris wheel to see another grand view of the city.

Sleeping Beauty...

Although the girls enjoyed the audio tour explaining many of the pieces in the Louvre (with merely 1,000 of the 35,000 pieces with explanations of which we did just a fraction), Ashlynn was done after a few hours. Here she is taking a nap in a room full of 24 large Rubens; good thing he's dead or he'd be greatly insulted. Luckily, after a stop for lunch on the 2nd floor with a lovely view of the Pyramid, she had enough energy to finish seeing Napoleon III's apartment from the 19th Century and the Medieval Louvre from 1190 in the basement.

Masterpieces...

I'd like to say that it's my new interest in art since my exposure to all those Dutch Masters that fed my desire to visit the Louvre. Sadly, the real reason is much cornier than that-- I've wanted to go since reading "The Da Vinci Code". On our last visit to Paris, we did all the silly photos with the Pyramid and the Inverted Pyramid without actually entering the world's most famous art museum. Now it was time to see the big stuff--The Mona Lisa. We were thrilled that there weren't any lines at the ticket window and only one group of Japanese tourists at the painting itself. I was not disappointed. It is truly a masterpiece. I definitely like the theory that it's a self-portrait of Da Vinci. Jimmy agrees, but has an additional theory that the one on display is a fake and that the real one is locked up in some vault deep in the recesses of the museum reinforcing that it's often the intrigue behind a piece of art that makes it a masterpiece. Veronica thought it was "funny that there were two guards just standing next to it" and liked the background of the painting. Ashlynn thought it was funny that it's "just a picture of a girl; it's tiny, but pretty". As you might have noticed, this photo isn't of the Mona Lisa but of the Venus de Milo with our two masterpieces.

One More...

Sorry, but just had to include one more photo from the Champs Elysees. We enjoyed walking around so much with all those lights, that we decided to skip finding a cafe and got sandwiches to eat on the go. Thankfully, there was a great boulangerie still open. It might have been off-season in Paris, but you sure couldn't tell by the huge crowds on the streets at 10pm.

That Famous Tower...

Of course, no trip to Paris is complete without at least taking some photos of the Eiffel Tower. Built in 1889, it's the tallest structure in Paris at 1,070 feet and one of the most recognized symbols in the world. While 6.5 million people visit it each year, we opted not to visit it this trip. We simply enjoyed seeing it at night with lots of twinkling lights.

A View from the Top...

Looks like our stair climbing for the day wasn't over. When we realized that the Arc de Triomphe (commissioned by Napolean Bonaparte in 1806, he died before it was finished in 1836) was still open, we knew we had to see the view from the top. Another 282 steps later, you're seeing what we saw from this 165 foot high monument. What a fantastic view of possibly the world's most famous street. It still amazes me to see all that traffic and find out that the avenue was built in 1670, over 200 years before cars were invented.

City of Lights...

Although the kids were in denial that they were tired despite walking out our door at 6:15am that morning, we were able to coerce them into taking a family nap late in the afternoon. With a 2nd wind, we were able to hit the streets again. It was quite magical when we exited the Metro and saw our first view of the Champs Elysees lit up for Christmas as shown in this photo. Paris definitely earns its name of City of Lights at this time of year.