The Epic Eurotrip--Chapter 24: Back to Reality (France--Paris)

This is the last post about my trip. What a trip, right? I'm pretty sure people had more awesome eurotrips than me, but hey, this was my first time and i enjoyed it fully (there are exceptions, though.) Let's finish strong.

Back then, Louvre had a lot of tourists. In fact, too many, so French government asked people to design a new entrance to hold a large crowd. When I.M. Pei designed the modern part of Louvre, many people objected as they think it would destroy the old feeling of Louvre (it somewhat did, in my opinion.) However, without it, there's nowhere to place all these people. I mean, they even created a food court under the pyramid!

The Louvre food court. You can't tell where it is if no one tells you.

I got coffee in Louvre. Nice stuff.

In I.M. Pei's design, there are total of 5 pyramids--1 huge one at the middle and 4 smaller ones surrounding the big one. However, only 3 are upright above surface as the location of the last one is at the middle of the road. Solution? Make it upside down.

And here it is, the upside down pyramid.

We actually went from the parking structure to the building. That's why we passed by food court first. We also ate there since we had no time for lunch. After lunch, we finally made it to the main entrance.

Main entrance. There weren't too many people at this time.

According to the tour guide, this time (end of May) was peak season. The peak season is usually summers, and you would not want to come during peak season as you will be jammed in crowd (again, think about black friday.) We actually started from underground to check the structure of Louvre. Louvre wasn't originally a palace. It was a fortress.

The model of originally Louvre.

Its purpose was to protect the kings and royals from attack. But after being so peaceful for a long time, the king at that time decided to take down the walls and build a palace instead.

You can still see the base of the fortress. This is the only remnant or proof
that such fortress existed.

Neon lights on old fortress wall. Remember how I said that old meets new destroys
the feel of oldness? Here's an example. I really don't like this.

Honestly, Louvre is so big. You can spend days in here just looking at those art pieces. Even for someone who's like very artsy like me can stay for 2 or 3 days. Unfortunately, we only had one afternoon, so we could only visit so many rooms. I'll just share some pictures and add needed description.

Egypt Room. Sphinx.

Lion Sculpture

Room of golden ceiling.

Stop touching yourself.

This was one of the keys in Da Vinci Code, but the truth is......

There are three main attractions in Louvre out of so many pieces:

- Mona Lisa by Leonaro Da Vinci

- Venus de Milo by Alexandros of Antioch

- Nike of Samothrace by some Greek dude

The first one we visited was Venus de Milo. When they first discovered it, they quickly named it Venus de Milo because they realized this statue is for the God of Love. However, they did not realized that this style is Greek, and Venus is Roman. Therefore, the correct name should be Aphrodite de Milo, as Aphrodite is the Greek god of love.

Venus de Milo

This statue has no arms, and they still can't find the arms from where they found this statue. Honestly I have no idea why this is so famous. People deemed it pretty, but otherwise I don't see how this out-stands the rest of the pieces. After some research, it seems like the fame has a lot to do with propaganda French were using. The French returned this back to Italy, and that piece was regarded as the finest of all at the time. To replace the loss, the French simply said "hey! Look! This one is better!" and somehow it caught on......

The discussion about this statue is about the position of the arms. What if she has arms, where would the arms be? Is she pointing something? Is she just laying them down? Is she crossing arms or touching her body? There are lots of "proof" for each argument, but so far none can be really proven.

And then we saw the Nike of Samothrace 10 minutes later. It's a winged person without head and arms. It is claimed that this statue was originally placed on a ship like this. The English name is the Winged Victory. It was believed that the arms should be carrying some kind of weapon or symbol of peace like "olive twig" or something like that. However, it can never be found. The only other segment that was found was her right hand. It is now placed  in a box next to the statue. 

Nike of Samothrace

This is said to be the best angle to view this.

The right hand.

This piece is held to be one of the great surviving masterpieces of sculpture from the Hellenistic period, and from the entire Greco-Roman era. The significance comes more from the fact that it has missing pieces (I guess that's why people say "the best is the one you can never get.")

There are many other famous pieces, but I'm not gonna spend time to add info.

Through a long, long hall.

Okay, maybe I will. Check the picture below. It is one of Da Vinci's piece.

Look carefully for every detail.

The person is John the Baptist, Jesus's cousin. He was the person who came before Jesus to set the way for Him. Now, do you see him pointing up with his hand? Check again. Is he really pointing? If your answer is still yes, enlarge the picture and check once more before moving on. Do you see a little brown stick? Yes! He's holding a cross! LDV (kinda weird to call him this but I'm too lazy to write his name again and again) did such a good job for hiding little details in his paintings. He added layers and layers of paint and only leave a little trail for audience to follow. I think this is why Dan Brown can make up so much stuff from his paintings.

Mary, Jesus, and John the Baptist.

This is the time when Jesus turned water into wine (I think.)

Le Radeau de la Méduse, the Raft of the Medusa. It's painted by tar
and the colors are getting darker and darker everyday. One day this paint
will turn black completely. Go see it before it's too late.

Probably the best picture I took on this trip.

Dying Slaves by Michelangelo. There's a monkey on the back of the
statue on the right.

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss.

And here it is again. The first Coronation of Napoleon

And finally, we got to see Mona Lisa. Mona Lisa is located at the middle of one room and is protected by bulletproof glass. Thanks to that, taking picture of it became really hard. A huge crowd doesn't really help......

The crowd in front of Mona Lisa.

Let's go back to Leonardo Da Vinci a bit. In the post of Florence, I showed where the painting was done. This painting is said to be painted for 8 to 10 years by Leonardo. The model was believed to be Lisa del Giocondo, who was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Francesco asked Leonardo to paint the portrait of his wife as a gift, and Leonardo said okay. I doubt Francesco has ever seen the painting himself, as this took so long to finish. Later on, when the French king invited Leonardo to go to France to work on some pieces, Leonardo took this painting with him, and he died in France. French king was like "lucky!" and gratefully kept the painting.

There was a story about this Italian who sneaked in Louvre and stole this painting. He took it back to Italy and hid it under his dining table. Of course, eventually the painting was found (after 2 years), and this has become a joke in Italy since. "French people are useless. They can't even find a painting under a table." The Italians praised him actually, for what he has done.

Mona Lisa brought many speculations about how, who, and even what has been painted. Leonardo brought in the first portrait with background, and he chose this specific pose to show the dignity and faith of a young wife. However, people claimed that the smile looks different to different people. Some find it joyful, and others may see it a reluctance. Some think she's pregnant due to the swell of the fingers (and no ring) while others believe that she wasn't. When they scanned the painting with infrared, they found that, on the very bottom layer, is a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci himself. Thus some said this is actually his own portrait hidden in someone else's. We all know that this guy is very good at hiding things and leaving only a little trail for people to follow (check the John the Baptist painting again.) Some even say she has no tooth by the way she smiles. Or rather, just because she has no tooth, that's why she can smile in such way. Some also said this is a portrait of Leonardo's boyfriend hidden in Lisa's. Oh, apparently when he went to see the French king, he brought his boyfriend with him, holding hands. He was probably one of the first people who came out of closet.

And finally, here it is.

The sad part is there's one painting I did not see. The "Liberty Leading the People" has been one of the painting I really want to see in person after watching Les Miserables. Hugo was inspired when he saw this painting and wrote that uber-famous musical. Check the person on the right of the woman. He's the original Enjolras. Where is the painting, you ask? Well, there are too many art pieces in Lourve, so now they have branches. For those branches, they have to have something that people want to see, or else there's no ticket sale. Therefore, from time to time they have to ship one or two famous pieces to those branches. This one is currently in Abu Dhabi.

Seriously, guys, when you plan a trip to Paris, make sure you stay for at least 3-4 days. Louvre alone can take at least one full day. There's just too much to see. One afternoon is definitely not enough. I left feeling really unsatisfied, and I was probably the least artsy person you can find on earth. There are also other attractions you must see as well, so plan your trip and stay in Paris longer. It's worth every minute of your time. I'm definitely going back again.

I just have to.

After Louvre, we went to Notre Dame. There's another pieta displayed. It was also where Napoleon got crowned. Again, I love the feeling of being at the same place famous people have been.

However, I realized how long this post will be if I try to finish the rest. I still have Notre Dame, Arch, more food, and the Moulin Rouge to cover. I guess I'll have one more post.........